Sheepshape

Meet my new Etsy Shop Buddy, Sheepshape!

Elizabeth, a fiber artist from London, has a wonderful shop filled with hand-dyed roving and handspun yarn, along with the most adorable, huggable knitted animal friends.

We both recently took the Stone Soup Challenge, decided that our shops compliment each other well, and declared ourselves Shop Buddies. What a great way to extend the Stone Soup idea even further.... to promote each other's shops!

Take a look at Elizabeth's shop. Luscious colors, gorgeous textures... traditional crafts with innovative techniques.

Everything in the shop is lovely (and highly covet-able) but the items that stand out from other Etsy sellers are her glow-in-the-dark fibers. Do you know a child who would love to see his or her blankie or stuffed animal in the dark? What an amazing idea! You can purchase handspun yarn made with glow-in-the-dark fibers to knit or crochet a very special blanket for a very special child. Or lovely huggable animals knitted with glow-in-the-dark yarn.

The Stone Soup Challenge: February

My pledge to The Stone Soup Challenge is easy to fulfill. One of the main reasons for setting up my Etsy shop was to make spending money to purchase goodies from other online vendors.

I pledged more than the recommended amount because I knew I was already spending more and wanted to push myself a little. My pledge was to spend at least 50% of the profits from my Etsy shop with independent online vendors, including the of purchase one item per month from another shop participating in The Stone Soup Challenge.

The earrings pictured above are my first purchase from a SSC participant, christinececelia. I love images of bees, so these sweet little earrings were a natural choice.

This month I've also sold an item to another SSC participant, my8kidsmom. She ordered a custom stamp with her shop name. What a fun purchase! And The Stone Soup Challenge is working already.

The Stone Soup Challenge

Every year when I was a Cubmaster (when Tommy was younger), the pack and I would retell the story of Stone Soup and make a big pot of soup. And, of course, it would always begin with a stone.

The boys and their families loved the tradition of it. They enjoyed hearing the story of a town that worked together to produce something bigger than their individual parts. And they loved the great soup we made!

Now Laura of Katydiddy has issued a challenge to the art community based on the story of Stone Soup. The idea is to commit to purchase from other independent artists. She is asking folks to pledge a certain percentage of their shop's profits each month to purchase something from another artist's shop.

Since the main reason I opened my shop was to support my art/craft supplies habit and to allow me to purchase an occasional item from Etsy, this is not difficult for me at all! Basically it's just asking me to formalize this commitment. And with the amount that I spend on Sneak Attacks, I'm already there!

So here's my commitment:
I pledge to spend a minimum of 50% of my profits with other independent artists/shops. And further, I pledge to purchase a minimum of one item per month from one of the other shop owners who have taken The Stone Soup Challenge.

How about you?

Here's what you need to do to participate:
* Decide how much you will commit to spending each month. Laura suggests 10% to 25% of your shop's profits. I'm pledging more because I know I already spend more!
* Visit The Stone Soup Challenge website and leave a comment regarding your pledge
* Blog about the challenge

That's it!

When we work together, everyone benefits.