Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Meet the Artist and Giveaway: Shelly from Gingermelon

I'm delighted to introduce you to Shelly from Gingermelon 
who has graciously agreed to participate in a giveaway :)

This talented artist has offered to giveaway not 1, not 2, but 3 sets
 of Color-Your-Own Paper Dolls!
The winners can choose between these 2 sets:

Collection of Seven Colour-Your-Own Paper Dolls
Buy it here
OR

Paper Doll, Color In, Vintage Paper Doll, Paper Doll and Accessories, Patisserie
Buy it here
Shelly sent me a copy of the first set and my daughter Eleanor and I had a blast putting them together. The great thing about Shelly's paper dolls is immediate gratification! Since they are sent via email, you can download the images in seconds, print them out at home, and start creating them right away!

You need very few materials: white cardstock, colored pencils, scissors, and brads, how easy is that! Here's a little slideshow of our project:






Aren't these adorable? We're dying to try the Patisserie set now! It has the more traditional tabbed outfits, and a bunch of little accessories, too. 

Shelly is no one trick pony; the paper dolls are only the latest of her crafting adventures. I'll show you more as we go along. Let's get to know Shelly a little better.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself.
A: I live in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.  Originally, I am from South Africa were we lived till I was 17.  I have always loved drawing, though to tell you the truth, my sewing skills were always terrible!  My mom ended up fixing or finishing anything I attempted to sew, so I like to make everything I create very simple!

Q: I see that you and your mom run myfairdolly together. How did that come to be?
A: I convinced my mom to open myfairdolly because she loves to sew and her skills are amazing!  I had started to collect Blythe dolls and wanted to try my hand at making outfits for them in my spare time.  Unfortunately, I really don't have any spare time anymore, so mom does everything in the shop now and along the way has started a collection of all sorts of dolls, too!
 
Q: I've noticed that Gingermelon is now primarily patterns, whereas at one point you were selling mostly dolls. Why the change?
Little Lady Sybille
Buy it here
A:When I began selling on etsy, I concentrated on making the Little Ladies which are cloth dolls with embroidered faces.  After a while, I started experimenting with little felt bears, kittens and bunnies.  I loved making up little stories for them as each seemed to have it's own personality.  As time went on, I created the Sweet Stufflings and that's when I got the idea for creating a pattern for them.  I knew that if I could make them, anyone could!  So, when I designed the pattern, I decided to add hand drawn illustrations so that if a person had trouble reading a pattern (like me!), they could really just follow the diagrams.  I was amazed at how quickly the patterns sold and how appreciative my clients were for the easy instructions!  My head is always full of new ideas and I have a little sketchbook that I keep on hand for rough drawings.  At the moment I'm working on a new project that will be lovely for kids who have a little basic sewing knowledge.  I'm planning on making a kit that would contain a super simple, mostly illustrated pattern, the felt needed to make it and a few embellishments, including the safety eyes.  There will be many to choose from:  a bear, kitten, fox, owl, raccoon and a little doll.  I'm very excited about these and hope to have them ready for my shop before the end of September!


Q: You've been very successful with Gingermelon in a relatively short period of time. What do you feel is the "secret" to your success?
A: I think the key to becoming successful on etsy is to keep being creative!  Constantly challenge yourself to come up with new ideas and most importantly, treat your customers like gold!  I believe that if you are passionate about what you do, it will show in your work.  Every item I make is made with love and attention to detail.  I want people to notice that I have put a lot of thought into each piece and I try to keep each one unique.  Even if I'm asked to make another one just like a particular one I've done before, it'll be slightly different in some way.



Plush Animal, Bunny, Artist Bear, Handmade Doll, Doll, Pocket Bunny - Beatrice
Buy it here
Q: What is your favorite medium, and why?
A: I have many favourite mediums:)  Hand woven felt is by far my favourite in the world of felt. I love paper and have oodles of it, pencil crayons, paper clay, Japanese linen, seed beads, mohair, lace, I could go on forever!


Sweet Bear Barrette
Buy it here
Q: What item that you sell holds the most personal meaning to you?
A: My most meaningful items are my cloth dolls, the Little Ladies.  These are what got me started and every time I make one, I enjoy the entire process!  They are very time consuming, but worth every moment spent on them!


Q: Your paper dolls have so much personality. Where do you find inspiration for their features and accessories?
A: I absolutely loved doing the Paper dolls!  In fact I have quite a few more that I've started on, but again, lack of time has kept me from going much further with them.  My inspiration for them comes from vintage/retro cards, ads and children's books.
 
Q: What are your future plans for your work and Etsy shop?
A: Future plans include more sculpted dolls, more paper dolls and lots more patterns!  Just think, we have Halloween, Christmas, Easter - there's a theme for everything!
 

