Shopping Local: Plano Etsy artists

by Laura Evans

Plano Etsy artists share their love of lip balms, knitting and clocks.

I’ll admit, I love to shop. But in a country where mass production and assembly line products rule the stores, it can be difficult to find those one-of-a-kind items with the handmade touch.

Etsy.com, built in 2005, is an online store where shoppers and artists can buy and sell their unique, handmade artworks and crafts. With over 200,000 artists, you can find anything and everything on this site. Dying for 1990 George W. Puffin' a Doobie - cut coin pendant? Or perhaps you've been searching for a Barack Obama I Need A Change Onesie? Etsy's got it!

The best part is you can shop while supporting your local community. Just type in your city and state on the "shop local" page and up pops your local Etsy artisans. In this series I'll be going from town to town looking for local artists to feature, with the help of Etsy's shop local function.

Throw away your waxy, chemical-filled lip balms and slap on some of Christy Wolfe's petroleum free, natural lip balm.

Frustrated with the ingredients and waxy brand name lip balms and chap sticks, Christy began experimenting with her own recipe of lip balms and testing them out on friends and family. Soon after perfecting her recipe she opened her Etsy store, The Plaid Mushroom, in November 2007. The Plaid Mushroom features her line of lip balms of many different scents, flavors and colors.

"Petroleum is bad for your lips. Yes, it is shiny and silky and feels good, but what it's doing is coating... the surface of your lips, preventing anything from penetrating them... oxygen or moisture," said Christy Wolfe. "The ingredients I use penetrate the lips and moisturize them at the cellular level instead of just coating the surface. It's like lotion. It works from the inside out."

While she does not make enough money from her Etsy business to be full-time yet, it does pay for itself and she looks forward to selling and creating more in the future. In the meantime, Christy works as a promotional model for corporate events, tradeshows, conventions, and the occasional commercial or print work.

Kitman Figueroa has joined the now popular hand-knitting revival in hopes of changing the perception people have of hand-knitting to a more modernized, fashionable activity and look.

"I think there are still many people out there [who] have the wrong concept about knitting as they think it is something that only old ladies love to do," remarked to Figueroa. "Also, they think knitting items are dull, rough and ugly. I hope to change people's mind through my knitting products. So I could make them to see and understand that fashionable modern knitting can be as nice as machine made."

Born in Malaysia, Kitman moved to the states three years ago and a year later started her Etsy store, Kitfig, where she sells hand-knitted accessories and clothing. While she creates clothes from her own patterns to sell on Etsy, she also enjoys creating custom orders that she gets from her Etsy customers. This is her part-time job and she is also a home-stay housewife.

Kelly Underwood spends her time, pun intended, designing and decorating clocks for her Etsy store Time Style Clock Designs. She has a wide range of designs for her clocks, some that are elegant and subtle in design, and others that consist of vibrant colors and funky designs.

"Why clocks? Time is an integral part of our daily lives and in this case, a personal reflection of style," explained Underwood.

Kelly uses several methods to decorate her clocks including painting and decoupage. She is currently studying photography at Collin County Community College and spends the other half of her time being a mom.

• Shopping Local: Dallas Etsy Artists
• Shopping Local: Fort Worth Etsy Artists
• Shopping Local: Arlington Etsy Artists

Find more Plano Etsy artists here

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