{CUSTOMIZE} Your Dream Wedding With ETSY - An Interview With a Fizzy Bride // Wedding Day Prep (Vol. 5)

QUESTION: What makes a beautiful damask
printed and imperial purple designed
wedding more personalized and unique?

ANSWER: Find as many custom, ETSY,

one-of-a-kind items as possible!

Sean and Candice - 6.19.10

In the first year of painting my custom glassware there was a BOOM of orders that came in the fall for upcoming weddings. One of my first large Bridal Party orders was a purchase made by Candice, a bride-to-be from Illinois. A couple of months after the purchase this Fizzy Bride realized that we had gone to high school together! Yup, we both graduated in the class of 2000 from a high school in Rockford, IL. What a small world. This made working on her custom glasses even more exciting and enjoyable.

Now, a year later, I asked my old friend Candice to answer a couple of questions about her Fizzy Experience. On top of having some of the most beautiful photos from her wedding on Facebook, I also found that I was one of MANY Etsy shops that she and her groom utilized for their
custom dream wedding!

All of the beautiful "WEDDING DAY" photography was perfectly
captured by AE Photography located in Lindwood, IL

Check out their blog too!

How did you hear about Etsy.com? I think it was a random search when I was looking for a personalized item a few years ago. I can’t remember the exact way, but once I found it, I was addicted!

How did you find out about my products on ETSY? An Etsy search. I was looking for bridal party gifts and came across your custom glassware.

What is it about my products that made you decide to purchase? They looked SO unique and fun! I loved the idea of having personalized gifts that could be used after the wedding too, and I especially like doing something different. No one had seen anything like this and it was one of the main details people commented on at the rehearsal dinner where we gave the gifts!

How/why did you decide what products to buy?  It was hard to decide since I liked all of the options. We decided to go with the Bridal Party design: wine glasses for all the women and beer pint glasses for all the men. We ended up with a huge order, as we had a wedding party of 12 total, including us, plus 2 junior groomsmen, and we bought for our parents as well to add to their gifts. I also got the bride and groom champagne flutes for the wedding toast. I love having those to keep and display in our home after the wedding day. (20 glasses total)

What was it like to receive your Fizzy Glassware? As far as receiving the glassware package in the mail -- can you say 'excited much?' I had to open and unwrap everything immediately! I took pictures on my phone to sent them to my fiancé just because I had to show someone.

What was it like to gift your Fizzy Glassware to your Bridal Party? How did the members in the party react? I am always super impatient with giving gifts, and this was definitely hard to keep a secret! Both my fiancé and I were excited to give the gifts and everyone loved them! As a side note, we gifted the glasses to all ages, from 7 to 55 and they were just as well-received from all ages, so this is really a gift anyone would love.

Would you purchase from my shop again? Yes, in fact I already have. I ordered 2 Christmas gifts -- one lips wine glass and one mustache glass. I almost didn’t want to give them away because I wanted one for myself!

Did you add other Etsy finds into your wedding experience? Oh my, YES! What didn’t I get from Etsy? Lots of inspiration too, but here is a list of some of the Etsy purchases that found their way into my wedding. I really bought as much as I could from Etsy to help support handmade and to help make my traditional wedding a little more “us.”

The largest purchase from Etsy was my felt button
 flower order of bouquets/boutonnieres/corsages.
- by reallybadkitty

One of the most important things was a family

union necklace that my new hubby gave my son

during our ceremony. In marrying me, he takes my 

son into his family. - by CharOuellette

Cufflinks, for the men of the bridal party,
were purchased from various sellers.
Mostly from nostalgiclinks
and littleangelsjewelry

My veil - by abusymother

Damask table squares for the reception - by DarlingDamask

My wedding day jewelry - by livelovebead

Hair flower clips for the girls and myself - by silverpencils

Feather guest book pen  - by creations4brides

Other accessory gifts for bridal party gifts
- by pookafan, dillybaby, TagsOnBags

Purse for myself and my flower girl - by ocstylescreations

Place cards, table numbers by my2cheeks and
programs by mybluetulipdesign

Custom cake topper (Etsy Seller Unknown)

Desserts for rehearsal dinner and as part of
thank yous for the wedding shower by hitsthespot

Plus a ton more, really, but those are the main things!

How was the overall wedding day? A blur! It sounds cliché but it was one of the best days of my life =)

Do you have any more overall comments? I think this is already long, so not really, just that I love what you (the FizzyArtist) do and I hope your business continues to grow!

Thank you Candice for a wonderful

interview and for showing us how

beautiful your customized and

"ETSY-FIED" wedding day turned out!

What a {SWEET} year! // Announcing My Top Buyer for 2010: Lauren Hamblin



I opened my Etsy shop to sell my handpainted glassware in February 2009. I started to make sales here and there later that summer. So this last year has been my first solid year of being a full-time business owner of the FizzyArtist Custom Glassware. Lots of changes have come about since I opened nearly two years ago, but there has been pivotal growth since last January. 2010 has been such a sweet year in so many ways! As I get excited to start fresh with 2011, I thought I should stop and reflect on all of the "fizzy" moments over the last 12 months.