Woodland Fox PDF Pattern
Buy it here
Q: Has your work been featured in any publications?
A: My work was recently featured in 'Stuffed Magazine'.  It was such an honour and I was delighted to be part of their summer edition!  I have also been featured on babyology, a few blogs and facebook fan pages.


Q: Just for fun, what is your favorite Etsy shop?
A: Some of my favourite shops on etsy are abimonroe, Dilkabear, loopyboopy, and sweetbestiary, to name a few. Too hard to just pick one!


After you've run over and bought yourself something nice from Gingermelon be sure to check out Shelly's blog, Facebook page, and Flikr. And, of course, come on back and enter to win your free set of paper dolls:



How to Enter the Giveaway:

1. Follow this blog (Mandatory)
and leave a comment here saying you did.

2. Leave a separate comment here about the fantastic stuff you saw 
while visiting Gingermelon.

How easy is that?
Best of luck to all who enter.

Make sure to visit the Giveaways tab for more great prizes!

Fine Print:

Only 2 entries per household please
3 winners will be chosen September 15th at midnight PST
Winners will be chosen by random.org
Entries will be validated
Winners will be announced here
Winners will have 3 days to contact me, 
after which new winners will be chosen
Must be 18 years of age or older to enter 

38 comments:

  1. Already following you =)

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  2. > i love les barettes <3 & the Pink Needle Book <3
    GREAT JOB good continuation

    gb.demure@gmail.com

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  3. I follow your blog publicly with google friend connect
    Thank you for the giveaway :)
    hrudler4eva(at)gmail(dot)com

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  4. I love the Woodland Deer PDF Pattern and wish I could buy that plush too!
    Thank you for the giveaway :)
    hrudler4eva(at)gmail(dot)com

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  5. gfc
    Lots of great thigns!
    jessicawedwards@gmail.com

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  6. Hello , i already follow your blog =)

    nadoxie@gmail.com

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  7. i love the Woodland Deer PDF Pattern =) i also like the Sweet Bear Barrette

    nadoxie@gmail.com

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  8. Following your blog :)

    leighfreda@gmail.com

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  9. My favourite is the Little Lady Sybille :D

    leighfreda@gmail.com

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  10. I absolutely love the Pocket Pals Piggy and Kitty Patterns...So cute!

    modernbuttercup.blogspot.com/

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  11. I follow via GFC as: Lucy luce
    e-mail: luce.lucy@rocketmail.com

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  12. I like the cream Needle Book^^
    e-mail: luce.lucy@rocketmail.com

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  13. Really like what Shelly do^^
    I follow you via google friend connect as: fazou14
    e-mail: fazou14@hotmail.com

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  14. My favorite item from Gingermelon is the Sweet Bear Barrette^^
    e-mail: fazou14@hotmail.com

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  15. I love it! :) gnwira (at) gmail (dot) com. I follow your blog

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  16. It's hard to say which one I like in the etsy shop. I really love all of them. Maybe the animal plush is my favorite...

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  17. I love the paper dolls, felt animals, all of it!!

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  18. I follow this blog via Google Friend Connect.

    aikychien at yahoo dot com

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  19. I love the Mini Sweet Stuffling PDF Pattern.

    aikychien at yahoo dot com

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  20. Well, you know I'm already following you! (And loving it!

    I've already got gingermelon in my favorites! It's so hard to choose favorites from her shop, because they are oll so stinkin' cute! But I especially love her paperdolls and the woodland owl pattern!

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  21. I'm following you! I love love love this blog!:)

    luckyblue13 @ gmail.com

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  22. I went to Gingermelon and fell in love with Sybil - the adorable doll with purple hair :)

    luckyblue13 @ gmail.com

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  23. Following you on GFC
    nikxmarie@gmail.com

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  24. My favorite item from Gingermelon is the Foxy Brooch PDF pattern. The shop is so cute that I added it to my Etsy favorites.

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  25. blog follower vai GFC
    anna_k67 at yahoo dot com

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  26. like Little Ellie

    anna_k67 at yahoo dot com

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  27. Hi, I'm follower of your blog: Maggy_Tronche

    megan.balcells@gmail.com

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  28. I saw in Gangermelon great things, special I love: The Scaries, Bunny, Bear and Fox Brooch, and Gingerbelle!!
    Thanks for this great giveaway! Hugs.. Maggy
    megan.balcells@gmail.com

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  29. Oh followed GFC (popartheart)
    kandulidemusikken (at) gmail (dot) com

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  30. I also really like the Anime Stuffing Pdf pattern because I like Bunnies Panda and kittens.
    kandulidemusikken (at) gmail (dot) com

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  31. I like the Sweet Bear Barrette
    lusizova at gmail.com

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  32. I like the Circus Elephant the best. Thanks for the chance!

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  33. Those animal dolls are just precious!! I especially love the pig. Following you and exciting to have a chance to win. Thanks!

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  34. Thank you for entering, the giveaway is now closed. Please visit the giveaway tab above for other great opportunities! Winners announced shortly :)

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