Sunday, June 24, 2012

Etsy Feature: Dream Paper Cut

I know it has been quite a while since I have featured an Etsy shop! Well I'm going to start doing this again, and I have a wonderful shop to start with! Remember if you would like to get a feature, just leave a comment on this feature or send me a convo!


Our names are Dmytro and Luliia, we reside in the Ukraine. We love creativity and handmade items, when you look at them you can feel the inspiration and love of the person who has created them. This is what encouraged us to share our own handmade items with others. Our craft is creating hand-cute paper silhouettes, all from a single sheet of paper where every piece is interconnected.

Tree Branches Handmade Original Papercut Gift: Hand-Cut Paper Art SilhouetteWe took interest in paper silhouettes about a year ago, after which we decided to create our shop on Etsy to share our art with others. But our story begins much before that. As children we visited creative classes such as painting, drawing and paper craft. Growing up and studying at University we didn't pay proper attention to creativity, but it was always in our hearts. One time we created a greeting card with hand-cut elements for our friend's birthday. It was then that we first realized how much creativity was a part of our lives. After that, we took a strong interest in paper cutting and began creating silhouettes.

When we began creating our Etsy shop we wanted a name that was simple and memorable, but at the same time describes the items we are making. This is how we chose the name DreamPapercut. "Dream" because we  were dreaming to do what we loved, and "Papercut" because that is what we like to do. All of our works are made with love and soul. Each piece is inspired by nature, life or people who like our works. Our inspiration often comes when we go for walks in parks or the forests just to enjoy the nature surrounding us. Often we meet with our fiends to help us relax and get new energy to create new original works.
In love Zebras Handmade Original Papercut First Anniversary Paper Gift: Hand-Cut Paper Art Silhouette
Paper cutting is a very amazing process, when you start with just a piece of paper and finish with a beautiful work of art. This process can take several hours or even several days to completely finish. To us these silhouettes are not just sheets of paper, but something we have put our love, care and happiness into. We truly believe people can feel the same emotions when looking at our works.


Other Places you can find DreamPapercut:
Zibbet, Shoply, CraftisArtDawanda, and Facebook.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

The Story behind The Shop

When I think of school lunches my mind automatically thinks of brown paper bags and school lunch lines. Who likes having to cram a drink, a sandwich and a snack into a brown paper bag before running out to catch the bus. If you were lucky you could get a sandwich, a drink and a bag of chips, but knowing most of the time the chips would get put back for the skinnier, and much easier to fit, granola bar. Or even better, forgetting your lunch at home and having to buy a school lunch. Your standing in line trying to figure out what they are about to plop on a tray, hoping it would be something edible like pizza or tacos.

Its these very thoughts that led me to start creating reusable lunch bags. I can't help it if brown bags will never go away, but I can at least try to make them exciting. I know I would have never thought my Etsy shop would be as successful as it has been. When I opened my Etsy shop in my Senior year of high school (2009), reusable bags were just coming out. Most people had no idea what I was talking about or why they should spend money on it when they can get so many more Ziploc's for the same price. 

People just weren't getting it. I had to pretty much close my shop for a couple years, I only kept 2 or 3 items in my shop. I think I did this more because I just wasn't ready to give up on it. I didn't actually want to close my shop and admit defeat.
In the summer of 2011 I had realized more and more people were talking about ways to go green. That's when I realized it was time to get cracking and get my shop up and running again. The Green Haven got a total make over. I got new graphics for my shop, new business cards, address labels, stamps, everything and it all matched! I was ready to go. I spent most of the summer making items in as many different fabrics and styles as I could. Then slowly but surly I started to fill my shop up.

I waited, and waited, and waited. I kept making new things and listing them. I was getting discouraged, that's when I found Heartsy. It was a great way to get my shop out there and have people see it. Plus it would allow me to build up my feedback. It worked just how I had hoped, except my shop was once again empty! But now, I had steady traffic into my shop. It was all I could ask for.