Today, you'll be learning about another lovely member of the SactoMetro Etsy Team: Christine from Christine's Jewelry Box and her lovely jeweled wares. I can see so many of these pieces glistening by firelight on some fast approaching holiday eve! What beautiful gifts, and a great way to add a unique sparkle and glisten to your own style all year long.
Tell us a bit about yourself- your name, your shop name, your location, and one sentence to describe you.
Christine Waligora
Christine's Jewelry Box
East Sacramento
Very easy going with love and compassion for others.
When you aren’t crafting, what else are you up to?
Walking my dogs Whiskey and Kora, going to the river, thinking about crafting, gym, making cupcakes, and being with friends and family.
What first inspired you to become a crafter/artisan?
My mother has always been a crafter, going through different phases from macramé, dried wreaths, stained glass, beaded jewelry, and beaded everything really. I just crafted whatever she did and would put my own spin on it. Now she still makes jewelry and so do I. My mother has definitely been my inspiration. Recently my mother and I have been experimenting with baking delicious and beautiful cupcakes.
Describe your creative process. What do you do to get inspired? How
do you make your pieces, when do you work on them, what materials do
you use?
Finding unique gemstones and beads really gets me inspired. I like going to new bead shows and bead stores and looking for items I have never seen before. When I sit down to make my jewelry I like to lay it all out on a table or the floor and start experimenting with different color combinations and designs. I work better when I can spread everything out. For materials: I use new beads, old beads, glass beads, gemstone beads, and silver and copper.
What handmade possession do you most cherish?
There are a lot of possessions I cherish and I am a total packrat, but I am very partial to a set of Christmas ornaments my mother made. She took a picture of every family member from her wedding and framed each one in fabric with rickrack. I love seeing them on the tree, especially my grandmothers and my uncles, who are no longer with us.
Name your top 3 books, movies, musical groups and websites.
Books: Clockwork Orange, Ishmael, anything by Steinbeck
Movies: Weird Science, Great Expectations, Wayne’s World
Music: Prince, The Cure, Depeche Mode, and many more
Websites: Etsy, Facebook, The Onion
What piece of Etsy advice can you give your fellow team members that
has been most helpful to you so far?
Keep networking and hang in there, it will eventually start to pay off.
How do you promote your Etsy shop/products?
I use Facebook, Flickr, twitter, and word of mouth. I always ask my friends if I can’t bring my jewelry to their parties. I always get sales and return customers that way and my friends that host the party always get a special gift.
I constantly renew items and space out my listings because I seem to get more business that way.
What is your ultimate goal with your Etsy shop(s)/crafting/artwork?
To make a couple sales a week, get more exposure, and get feedback from other artists.
Where can we find you online?
Etsy Shop
Flickr Page
Aprons could be attractive as well as serviceable. They weren’t always white (white gets spotted and grimy so quickly). An apron could be made from the skirt of a worn out dress, or a piece of fabric left from a larger project. Half aprons and pinafores were common in every kitchen. There were also specialized aprons for knitting or sewing with special pockets to hold your yarn or sewing tools.
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