Helping to spread the love!

My sister Rachael has an ETSY store where she makes and sells the cutest little things, mostly purses and wristlets, but lately she has branched out into pottery as well. My other sister Natalie is the pottery artist (with an ETSY store of her own) who has created most of the pottery pieces. I think she started this ETSY store to make some extra cash for herself, but somehow, it turned into a charity store. Since she adopted a little girl from Russia a year and a half ago, she has a soft spot for the orphans left behind still in Russia. Last year she made Christmas extra special for the children in one orphanage in Russia, and this year she plans to do it again, hopefully at 2 different orphanages. She did a really good job of telling the stories on her blog, so I will just give the links here and you can go read them. I have put her ETSY store on my sidebar so scroll through and have a look, and don't hesitate to buy, it's for a good cause.

Here is Katya, her Russian daughter, modeling an apron for the ETSY store. One of the items from her store, it says coffee in Russian.


Okay, here is the links you should check out:

The store: Simple Wishes

Rachael's post about the Simple Wishes grand opening, and how you can win a free gift from the store.

Last Christmas, Rachael's friend Kate, who lives in Russia, bought all the gifts and delivered them to the children, you can read about it HERE.

And last but not least, visit my sister Nat's ETSY store too, because she indirectly donates to Rachael's ETSY store by making, painting, and firing the pottery. So while her store is not all for charity, it does help pay for the pottery and supplies she donates to the simple wishes ETSY store.

America's Next Top Model & Etsy Shop

My niece Kristen may have just gotten her first modeling job. Unfortunately it doesn't pay anything since she'll be working for her mom modeling purses for her new Etsy shop. I was over at their house when we took all these pictures and Kristen was loving the camera like a professional model. She told us she was America's next top model. This is all so different from when she was a little girl. She used to hate having her picture taken, and therefore in almost all of her pictures as a little girl she was rarely smiling and often looks grumpy. It sort of became her signature look in pictures. I think she finally started to like the camera in part due to Auntie Francie who is a bit camera happy and is always taking pictures. Once Kirsten's little brother Jack started allowing Francie to take pictures of him anytime she wanted without putting up a fight, Kristen started to get a little jealous of all the attention. (at least that's how I think it went down). Anyway none the less were all so happy that she is now more than willing to pose for pictures.

A little more about my sisters Etsy shop:

It all started when she taught herself how to sew to make her kids halloween costumes, and she made them all these cute little candy bags to carry (as opposed to a big plastic pumpkin). Then next thing you know she's sewing cute little bags for Kristen and Katya's piano books, and now she's making purses for her Etsy store. The great thing about it is that since November is National Adoption Awareness month she has decided to donate all the proceeds from the store this month to buy christmas gifts for orphans in Russia. You can read more about it on her blog or at her Etsy shop SimpleWishes. Or better yet go online and buy something from her Etsy shop. It's only been up and running for less than 24 hours, she started with only 2 purses on it, and now there is only one left, but check back often, she has many more cute purses that she has already made, she just needs to add them to the store.

Here is pictures of the Halloween bags she made that started the whole thing.