I ♥ Etsy (The Etsy Ribbon)

After my third custom order for crocheted, beaded, wire awareness ribbons for various causes, I felt it was time to have some sort of "choose your cause" ribbon listed in my shop. And I do. I had to make some sample ribbons to do it, and, of course, I have the standard red ribbon and yellow ribbon. I also have a white ribbon. These three colors stand for a myriad of causes from AIDS to troops to epilepsy. My own RAINN-y Day Ribbons also stand for prostate cancer and child abuse awareness (among others).

The one ribbon I didn't find was one for returning to a simpler way of life. I was looking for a "crafting" or "community" or "creativity" or "DiY" ribbon. Something along those lines. And I couldn't find a one. Nothing. Zip, Zilch, Nada. Nothing. Nothing for returning to the handcrafted over the mass-produced or of buying from a person rather than a faceless corporation. Nothing for building community through creativity. And nothing that celebrated the strength of the community and culture that is springing from this movement.

And so I set out to create one. I looked in my stash to get some inspiration, and there it was: Tangerine, half-hard, 28-gauge copper wire from Artistic Wire. A color that looked an awful lot like Etsy orange. I checked my bead stash for orange beads, figuring I'd make an orange ribbon (a ribbon that also stands for such illustrious causes as feral cats, hunger, and self abuse). And, again, there they were: White seed beads. It was one of those moments where everything seems to fall in place. I checked the Etsy homepage to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and there it was: an orange and white Etsy logo.

The rest is history. The finished I ♥ Etsy Ribbon is crocheted with tangerine copper wire and white glass seed beads. It measures a little over 1.5" (3.81 cm) long. I strung the prototype on a strand of recycled cotton/linen, then sent it off to EtsyLabs as a sort of "thank you for all you've done". After all, I wouldn't be as inspired to create, have found the community I did, and be able to have a little extra spending cash for my family if it wasn't for all their hard work.

So imagine my surprise when I received a convo from Vanessa at Etsy Labs saying I was going to featured in the Etsy blog. Okay, surprise doesn't quite cut it. Elation and wonder would be better descriptors. Regardless, it was more than I was expecting. I was honestly just hoping for a "your welcome, send us more, we like them" sort of thing. I guess validation that it was a good idea. But the blog? That was more than I could have hoped for.

And so, lessons learned:
1) Sometimes inspiration is spelled "eureka"
2) I don't need jump rings to create the hanging loops on these if I position the curve in the ribbon correctly
3) Sometimes a simple "thank you" rewards you karma-wise more than you could've imagined
4) You should have a listing ready for selling any item that may end up in demand, no matter how remote the possibility

I wasn't actually planning on listing this one for awhile, but since it's going in the blog, well... it'll be in my shop as soon as I see the blog post.

Happy happy joy joy!