Giveaway Day #9: Esightler Designs

I guess by now you have heard that my special giveaway event has been extended to ten days!! woo hooo! More giveaway goodness for everyone! I hope you are entering all the giveaways and gaining as much entries as possible! I'm so glad at the amazing response that I have received! So worth all the sweat and hard work!


When I first approached Beth to do a giveaway, I received the most amazing email! She truly made me laugh and smile! She was so entertaining and I enjoyed reading all the emails she sent me! She told me all about her vacation and about how she had a masked visitor who had brought along some friends! (They were raccoons by the way!)! Anyways I really appreciated it because I love getting to know my sponsors and how they work! seriously you are going to love her interview!

Her shop esightler Designs is full of yummy goodness! I loved looking through each piece as well as how her motto is "Life is better decorated" I whole-heatedly agree with that! I mean who wants to go through life all dull and boring when you can be sparkly and shiny? I love all her button rings which are actually vintage buttons full of rhinestones that she has collected over the years! I really love how her pieces are full of history and each can tell a story of it's own! Mm and I love how she models her pieces too so you can see how they would fall! Plus she's so pretty!

But the designs that I love most are her nest inspired pieces! There are so many handstamped pieces out there that celebrate birthdays as well as family so I thought that Beth had put such a unique spin on this trend! I have never seen a necklace where it is a nest filled with pearls that are in the hue of birthstones! Seriously what a great idea! No wonder she is currently nestmaking like crazy! She uses sterling and other wires and pearls in birthstone colours and whips them into necklaces and even rings! I really love the idea that this nest holds pearl eggs that are the symbols of your family and that their love can be symbolized in such a unique design! And you know what else is awesome? She oxidizes her jewelry using eggs from her own chickens! So you really are getting eggs in so many different aspects!


Here is her interview:

Name: Elizabeth Mead Sightler

Name of shop: esightler Designs

Location: Lovely, lakeside Burlington, Vermont

Favourite item from your shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28993883 Right now I am enchanted with the idea behind the "A Room of One's Own" nest. It is a nest necklace made of a light gauge copper wire and a single sapphire colored freshwater pearl. The name is from the Virginia Woolf book of the same name and it related to how important it is for women to have their own space. Her book was about being alone to write, and I see this meaning to include all those stolen moments that women deserve, when we are alone to create and not take care of others. Also, this particular design was inspired by a woman who was leaving a hometown to go out on her own. She was feeling lonely and homesick, so I came up with the idea that - in a sense - she could bring it with her. Her birthday is in September, thus the sapphire. Her big brother commissioned it for her, which I thought was so tender.

Tell us a little more about yourself:

My friends call me Beth (please do!) and I live in the beautiful Green Mountain State of Vermont. I work as a social worker, and went to school to study Studio Art/Environmentalism - which is sort of social work, too I suppose - if it's done well.

I have worked as a bicycle courier, a woodenboat restorer, a baker...and a plethora of other quirky and fun jobs along the way. I love wind and at one point a former partner and I had seven motorcycles - including the one in the kitchen we were rebuilding - in various states of functionality. I like to run. I like to dance. I like to sing - but my husband tells me I shouldn't do it too much outside the home.

I drag my artists heart through everything I do and designing jewelry provides a foundation for my self-indulgent self-expression...and I am unapologetic about that. Being able to unleash creatively helps me to behave much better out there in the real world where I am a consummate professional by day...and something entirely different by the light of the moon. Shhhhh...

I have been painting and printmaking and drawing forever and come from a family where art was a given. My mother is a silhouette artist and my father is a painter and woodsman. About two years ago I started making jewelry - for myself and for friends - but it became compulsive. Now I lie awake at night designing pieces and lining up colors and textures to glow and try to decorate this life just a little more. I understand - with my heart - that jewelry has the power to evoke a special time, whether it's sentimental, joyous or even tender. Being asked to design something that honors this is my strongest and most valuable work. I am still so grateful for this journey.

I have 4 boys, a delicious husband and I have never had a motorcycle license.

When and what made you want to open up your shop?

I heard about selling online in different venues from a friend who is an artist. My husband signed me up (ah....foolish, foolish man...) and onc e I listed my first item I was completely enraptured...that was three years ago...I think, I have lost track of time.

Tell us a little bit more about your creation process:
It is constant. I engage in life and am open to experiences a s they come. I am inspired by poems, and art and songs. For me this translation - into a two-dimensional medium - just works for me now. Staying open and not being encumbered by the "business" aspects of this work is my most challenging tension. I carry jewelry making designs everywhere...EVERYWHERE. My desk, my friends homes, vacation...you name it and I have my tools and latest findings that pique my interest. MY friends and family are very supportive, or forgiving...so far.

Where do you draw inspiration for all your amazing designs?
Mostly from women and their deep, loving hearts. I try to make pieces that are bold enough to be whimsical, different and wearable. And not fussy and/or self-indulgent ( I HATE that). I love to look at Jewelry and am often inspired by other artist and use their designs as jumping off points. It's so important for us to support each other and to bolster each other's creativity.

If you could be an animal what would you be and why?
House cats have it made (well ours does, at any rate), dolphins seems pretty happy but we keep hitting them with boats and catching them in nets - to that would sure dampen that lifetime. I love crows, not ravens like bonefide artsy folks would say, but everyday crows. They always seem to be chattering on, they play in the snow...and they are fiercely protective of their young - like me. I think I'll have to go with the corvids.

If you could have one super power what would it be and why?
Well, I would hate for anything that seems so precious and impossible to become ordinary to be...I mean, wouldn't it be sad if reading each others minds became blase, or turning things to ice was ho-hum? I think I would go with time-travel because authenticating genuine antiques would be so cool. And I would like to go back and figure out what the heck happened at Roanoke! Is time travel a superpower? It must be...it's super AND powerful, right?


The Giveaway:

Beth has been so kind to offer one very lucky reader a Family Nest of their own!! That means you can work with her which is a prize in itself to customize the pearls to fit your family and be a true representation of your love!!

This giveaway is valued at $50!!!

How to Enter:

1) You must go to esightler Designs and choose another piece of jewelry that catches your eye and let me know in a comment (1 entry) MANDATORY!

2) If you are a new blog follower you get four extra entries

3) For my loyal blog followers you rock! And since I love you so much, you guys get six extra entries

4) Post my button up on my blog for five extra entries

5) Blog about this giveaway! Please include a link to esightler Designs: (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5757574) and also mention that I am having an Eight Day Giveaway Event and you will get five extra entries

6) If you make a purchase from esightler Designslet me know for ten extra entries!

7) Heart esightler Designs etsy shop (Don't forget to leave me your etsy name!) for two extra entries!

8) Go become a facebook fan of esightler Designs here! Let me know your facebook name and you get two entries!

9) Give Beth some blog love and leave a comment on her blog for two extra entries! Don't forget to tell me which blog entry you commented on!

10) For every giveaway that you enter on my site let me know for one extra entry! (Current giveaways only! Past giveaways don't count!)

To save you time, you can just say "I'm a current follower" or " I have your button on my blog" instead of having to make different entries! I'll calculate them all up for you! =)But please leave a separate comment for each group of entries (For example there would be two comments if you are a follower and for your favorite design)

Wow so many ways to win this awesome prize! This giveaway will end on September 20th!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for another great giveaway!