My MARESAR Signature Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Earrings - on their way to a BRIDE on her WEDDING DAY!

These simple, elegant and timeless earrings will soon be worn on a BRIDE'S WEDDING DAY! Make sure to check back in for when I post the pictures!



siempre- dorana

myHandmadeRegistry.com - FEATURED ON ETSY.COM!

myHandmadeRegistry.com is FEATURED ON ETSY.COM's BLOG!

On the morning of March 4th as I was in the middle of managing a dozen open windows on my browser and returning emails, running chat rooms and ignoring my blackberry, I noticed its little corner light flashing red out of the corner of my eye... I grabbed it and quickly skimmed through the message titled, "wedding registry" and read,

"hey there, I want to include you in an Etsy blog post and link to your wedding registry site, ok?... maybe you can reblog it! -v"

I remember reading it, "cool!" I said to myself, and flung the phone to the opposite side of the sofa where I went back to whatever crisis was at hand at that moment.

While checking my inboxes and threads awhile later, I noticed the little red number at the top of my Etsy screen that reminded me of the conversation that was awaiting my reply. I clicked on it just as I had a million times before and as the screen reloaded, my heart stopped, I instantly felt the heat wash over me as I saw it...

Next to the message titled "wedding registry," was the profile picture of a smiling brunette with a red bubble underneath that said ETSY ADMIN!

OH MY GOD!

I clicked on the message and read it again and as the words finally sank in, I burst into hysterical tears!

I threw myself across the couch and grabbed my phone and started dialing and

NO ONE WAS ANSWERING!

I called my mom, answering machine.

I called Todd, answering machine.

I called Heather, voice mail.

I called Gary, and FINALLY after the third try, I could share my tears of joy!

Words can't begin to describe what that moment meant to me. That instant when you realize that the countless hours of work and dreaming about the possibility of your ideas is finally paying off!

The world's LARGEST HANDMADE COMMUNITY was featuring MY website!

When my mother finally called, I could barely speak through my tears! When I could breathe enough to reassure her that no one had DIED, I cried,

"Mom, I've worked SO HARD! I can't believe they're really featuring my website!"

I spent the next several days contacting the HUNDREDS of artisans that I had spent the last several weeks featuring throughout the website to let them know that the "mother ship" had spotted US!

I wasn't online when their feature hit the air. In fact I didn't see it at all until FIVE HOURS LATER late Friday night!

It was more than I could have ever dreamed of!

Our registry is being featured in Etsy's HANDMADE WEDDING SERIES!

Not only was our site mentioned, it was linked to their article with a display of our ENTIRE BANNER with links to our tutorials and even to my own personal shop!

I couldn't have dreamt of a more wonderful affirmation of all of my hardwork!

The rest of the weekend was a blur of welcoming over 100 new members and celebrating as comment after comment of congratulations was left on the blog!

I HAVE TO take this time to thank everyone in our community for all of your love and support as we've worked to make this vision come to life and as we continue to grow and develop, I know I can't do any of this without you!

To my amazing support, Amanda (ulixis.blogspot.com)- thank you for being so generous of your time and talent! I know that this could not be possible without you!

To my amazing MORE MEANINGFUL GIFTS family, my every day has more meaning having each and every one of you in my life!

Here's to the first step in our more meaningful journey...

siempre- dorana

myHandmadeRegistry.com - Not Just Another Networking Site

What I think sets apart successes from failures are those that find adversities and ADVERTISE them and those that find adversities and look for ways to make them ASSETS!

After half of a year dedicated to the idea that people really are interested in the artisan community and then researching, promoting and marketing my jewelry shoppes from various online retailing sites, I came to an enlightening conclusion that I had heard over and over again...

"These sites are really just SELLERS selling to SELLERS!"

After all, before I learned about them from another seller, and joined to sell, I had never heard of them either!

And so I started researching about how I could get BUYERS to find MY STORE of handmade goods and I stumbled across a couple of interesting blog posts...

"I wish I could register for my wedding at Etsy.com!"

"Oh, I'd LOVE it if everyone would get me Etsy.com stuff for my baby shower!"

After searching for several days, I found ONE online registry where registrants could add Etsy.com item numbers to their wish list of goods along with the likes of Macy's, Bloomingdales, ToysRUs, etc.

I thought, "Hey! I CAN DO THIS!" : a Handmade Registry - a place where everyone can create a personal page with a list of their favorite items from only HANDMADE RETAILERS!

Won't be able to find Macy's HERE!

Then the daunting task of figuring out HOW TO DO THIS! With neither the desire to wait what must surely take months to create, nor the funds to support it, I remembered a site that I was introduced to where members could customize their pages to create their own social networking site! And myHandmadeRegistry.com was born!

It's still in its infancy, but I believe it can grow into a powerhouse tool!

It is NOT just another Networking Group - our platform happens to be BUILT as one, but this is my vision...

Imagine the now millions of artisan shoppe owners that flood the gates of the Handmade Community. Now imagine how many times just this past week each one of those members have been asked, "What do you want for Christmas? Hanukkah? Birthday? Anniversary?"

myHandmadeRegistry.com is designed for these shoppe owners to share their Wishlist with their families and friends - especially those that have such a hard time shopping for them! Imagine the incredible relief husbands and boyfriends will feel knowing that there's a place where she has pictures of everything her heart desires and all they have to do is CLICK ON IT and it takes them right to the check out counter! (no offense guys - I KNOW there are many of you that are godsends! but let's face it - this is the promise land for most of you!)

