EggTeam's Etsy Featured Seller Giveaway

Join the fun with the EggTeam's Featured Seller Giveaway! Each month you'll find an Etsy seller featured here on the EggTeam blog. The featured seller will identify a task that will earn you one entry to the giveaway for that month. One additional entry is offered for completing another one or more of the following five options for up to 5 additional entries:

1. Go to the featured seller's shop & heart an item in the shop. Come back here, link to it and tell us why you hearted that item.
2. Become a follower of this blog (just leave a comment if you are already a follower).
3. Blog about this giveaway--leave a separate comment with the blog link. Your blog post must link back to this giveaway post.
4. Tweet about this giveaway--leave a separate comment with the twittered link and your twitter username.
5. "Like" or "Comment" on this giveaway on Facebook and leave a link to your FB page in your comment.

Don't be shy! Here's your chance to get to know some of the best shops found on Etsy and to earn some great gifts along the way!!

May 2010 Etsy Featured Seller

Meet Melanie! She has two active shops on Etsy which are:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/soapaddicts

http://www.etsy.com/shop/reducereuserepurpose

Soapaddicts is her shop specializing in handmade soaps and assorted bath and body products. Reducereuserepurpose is Melanie's second shop, dedicated to saving the earth by recycling, repurposing and reusing all manner of things into upcycled goodies. The winner of this month's giveaway will have their pick of one item from Soapaddicts AND a set of color therapy dolls & complete set of Recipe Files from Reducereuserepurpose. Deadline for qualifying entries is: May 30, 2010. Winner will be notified on or before June 5, 2010.

Melanie operates her Etsy shops from Orlando, Florida. She's only been in the "Sunshine State" for about five years and is actually a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent. She is a swapaholic and loves to join in tea swaps as a member of swapbot.com. When she is not working on items for her shop, Melanie can be found working on an online degree for medical billing and coding, spending time with her boyfriend or reading. Her other interests include: music, writing, flea markets, rummage/yard sales and farmer's markets. She loves animals, especially dogs and is the proud owner of three beagles. Some of her favorite things include: chocolate, ancient Roman and Egyptian architecture, the Harry Potter books & movies, her own bacon ranch mashed potatoes, modpodgerocks.blogspot.com, history in general, and listening to other people.

For as long as she can remember, Melanie has been making things, drawing and writing. Her artistic talents were a gift from her birth parents. When she lived in New York city she would spend hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History and the Guggenheim Museum and was greatly inspired by collections found in those institutions. But she also finds inspiration for her art in people, places and things that surround her everyday. When working on an upcycled project, it is the recycled object itself that speaks to her of its new possibilities. New soap and bath & body products are often inspired by her moods.

Melanie is the founder and team leader for the EggTeam, aka the Etsy Goodie Goodies Street Team. Her desire to do good things, no matter what they are or how big or small, was her motivation for creating the EggTeam. Etsy officially recognized the team on February 1, 2010, and it's been full steam ahead ever since. The EggTeam is actively seeking new members and currently includes Etsy members from around the globe. The team is about having fun, supporting each other, helping promote each other's shops and doing good deeds overall. The team's latest joint venture was to provide handmade blankets for the dogs and cats of the New York SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). But as Melanie says, "We don't only do good deeds in a huge team way, but in little spurts as well. For example, I go around the (Etsy) forums and help where I can--when I see a question I can answer or post a link to information someone is looking to find. . . .So you see, doing good deeds does not need to be an activity, but just being a good-hearted person overall." Way to go Mel!!

An Etsy member since 2006, Melanie has these words of wisdom to share with other artists, "Do NOT give up! Keep pushing yourself to be the best that you can and if you're selling online keep giving it your all." As Melanie sees it--you can't expect the money to come rolling in overnight, but you can expect a sense of satisfaction when you've made that first sale and get that first piece of awesome feedback!

Melanie sees herself having a flourishing business over the next five years--a business that has name recognition and that will help her be self-supporting. Less stress, a larger home, a trip to the European continent and Egypt and someone to share it all with, are also on her agenda. Success is sure to be just around the corner for determined shop owner, Melanie!

**In order to qualify for Melanie's giveaway, you must comment on this post by telling us: 1) What do you do to save the earth? and, 2) What is your favorite fragrance?

Both answers should be in one post which should also include your email address. Don't forget you can earn additional entries as detailed above. Good luck!