Nikoart Giveaway - June 4th - 10th

Ohhh Nikoart makes the BEST stamps ever. I'm in love with all of her adorable little designs. :) I was so excited when she agreed to this giveaway.. Someones going to be very happy in a week! -JEALOUS FACE- ;)

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Introduce yourself!:)
Hi! My name is Nicole. I'm from the small, rainy town of Hilo, Hawaii (where I was born and raised). After being a perpetual student for waaaaay too long
I finally managed to graduate with a degree in art from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I spend my days with my wonderful boyfriend and three little friends - Hobocat,
Hoborooster and Hobocrayfish. They were all strays (yes, I even the crayfish!) that are now a part of my family.



Tell us a bit about your business..
I've been selling artsy and craftsy stuff under the name "nikoart" since around 2000. I've tried almost everything including selling drawings, paintings, prints, handmade dolls,
cards, stickers, etc. etc. I've only recently begun to find my niche and focus my efforts on my rubber stamp line! My handcrafted stamps have been the most well
received of my products which I am also able to produce reliably. I am a perfectionist and admit that I work at a sloth-like pace so that makes it almost
impossible for me to produce things like my paintings or dolls at a fast enough pace to keep up with demand. I've found that with the rubber stamps I am finally able to come up
with new designs and products at a much more consistent pace than anything else I have tried.



What inspired you to start your etsy shop?
I started out selling my artwork and paintings on eBay in 2000 and worked on craftsy things for fun on the side while attending college. I never really felt like I fit in with
the other artists in the eBay community but at the time it was the only venue I could find that was an easy way to get my work out there and make sales. Then one day in 2005 as
I was browsing through some crafty forum (I forget which one!) I read a post about this new website called etsy that was exclusively for handmade artwork and items and it was
free to join! I posted a few drawings and prints and made a few sales and right away I felt like I had found the perfect home!! I was so excited to find a place with such a
welcoming community of like-minded individuals and it was great that my artwork would no longer get lost among a sea of used louis vuitton bags, care bears and thousands of
other garage sale worthy items (not that I don't like louis vuitton bags, care bears or garage sales...but you know what I mean right?).


When you're not being crafty, what do you do?
I enjoy spending time in the garden with my little troop of hoboes, reading, watching my favorite tv shows (Lost, True Blood, nature documentaries, all those crazy shows about
UFO's and the paranormal and almost anything on PBS!) and riding my bicycle on sunny days. :o)


Whats your favorite book, song, movie & website?
Book: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Song: The Man Who Sold The World by David Bowie (but I love it no matter who sings it)
Movie(s): My Neighbor Totoro, Donnie Darko, Ghost World
Website(s): The Straight Dope - www.straightdope.com
FFFFound - www.ffffound.com
TED - http://www.ted.com/


How do you promote your work?
So far I haven't really done much to promote my work. I don't even have a business card. :oP It is definitely something on my to-do list! Hmm...I guess I try to relist
at least once a day on etsy and I have been fortunate enough to be featured on a few blogs...like this one! (Thanks so much!) I also have a blog (hoboville.blogspot.com) but I
don't update it as often as I should and I'm not sure if anyone even reads it actually. Haha!


What are your short-term & long-term goals?
I'd like to increase traffic to my etsy site, get more wholesale accounts, work on promoting my stuff more and get my own website up and running! In the long term I'd really,
really, reaaallly love to be able to make enough to do this full time and have the people in my life regard "crafting and rubber stamp making" as a legitimate job! heehee.



Tell us something random about you!
I tend to catch a cold at least once a month. Boo. :o(


Do you run Nikoart full time?
Unfortunately no! See above (short & long term goals).

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Item up for grabs: A stamp set of the winners choice from Nikoart!

To enter the giveaway: Go to Nikoart, look around.. come back & tell us your favorite item from her shop!

Earn extra entries:
*Subscribe to our blog.
Do no forget to activate your subscription.
*Blog about this giveaway on your Blog.
Leave a link to your blog in your entry.

You will receive one extra entry into this giveaway for each of the above actions you do.

This giveaway will end on June 10th at 11:30 p.m. (Central Standard Time). The winner will be notified by e-mail and it will be posted Wednesday night on our blog. Please be sure you have provided a valid e-mail address. If there is no e-mail address provided to contact the winner, another name will be drawn. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the e-mail notification with their mailing address. This information will then be forwarded to the sponsor. If this information is not received within 48 hours another name will be drawn.