This registry now opens up the artisan marketplace to so many more people!

But lets take this another step further...

I've created GROUPS within the community that I plan to market for OUTSIDE OF THE ARTISAN COMMUNITY - for expectant parents, a house-warming group to share decorating tips on a budget and find that special accent piece, and my favorite :

my $5000 Handmade Wedding!

These days the Platinum Weddings we see on WE are becoming more and more of a fantasy to most of us...

But lately, I've been finding myself watching those shows and saying... "I can do THAT" and "oh! I saw something like that in the forums last week for 1/100th the cost!

My vision in this group is to link these dreaming brides with Handmade Retailers who can make those pictures come to life in quality and affordability!

Members of this group can create BLOG posts on their pages with images of the various ideas for their fantasy wedding with tags relating to the items such as "dress", "invitations", "jewelry", "favors", etc. Vendors who can provide those products or services can then find and leave comments on their BLOG where they can also attach images, sketches, estimates...

How wonderful will it be to have such an incredible resource at your fingertips - remembering first and foremost that the most priceless resource in any network is building relationships - someone will always know someone who can help you fulfill your dreams!

...A place where brides can take those black and white fantasies and turn them into vibrant rainbows of possibilities while keeping as much green in their pockets!


I look forward to a million more endless possibilities with this project and welcome any new ideas, suggestions, questions... but PLEASE COME JOIN US and share what an amazing community of artisans and talented business supporters we have among us!

siempre - dorana

myHandmadeRegistry.com - Not Just Another Networking Site

What I think sets apart successes from failures are those that find adversities and ADVERTISE them and those that find adversities and look for ways to make them ASSETS!

After half of a year dedicated to the idea that people really are interested in the artisan community and then researching, promoting and marketing my jewelry shoppes from various online retailing sites, I came to an enlightening conclusion that I had heard over and over again...

"These sites are really just SELLERS selling to SELLERS!"

After all, before I learned about them from another seller, and joined to sell, I had never heard of them either!

And so I started researching about how I could get BUYERS to find MY STORE of handmade goods and I stumbled across a couple of interesting blog posts...

"I wish I could register for my wedding at Etsy.com!"

"Oh, I'd LOVE it if everyone would get me Etsy.com stuff for my baby shower!"

After searching for several days, I found ONE online registry where registrants could add Etsy.com item numbers to their wish list of goods along with the likes of Macy's, Bloomingdales, ToysRUs, etc.

I thought, "Hey! I CAN DO THIS!" : a Handmade Registry - a place where everyone can create a personal page with a list of their favorite items from only HANDMADE RETAILERS!

Won't be able to find Macy's HERE!

Then the daunting task of figuring out HOW TO DO THIS! With neither the desire to wait what must surely take months to create, nor the funds to support it, I remembered a site that I was introduced to where members could customize their pages to create their own social networking site! And myHandmadeRegistry.com was born!

It's still in its infancy, but I believe it can grow into a powerhouse tool!

It is NOT just another Networking Group - our platform happens to be BUILT as one, but this is my vision...

Imagine the now millions of artisan shoppe owners that flood the gates of the Handmade Community. Now imagine how many times just this past week each one of those members have been asked, "What do you want for Christmas? Hanukkah? Birthday? Anniversary?"

myHandmadeRegistry.com is designed for these shoppe owners to share their Wishlist with their families and friends - especially those that have such a hard time shopping for them! Imagine the incredible relief husbands and boyfriends will feel knowing that there's a place where she has pictures of everything her heart desires and all they have to do is CLICK ON IT and it takes them right to the check out counter! (no offense guys - I KNOW there are many of you that are godsends! but let's face it - this is the promise land for most of you!)

This registry now opens up the artisan marketplace to so many more people!

But lets take this another step further...

I've created GROUPS within the community that I plan to market for OUTSIDE OF THE ARTISAN COMMUNITY - for expectant parents, a house-warming group to share decorating tips on a budget and find that special accent piece, and my favorite :

my $5000 Handmade Wedding!

These days the Platinum Weddings we see on WE are becoming more and more of a fantasy to most of us...

But lately, I've been finding myself watching those shows and saying... "I can do THAT" and "oh! I saw something like that in the forums last week for 1/100th the cost!

My vision in this group is to link these dreaming brides with Handmade Retailers who can make those pictures come to life in quality and affordability!

Members of this group can create BLOG posts on their pages with images of the various ideas for their fantasy wedding with tags relating to the items such as "dress", "invitations", "jewelry", "favors", etc. Vendors who can provide those products or services can then find and leave comments on their BLOG where they can also attach images, sketches, estimates...

How wonderful will it be to have such an incredible resource at your fingertips - remembering first and foremost that the most priceless resource in any network is building relationships - someone will always know someone who can help you fulfill your dreams!

...A place where brides can take those black and white fantasies and turn them into vibrant rainbows of possibilities while keeping as much green in their pockets!


I look forward to a million more endless possibilities with this project and welcome any new ideas, suggestions, questions... but PLEASE COME JOIN US and share what an amazing community of artisans and talented business supporters we have among us!

siempre - dorana