{sweeter than me} designs: Interview and Giveaway! (CLOSED)

I recently entered a contest on Kristin’s blog to help her name a new piece in her shop (as some of you may know, and voted for me!) and I was so happy when I found out that not only was the name that I chose the winner but I also won the necklace! When I received it I was so happy because it was so much prettier in real life! I had a bunch of school functions that required me to dress up in business casual, and this necklace really helped to add some style to my boring suit! So many people complimented me throughout the night on my necklace and asked me where I had found such a unique looking piece!

Kristin has the most amazing jewellery in her etsy shop, {sweeter than me} designs and with 811 sales, I’m not the only one who loves her finely crafted pieces. I really enjoyed browsing through her shop and discovering all the wonderful little pieces and clicking on the pictures because I just had to see it in greater detail. The thing I love about the store is that it is such great value! You get these amazing pieces with such great detail and it really looks like you paid so much more than you actually did!

Kristin is such a sweetie because she really loves to share her amazing pieces! She has an awesome blog where she gives out tons and tons of jewelry to her lucky readers! She is also a huge believer in blog giveaways and always gives away her pieces on other blogs as well.

Here is her interview:

Name: Kristin Friesen

Name of shop: {sweeter than me} designs

Location: Seattle, Washington

Favourite item from your shop: Enchanted Flutter necklace (Peridot)

Tell us a little bit about yourself:I am 22 (23 in May), my husband is 26 and his name is Justin. Our son is almost 2 1/2 and his name is Jack. We live in a tiny apartment in the city (hopefully not for too much longer). I am a work at home mom, I juggle the cooking and the cleaning and Jack along side my increasingly demanding business. It's a busy and sometimes stressful life, but I wouldn't change a thing. It's really important to me that I spend my time doing the two things I love the most - raising my son and running my business. They are two of the most rewarding things I've ever done and each day I love them more and more. I have two younger sisters and I grew up in a quaint little suburb, Snohomish, which is about 40 minutes north-east of Seattle. Snohomish is full of historic homes, farms and fields, and antique stores. Lots of cows, lots or corn, and LOTS of antiques. My husband and I both really love music and he plays bass in a band. We also love camping and traveling, watching movies, and taking Jack to the zoo, science center, aquarium, etc.

When and what made you want to open up your shop? I started making jewelry a little less than 2 years ago. I had just had my son and a friend of mine had just had her son too (they're exactly 5 weeks apart). She had played around with making jewelry and told me we should do it together to pass the time while we were both staying home with the babies. So we started making jewelry and before I knew it we were doing home parties together and selling at craft fairs! I fell in love with it instantly and when she went back to work a few months later I went straight to Etsy to open my own shop and turn my hobby into a business!

Tell us a little bit more about your creation process: I really just sit down at my table and play around with things until I find a combination I like. I like to dump things out and touch everything... make a big mess. I mix and match and combine until I like the look of something. Making multiples is always in the back of my mind, so when I make something I look at the materials and if I have enough to make 8 or 10 right then I'll make them all. It's much easier to make extras when I'm already in the zone and have all the materials in from of me, so I just make as many as I can right then. This saves me a lot of time when things sell, that way I can relist items right away and keep things moving. I usually have over $4,000 worth of inventory on hand just about at all times, I like having a big stock pile of jewelry :)

Where do you draw inspiration for all your amazing designs?I'm most inspired by the materials themselves. When I look at my supplies I see what they could become. I look at a locket and picture it amongst a cluster of pearls a rhinestones, or I see a little charm and picture it with a chunky glass drop, or I'll see a little bird and picture it carrying in it's beak a letter or a fruit or a leaf. When I'm feeling inspired my materials give me more ideas than I can possibly execute and it's a wonderful feeling.

If you could be an animal what would you be and why? Hmmmm, probably a cat. I love how playful they are, plus they get to be bitchy and demanding and their owners bend over backward to please them. Sounds like fun, haha!

If you could have one super power what would it be and why? Wow, I don't know. So many cool powers to choose from... Maybe something that gave me excellent reflexes. So I could dodge bullets and catch things that are falling. Most super powers coming with a serious down side... premonitions that you don't want, super hearing things you wish you didn't, x-ray seeing things you don't want to see. It would be pretty cool to fly though.

The Giveaway:

Kristin was kind enough to offer the winner a choice of any item on her shop under $20! I love it when giveaways offer you the chance to choose your prize!! The great thing is that so many of Kirstin’s pieces are under $20 you’ll spend so much time agonizing over what prize you would choose if you won!

How to Enter:

1) Go to Kristin’s etsy shop and comment on your most favourite item for one entry!
2) If you become a new follower you get four more entries
3) If you are currently a follower you get six more entries (Yay for being loyal blog followers!)
4) If you post my button on your blog you get five extra entries
5) If you blog about this contest and include a link you gain five more entries
6) Go visit Kristin’s blog and leave her some blog love, you get two extra entries
7) If you buy anything from her shop you get ten additional entries
8) If you enter any of my current giveaways held on my blog, you can get one entry for each contest you enter! Make sure you let me know which ones you entered!

Wow that’s a lot of entries you can receive! And please have a way for me to contact you!! If your email is on your blog profile that will also work! If you are entering more than once you only have to give me your email in one comment...that way you don't have to put it on all of them, to save you a bit of time! =)

The contest will run until April 18th!