Feature Yourself Link Party #2 & "Your Story" Contest Finalists!

Three weeks ago we started a thread in our Team forum about what inspired your shop names!   We had lots of fun stories shared, and the teams leaders chose their top three choices from among them!  Now its your turn to make a decision!  After reading through each of the finalists stories you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite!!


The story with the most votes will win one of the pendants (that we received as prizes) from the Rikrak Handmade Olympics!!!  How fun is that!?!


Here are the shops and their stories:

LittleOwlsNest

"My father-in-law gives all the kids nick names - my husband is bubba, his sister pete, grandkids lil man and peanut. When I was pregnant with my daughter, he decided she was going to be Owl. There had been some baby owls that were born in their back yard. Wish we could attach pics here - he carved a cute little owl totem for her. 
I started this shop in the summer of 2009 after being laid off from an architectural firm where I was an interior designer. We did primarily commercial real estate projects for banks, investment companies, etc. I think at that time half of Kansas City's interior designer were laid off so finding another job was not looking real good. 
I've been sewing since I was 13 and heard about etsy - thought I would give it a go while collecting unemployment and trying to scrape together contract work. I wanted to name it after my daughter and liked the story of Athena - as she was the goddess of wisdom, strength and female arts and crafts. Her attribute or symbol is an owl. I decided on Litttle Owl but it was already taken. Since I was going to be making crib sets for babies - the Nest part just fit and it became Little Owl's Nest.
I ended up working for my old company for about 9 months on a contract basis, tried working retail after that for about a month and hated it and made the leap this past October to go full time stay at home and making a go of this business. VERY glad I took the leap. It's crazy and my living room looks like a minky factory blew up but loving working for myself. :)"

TheAdornedAbode

"I don't have a very interesting story. I originally came up with lots of names that were taken, and then decided on The Papered Penguin. Set up a whole shop, had a banner designed, etc...before I could list anything, my friend looked up my shop and then called me to tell me that it didn't look at all as I'd described, and I realized that a week after I opened my shop, someone had started one called The Paper Penguin (which my friend had mistakenly typed in when looking for mine). I didn't want that mistake to happen often, so back to the drawing board for a name, since I hadn't listed anything yet anyway.
I had liked the alliteration of the Papered Penguin, so I wanted that again. And I didn't want something that would limit what I could make. I ultimately decided on The Adorned Abode, since it has alliteration with the 2 A's in it, and it describes what I make (stuff to adorn your abode!) without limiting me. And there it is! Although my brother in law teases me and calls it The Adorable ADoBe, and now I find myself stumbling and saying that or typing it sometimes."

Sapucha

"The name "sapucha" (pronounced Sa-poo-cha) is a made-up word my 6 year old "created" when she was about 2. She named every doll, toy, ect.... "Sapucha Pucha" (it rhymed so she loved it and it stuck!). Since Etsy is a place for artists/crafters to sell and promote handmade I just thought it would be super cool to use a handmade name for my shop of handmade items. She is so proud of the shop name and loves to tell people how she invented her mommy's etsy shop name. I love involving my kids in the shop - they even get to name the new toothfairy dolls in my shop. "


Now that you've heard their stories, go vote!!  The voting will end next Thursday at Midnight, and the winner will be announced next Friday!!

Now....

Onto our Feature Yourself Friday Features and Link Party!

Here are a couple of the links that caught my eye this week:

Ruffled Zippered Pouch Tutorial from Handmade Therapy

Wool Easter Bunny Tutorial from Heartfelt Mama

Good Egg Onesie from Sweeter Than Sweets

If you haven't already go check out these super cute items/ideas!!  

Now onto this week!!  Feature Yourself Friday will be a place for you to highlight something you've done!!  You can link to blog post or tutorial that you've done or a new item in your shop!  We want to see what YOU have been up to!!

The only rule for linking up is that you become a follower of our blog and check out a few of the other links shared!! YOU DON"T HAVE TO BE A MEMBER OF OUR TEAM TO LINK UP!!!  (Please link up only TWO posts/items each week!)

Each week we'll pick two or three of the link that stand out to us and feature those here on our blog!  It's just a little way to help everyone see what YOU do!!

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Let's see whatcha got this week!!!


~ Sarah @ Sarahndipities