Medium Planner Book
by mod86designery

As the year began, I took ownership of the new title entrepreneur very seriously and became involved in a business owner small group that gave me accountability and resources to set me up for new successes. I quickly realized that my business was about to go to the adolescence stage. Even though the growth became overwhelming, I did my best to take things day by day. I love dreaming about where my FizzyArtist Glassware will take me and what my brand will look like someday!

I started the year with a surprising not-so-slow January. Spring wedding orders slowly started to pour in. One of my goals for 2010 was to get an ad in a magazine and by mid-January, I was contacted by Wedding Style from California to see if I was interested in being featured!

April was my first slammin' month of sales,

they creeped right under 10k.

I took time of over the Easter Holiday to visit my sister,
brother-in-law, and to meet my new niece in NYC.

By June my schedule was booked solid for the next eight weeks with orders. My schedule continued that way until late October.

In late June, I took my first international vacation
to Australia. I visited with two girlfriends from
high school who lived there at the time.

After my trip to Australia things became a bit blurry! I already had July and August completely booked when I got home and the orders kept coming in. It was a never-ending snowball effect. Every week I would paint and ship out approximately 60-80 glasses and in the same breath that many were purchased for upcoming orders in the fall. Some days I would paint large orders of 20 glasses and would work on them all day and into the evening. Sometimes I couldn't get them done with enough time to ship so I would have to Express Mail the order to arrive when they were requested.

By fall, I was exhausted and energized by the non-stop pace at the same time. Not only was I painting at least 80 glasses a week, I also was managing the business the best that I could. Thankfully, I had assistants that I could rely on for help. Over the year I have had several friends work for me a couple of hours each week. They have helped me with packaging, post office runs, shopping for glassware, organizing, blogging and painting. I also had to hire a financial advisor, bookkeeper and accountant. Without all of the help that I have had, I know I wouldn't have been able to make it. 

At least by the end of the year, things began to slow down a bit. My holiday season was not as crazy as last year and I am very thankful for the break. Now I am refreshed and ready to go. Bring on the weddings! The FizzyArtist is ready for another sweet year!

Announcing My Top Buyer for 2010:

Lauren Hamblin

Lauren has been a repeat buyer for as long as I can remember! I would see her name on an Etsy order with a note saying, "I'm back and I love your stuff!" Being young (like myself) many of Lauren's friends have been getting married. Some of them have had weddings that are out of town. So Lauren has purchased a couple of my "Bride and Groom" sets and had them shipped straight to the couple in another state. As my business has taken off, she has watched how busy I've become compared to the early days when she made her first purchase.

"Hi!  Thanks again! I always love ordering from you -

and I'm so glad your business is doing so well! :)"
 - Lauren

As the year came to an end, I saw a holiday order come in from Lauren for some of her family. She had purchased my "About Me" designs and I somehow got the greatest idea. I decided to make Lauren her very own glass, but wanted it to be a surprise. So I sent her an email saying that I would like to feature her on my blog as my top buyer and would like to use a picture of her. What she didn't know was that I would also use that photo to make her an "About Me" glass! I was so excited to wrap it up with the rest of her order the week before Christmas. Of course, the day the package had arrived I had a lovely "thank you" email from her and this adorable picture of her and the glass. The perfect touch, my plan had worked!

Thank you Lauren for your business and support!

I hope everyone has an even sweeter 2011!
- The FizzyArtist

Check out my latest treasury below.

Click on the title to see it in all its glory.

'What a {SWEET} year!' Treasury by the FizzyArtist

kikuike $100.00	tomkatstudio $7.50	NestPrettyThin... $20.00
wiyomu $25.00	CharmingNecess... $18.50	SoStinkingSwee... $8.50
cakepopbakesho... $33.00	mcgino $38.00	dearmachine $10.00
mojospastyle $28.00	vintagescrapsh... $2.00	DearGoldenVint... $64.00
YourVinylAnswe... $12.99	skeptis $25.00	GwenDelicious $32.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Treat your grandparents this holiday season!

The holiday season is fast approaching! And that means shopping -- full parking lots, long lines, gift receipts, wrapping paper, wish lists and (oh yeah...) the perfect gifts!

As the countdown on shopping days dwindles, you might be wondering what to get your parents or grandparents. Does your grandma always seem to have a batch of cookies fresh out of the oven? What about your Papa? He's always sneaking you a hard candy from his coat pocket. A treat jar would be practical, so they can keep those goodies in one spot, ready for snacking!

Family Treat Jars - Holiday Section

by the FizzyArtist

If you want to let your grandparents know how extraordinary they are and how much they mean to you, a pair of slippers just won’t do it. Treat them with something unique and special.

Each treat jar is custom-painted to feature look-a-like cartoon portraits of your family. Grandma will have a brand new way to show off her family!

Why not fill the jar with some of their favorite goodies and watch the excitement when they open their thoughtful gift from you!

I found these wonderful goodies from some other Etsy shops!

Southern red velvet cake sandwich cookies

by crumblescookies

Yogurt Trail Mix

by bumblebeesknee

Dark Chocolate Mint Truffles

by champagnechocolate

So, skip the crowded malls and stores, treat your special grandparent to this treat jar by ordering now and having it delivered to your home just in time for the holidays!

~ The FizzyArtist