EggTeam's June 2010 Etsy Featured Seller

Give a shout out to: Laura of Etsy Shop Zulamay

You can find her Etsyshop at: http//www.etsy.com/shop/zulamay

Zulamay is Laura's home decor shop specializing in creatively designed pillows aimed at bringing a splash of color and convenience to your home. The Book Nook pillow holds your latest read, your reading glasses and the TV remote. Story Time pillows and the custom pillows are hand-stamped and created with love. All of Zulamay's pillows are completely washable!

The winner of this month's giveaway will receive Zulamay's custom Alphabet Pillow. You can view it here: http//www.etsy.com/listing/48292410/alphabet-pillow

Laura currently operates her Etsy shop from Detroit, Michigan. She's a bit of a traveler having grown up in Peoria, Illinois, and Raleigh, North Carolina. Her adventuresome spirit took her to Spain after high school where she spent a couple of years living in Leon and Madrid. She then returned to the United States to attend Michigan State University. In just the last year, Laura has lived in Peoria, Minneapolis and Detroit!! In total, she has traveled to 10 countries and has actually lost count of how many states she's visited! Her stunning pillows are created at night following a full day working in the advertising business. Although she loves to travel, she call Detroit home for now and hopes to settle there for awhile. Laura hopes one day to return to Spain or possibly start a new adventure in Istanbul with her boyfriend.

When she is not working on items for her shop, Laura works full-time as a Planner at an ad agency. She tells us a planner is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. Planners get that name because they "plan" a client's business future, working with everything from launching new products to maintaining current brands.

Laura has been interested in art and design as far back as she can remember and is the product of three generations of inspiring women. In fact her shop, Zulamay, is named after her grandmother, Zula. Not only did grandma Zula sew her own clothes, but she was a painter, as well. However, Laura's true inspiration comes from her mother, an art historian. As a result of her mom's work, Laura grew up with piles of art books around the house which covered everything from Greek to Modern artists. It is these family traditions that help Laura find her own inspiration and style in just about everything that crosses her path from books and magazines to television and art museums. She favors Impressionist painters--Degas, Monet, Cassat, and Matisse.

A self-admitted obsessive reader, Laura has been known to get in an elevator and read the emergency instructions "simply because I have twenty seconds of free time and there are words posted on the wall." Her favorite magazine is Marie Clare, because it blends beauty and brains. Laura never tires of reading about women who have big dreams for their lives and businesses. The last book she read was "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It tops her list of favorite things. As for her other favorite things--food and chocolate--next to a good book is there really anything else?!?

Laura openned her Etsy shop, Zulamay, and became a member of the EggTeam in January 2010. She finds that the team is truly a team of friends who serve as each other's sounding boards, support network and promoters. She's grateful for all of her team members! Laura has these words of wisdom to share with other artists, "There will always be critics. There will always be people who tell you "No". The trick is to learn when to listen to them and when to ignore them. I think that just takes practice."

Some of her goals for the next five years are to grow her business and to start participating in local craft fairs. She has no plans to quit the advertising business any time soon as she truly enjoys the work and working with so many creative people. Laura's ultimate goal is to continue to be able to manage it all in her own unique style!

**In order to qualify for Laura's giveaway, you must comment on this post by telling us what your favorite item is in Zulamay's shop. Please include your email address in your post The deadline for qualifying is: June 30, 2010. Don't forget you can earn additional entries as detailed below.

Here's how to earn extra entries for the Featured Seller Giveaway (one additional entry is earned for EACH step that you complete:

• Go to the featured seller's shop & heart an item then come back here, link to it & tell us why you hearted that item
• Become a follower of this blog (just leave a comment if you're already a followe
• Blog about this giveaway--leave a separate comment with the blog link. Your blog post must link back to this giveaway post
• Tweet about this givewaway--leave a separate comment with the twittered link & your twitter username
• "Like" or "Comment" on this giveaway on Facebook & 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 most unique shops found on Etsy & to earn a great gift along the way!!!