weekly giveaway - beauty spot:

i really like jewelry :) when i came across the jewelry shop, beauty spot, it really stood out to me. this beautiful jewelry is created by polina & sergey - they make their jewelry in the lovely country of Kiev, Ukraine. their pieces are all so sweet and special, many pieces feature original artwork from ukrainian artists. this week's giveaway is a generous $50 gift certificate (excluding shipping) to anything in polina & sergey's shop! and they're offering a special reader discount too: read below for more details!

shop | flickr | deviantart

win: $50 gift certificate to

beauty spot!

Hello, please tell us a little about yourself + your beautiful shop: Well, we are jewelry-makers. And it's hard to add something because it's all we do:) Polina used to work as a cinema director and Sergey was a graphic designer. So we transformed our skills into a new form of creativity and and this is where our jewelry comes from. Now we run a small studio in Kiev, Ukraine. Till the may 2010 we worked only locally, but now we've opened EtsyShop too.

How did you get started making your lovely jewelry? One day we just couldn't find gift for our friend. We were looking at web, at shops, everywhere. And finally we figured out: "We can make it ourselves". Then we made our first earrings, then an another pair and more and more. It started just as a hobby two years ago, but soon it became our full-day job. It was not an easy to quit our previous jobs, but it was a right choice.

What inspires you day to day? Every piece of our jewelry is a little story. And these simple stories are all around us. It could be words from book, beautiful shots from different photographers, something from a movie we liked or anything around us. That's why we often make jewelry in different styles, we love vintage and modern at the same time and we try to put all this love into our works.

Any advice for aspiring small business owners? We are great fans of friendly customer service so our tips are all around it. We have three simple rules:

1. Be nice to your customers: If they ask you for something try to do your best. Always be ready for a dialogue with them. Don't hesitate to make a gift or give a discount.
2. Make buying from you a pleasure: Make it easy to find you. Make a great presentation of your items. Make it easy to buy. And ship as soon as you can:)
3. Don't be lazy: Sometimes people think handmade business is easy. But it's not true. It's a hard work 24/7. Even when you sleep;) So you should be ready for it and really love all things you do.

receive 10% off your entire order!

beauty spot has kindly offered a special exclusive discount for oh, hello friend readers. receive 10% off your purchase, good till july 9th! simply enter code "ohhellofriend" at checkout and you'll be refunded after purchase.

3 chances to win!

( COMMENT TO WIN )

simply visit beauty spot and leave a comment

with your favorite item from their shop.

( +1 EXTRA ENTRY )
twitter, facebook, or blog about this giveaway.

come back & comment with the link! if you twitter, please

tag it with @ohhellofriend so i can track your tweet!

( +1 MORE EXTRA ENTRY )

become a twitter / blogger follower or a facebook fan,

leave a comment letting me know which site you follow for an extra entry!

(note: please only comment once for what site you are a follower of)

giveaway ends on monday, july 5 at 8am, pst

please check back next week to see if you are the lucky winner!