weekly giveaway - Minxshop:

Weekly giveaways are back! This week's is from a shop I'm sure you've seen around etsy: Minxshop. Minkie's shop is full of the prettiest clothes and original designs. She is also celebrating her 1 year anniversary this week, so exciting! :) See below for a reader discount. This week you have a chance to win a $50 gift certificate from her shop to spend toward anything you'd like!

Hi! Please tell us a little about yourself and your shop: I am inherently chameleon-like in my habits and styles. I have a penchant for hot tea, pterodactyls, staying up late, not sleeping enough, and collecting things I find in the woods. I’ve only been selling on Etsy for a year, but you can already see some of the changes in my designs and style since I started. My designs are becoming less traditionally girly, and more distressed (although still beautiful) as I move from a more vintage-inspired design aesthetic, to one that is slightly more modern and dark. I’m constantly inspired by new discoveries, and new developments in fashion, and these are usually transferred to my work pretty quickly. I strive to make most everything I design wearable, comfortable, and flattering for a lot of figures. Occasionally I get distracted by extravagance and stray from that goal, but I continue to return. I want my clothes to be interesting, but still approachable and wearable on a regular more daily basis.

How did you get started making your lovely products: Well, they certainly weren’t lovely to begin with. Everything I’ve learned has been self taught, which means I started “sewing” by speed stitching crooked hems into vintage dresses, gluing buttons onto things, and bedazzling everything I could reach. I sold DIY clothing on Ebay way back when it first became a craze, and it gave me the time to really work on my sewing skills, understand a bit better how a woman’s body works, and exactly how to fit a garment around it. Altering vintage dresses led to altering t-shirts, which eventually became such a complicated process that I realized I might as well start making clothes from scratch. Eventually I learned to sew in straight lines, and to work with bust lines and hips. With even more time, I learned to make garments that were not only interesting, but wearable. It’s taken literally years and years of practice, experimentation, and more than a dozen needle-sized stab wounds.

Any advice for small or aspiring business owners? Don’t be afraid. Look before you leap, but don’t over analyze. Remember that no one is watching you as closely or critiquing your work as much as you think. Don’t be afraid to fail, because everyone does at some point. It’s more important that you try. Over and over if necessary. Advice for small business owners seems endless, but I think the most important thing is to stubbornly keep doing what you love, and follow your desires.

receive 10% off your entire order!

Minxshop

is offering a 10% discount to everyone to celebrate her one year anniversary! Simply enter code "HappyAnniversary" at checkout to receive the discount!

3 chances to win!

( COMMENT TO WIN )

simply visit Minxshop and leave a comment

with your favorite item from Minkie's shop.

( +1 EXTRA ENTRY )
Twitter or Facebook about this giveaway.

Come back & comment with the link!

*note: if you twitter, p

lease tag it with @ohhellofriend

so I can keep track of entries!

( +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, January 17th at 8am, pst

Check next week's new giveaway to see if you are the lucky winner!