This Weeks Shop Feature and Giveaway.

Getting To Know The Delicate Shop It Really Adds Something!

A little about the seller

Name (and any aliases you have): My name isAnn, or I go by itreallyaddsomething on the web, some people just call me IRAS.

Hobbies (or just random interests): I love learning and making different crafts which is a given I suppose, but I alsolike: travel (going to Asia in May, I’m so excited!), movies, books, cooking ( I got this killerapple galette recipe, made it twice this week and they’re both gone within a few hours.) , video games (PC and consoles), can eating be a hobby? I love food!!!

Tell me about yourself? I’m a Chinese American gal that currently lives in sunny California with my boyfriend. My mom is a very crafty woman so I think my brother and I got our craftiness from her. I remember I used to make these cute animal masks for myself and my friends when I was in first grade, and when myfamily moved to Taiwan when I was 8, I learned about a lot of great Chinese crafts, like paper carving, Chinese knots, paper lanterns… etc. Some of these we had to learn how to make in art class, but I still enjoy making them nonetheless.

Other etsy shops It Really Adds Something Loves ...
There are too many to choose from, so I’ll just pick a few

I love lizbee’s shop, shemakes beautiful jewelry and I think she is extremely cool as she is the voice of one of my favorite anime, Shin Chan!

papercutsbyjo takes the technique of one of my favorite craft and use it to create more modern and western art! Seeing his art really makes me smile!

mizusugi’s ribbon ball ornaments are simply amazing!

I was only going to list three, but I just have to mention jenngee’s shop. I have never seen coffee corsets before, and hers are so beautiful! I think I’ll have to start drinking coffee now. LOL!

A little about the Store

How long have you been on etsy? I have been on etsy since late February of this year.

What exactly do you do (What do you make?): I make handmade silk thread flowers using a very unique Chinese folk art technique that is disappearing as it involves lots of time and patience to slowly wrap silk threads around paper and wires to create the desired shapes. The silk thread should be carefully placed next to the one before it in order to achieve maximum sheen and smoothness. Besides the traditional form of flowers, I am also starting to make my craft into different forms, like butterflies, four leaf clovers, and my most recent design which I haven’t showed it to anyone (as of now) besides my boyfriend and my very first customer is the double hearts. It is kind of difficult to explain what I do, but if you take a look at the last photo of each of my listing, you'll be able to see a little bit of the process.

How did you first pick up your craft? I learned this craft from my grand aunt when I was about 9 years old. She was one of the few people that still teaches this craft so I was able to learn from the best, and I’ve been making these beautiful silk thread wrapped flowers ever since.

Favorite thing about it: I like the fact that it can stand the test of time. Even though it is a traditional art form, it can still be made to have a modern appeal.

Any inspirations? My inspirations comes from a lot of places, nature, TV shows, maybe something I saw while reading a magazine, when I play games… you never know when or where an idea will come to you.

Featured Items:

3 color silk flower brooch
Royal blue flower necklac
Lucky Charm

What makes these so special: I chose these three items as they are a great representation of my work. The brooch is very close to the one I learned to make when I was a kid. I really like the necklace because I came up with this design myself, it was by accident, though; I was holding the little flowers together thinking of what I should do with them, and it hit me: “it looks great just like this!!! Very simple and pretty!”

As for the Lucky charm, believe it or not, that one little four leaf clover took me longer to make than the three flower brooch. The leaves had to be a certain shape and angle otherwise the silk thread will not wrap right, but I still needed it to look like a clover, so it took a lot of trials and errors to make it work. I almost gave up at one point, but I'm glad I didn't cause it's one of my favorite piece.

SALE ...

Anyone who makes a purchase and mentions that they found my store from De Lavande’s blog during the week of the article will receive free shipping.

CONTEST GIVEAWAY ...

This weeks Winner will get a royal blue or silver flower necklace from It Really Adds Something, Winner’s choice.

TO ENTER : Go to It Really Adds Something's shop pick a favorite item and post the link or name here on the blog. Sunday the 29th the winner will be random picked, name posted and contacted. Gook Luck Everyone !

MORE ITEMS FROM IT REALLY ADDS SOMETHING ...