Giveaway: 5x7 print from Megan Cutler

Win this beautiful Merciful 5 x 7 inch Print, sponsored by Megan of Megan Cutler. 

Get to know Megan our Saturday Artisan this week. She is the artist behind Emariecreations. More information is on yesterday's post. 

There are many ways to enter. Please make sure you leave a separate comment for every entry. 

How to enter to win:

Mandatory entry:

• Go to Megan Cutler shop. Return to my Adore By Nat blog and simply leave a comment here about your favorite item from her store.

Extra entries (only qualify once mandatory entry is fulfilled):

• Earn 2 entries - Go to yesterday's post to know her more. Leave a comment there (yesterday's post) on at least one the following: what you learn from the interview, what you want to see more on her shop and why, or any constructive feedbacks are always appreciated. Come back here and leave 2 comments that you did, to ensure your entries are counted.

• Heart Megan Cutler (1 entry). Simply let us know your Etsy username.
• Follow my adorebynat blog (1 entry). If you're already a follower, you still get an entry, just says you're following already.
• Like my Adorebynat Facebook Page. I`d love you to say 'hi' there (don`t be a stranger!) and come back here to leave comment (1 entry). If you liked my FB page already, you still can say hi and earn 1 entry.
• Follow adorebynat on twitter (1 entry).
• Tweet about this giveaway, add "@adorebynat " in your tweet. (1 entry).
• Blog about this giveaway to earn 2 entries. Leave two separate comments here please providing me with the link to your post.
• Be creative and share the love! Refer your friends and family to enter this giveaway. Use your social media (other than twitter and blog) to shout out this giveaway. As long as you provide me a link or a way to confirm it, you'll earn 2 entries (two separate comments).
• Purchase an item from Megan Cutler and earn 10 entries for each purchase. Don't forget letting us know by leaving comments :-)

Contest starts now and ends on February 19, 2011. Contest opens worldwide.

Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you. Entries without contact information will be disqualified. Entries that do not follow the rules will be disqualified. Contest winner will be drawn on Sunday, February 20 by a random number generator, by the artist herself. Winner must respond within 48 hours after being contacted otherwise another winner will be randomly selected.

Saturday Artisan: Baby Chick Designs

Wonderful Saturday Artisan this week is Baby Chick Designs. If you're planning to decorate little one's room, then you may want to visit this great shop to get something special and personalized.

Tell us a bit about yourself and what arts/ crafts that you make?
We make canvas wall art, fine art prints, and growth charts for nurseries and children’s bedrooms/playrooms. My mother is the artist and I handle all of the business side of things! When I was re-decorating my little girl’s room, my mother decided to make some watercolors for her. They were these beautiful barnyard animals designs (which is now our Barnyard Animal Collection.) I knew right away that we should go into business and make these designs available for other families to enjoy at an affordable price.

What is your favourite item in your shop?

My favorite item in our shop right now is the “Safari Giraffe Growth Chart.” This is also one of the most popular designs and the fine art print and canvas wall art Giraffe sells well too!

What is your best seller?

Our best sellers are the Safari Animals Collection, Butterflies with Flowers Collection, and the Transportation Collection. We make our collections in 3’s…so people tend to buy all three designs in a collection for their children’s rooms.

What is your goal for 2010? And are you on the right track?

Our goal for 2010 is to have 10 total collections available for purchase. I think we can make it to nine of those! It is important to have a variety of art for our shop…so people can have lots to choose from. Since it takes my mother 2 months to make a collection, it’s not as fast as other handmade sellers.

What is your favourite tool that you cannot live without?

We just bought a grommet machine for our growth charts…that we cannot live without!

How do you promote your shop?

Facebook, Twitter, my blog, being active in the Etsy forums, and word of mouth!

Any advice for others running their on-line shop?

Communication, fast shipping, and good photos are key! Since you are not in front of the customer to sell your work, these things have to be a priority!

Saving money is important, tell us one thing that you do to save money?

We do all of our own shipping, we buy shipping supplies only when needed, and we’ve negotiate good prices with our vendors!

Any tutorial that you’d like to share, pretty please?

Take quality photos of your work in natural light, then edit them in Picasa, a free software program that you can download to your computer. Use the lightening, highlighting, and shadow features to tweak the photos for the best possible photo.

Here are ways to be in touch with Baby Chick Designs:
Website: http://www.babychickdesigns.com/
Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/babychickdesigns
Twitter: http://twitter.com/babychickdesign
Facebook Fan: http://www.facebook.com/BabyChickDesigns

Stay-tuned for tomorrow's giveaway!