Featured artist: heartfeltbymsmegas and her adorable felt plushie creations

heartfeltbymsmegas had some fabulous things in the recent Welcome Wednesday contests for new shops... I just adore this theme, where every week we only feature shops that have opened in the last few months on Etsy. Megan's shop opened in April and her little felt creations just did wonderfully, so I wanted to ask her some questions.

Happy Hedgehog and Apple Embroidery Hoop Brown Flower Fabric Wall Art
by heartfeltbymsmegas

Tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Megan, and I’m a 22 year-old college student and future ESL teacher. My love of languages combined with my British heritage has given me a passion for different cultures. Dresses, cake in any form, and all things cutesie, geeky and retro are my obsessions. And I have a secret aspiration to be a baker or wedding planner. I have been creating art as long as I can remember, and all of my interests really inspire my creations.

Featured June 13th, 2012
Welcome Wednesday! The newest Etsy shops' items from $1-$50.
Precious Purple Piggy Ornament
by heartfeltbymsmegas

What got you started?
My first stab at crafts that I recall was making a pair of notebook paper sandals when I was 3. I traced my foot, cut them out, colored them rainbow, and taped the straps on. Ever since then I’ve been incessantly creating, drawing, painting, and crafting.

I began making plushies when my cousin’s friend gave her a little plush felt egg that she’d bought online. I thought it was so cute and cool. That was when I realized that I could make all of the cute characters I drew!

34th place May 23rd, 2012
Welcome Wednesday! The newest Etsy shops' items from $1-$50.
Nerd Girl Felt Phone Case
by heartfeltbymsmegas

What brought you to etsy?
This past January, I had to unexpectedly take a semester off of college, and I had no idea what to do with all of my extra time. I only worked a few part-time hours each week and didn’t have much to do to stave off boredom. That’s when my plushie-making started again, and I had all these plushies lying around. So, I created an account on Etsy and had NO idea what I was getting myself into! Running a shop is a ton more work than it appears. I am absolutely loving growing my shop and learning how to run it well.

Featured May 14th, 2012
May 14th! Items from $14-$14.99.
Ninja Felt Plush
by heartfeltbymsmegas

Bought anything cool off etsy lately?
I have so much respect for committed Etsy sellers. So many fantastic shops are out there, and I’m always favoriting more items than I can buy! Recently, I spotted a pair of super cute dinosaur earrings from Mad Aristocrat, which has the most adorable polymer clay jewelry. I was going to buy them, but then my boyfriend surprised me with them as a gift! I might just have to show him some more of my favorite things!

José the Cactus Felt Plush
by heartfeltbymsmegas

Etsy trade love and felted bowls

Last week Ruby from missyandme contacted me through the Etsy Trade-a-holics team, it's this group I'm in where everybody trades their etsy stuff and I LOVE IT!

Etsy trading combines my two favorite things:
1) Sending something that I've made out of my house
2) Having something handmade show up at my house (with no hit to my paypal account! It's like FREEE!)

Anyway Ruby made felted bowls like this so I had to go for the trade, I don't even remember what I sent her, but these were so worth it:

Bright Stripes Felted Whatnot Bowls - Set of 3
by missyandme

Trading on Etsy is easy:
1) You find someone on the team interested in a trade
2) You send them a convo proposing what you want in their shop and how much
3) They reply back yes or no, and the team is very clear about the fact that you're totally allowed to say no. Sometimes people get traded out, no harm done, no hurt feelings, it's okay!
4) You both buy stuff from each other's shop with "other" as the payment
5) When you get their stuff, you leave them feedback and mark their order from you as paid. Whall-ah!

My only trading pet peeve is when someone is vague in their initial convo, like they'll ask me for one little bag that's $8 but their shop has only $12 items. I'm like, "How do you see this working out, exactly?!" I wish they'd just say "I'll trade three bags for two of my necklaces" or "My necklaces are pricier but that's okay, I'll send you a $12 necklace for an $8 bag".

The trades usually aren't *exactly* even but that's not a problem as far as I'm concerned. When I send off slightly more than I'm getting I call it "trade karma".

But anyway, my felt bowls from Ruby were less than what I was sending her so I told her to throw in whatever she wanted to make it even, and she sent me monsters, like this one... OHMIGOD it was so cute I about died.

Sparky -Needle Felted Not-Me Monster
by missyandme

She makes all these little cute animals that are just amazing:

Shawn Needle Felted Owl
by missyandme

So yup, perfect. It's stuff like this that makes me love Etsy and love trading, especially.