Home for the Holidays Sponsor Spotlight: Dainty HippoThe Home for the Holidays Giveaway hop, hosted by Artsy Chaos is starting on Monday. Each blog in the hop will be offering at least $25 in prizes related to holiday decorating or crafts. My giveaway sponsor is  Dainty Hippo, an Etsy shop that sells really beautiful and totally cool bags, accessories, and wreaths. The wreaths are definitely my favorites, especially since the flowers are made from pages of old books. My lucky winner will receive a specially made medium size wreath. The best part- it’s perfect for any time of the year, so no need to take it down after the New Year!

 

 

About Elyse, the artist behind the creations (in her own words):

I graduated from college about 2 years ago from a school in New England and am back in Oregon now to be closer to my family. I majored in neuroscience, but I don’t know if that’s what I really want to dedicate my life to. I’ve spent the majority of my time in Oregon doing full-time volunteer work. During my free time, I run the daintyhippo shop on Etsy–it’s been a great creative outlet for me to bring to fruition all the things buzzing around in my head.

I love to create beautiful additions to brighten peoples’ lives. I started the daintyhippo brand with simple bags using fun fabrics–like the bags that so many of us need to organize all the little things in our lives…why shouldn’t they have fun patterns and colors to reflect our personalities? I soon added fabric flowers to my brand–I wear flowers in my hair or on my clothes almost everyday, so it’s an integral part of my personal style.

My favorite part of creation is bringing new life to old items–I found a big box of battered books that were destined to go to the local incinerator. The bindings and covers were ripped or broken, but the pages inside were still beautiful and I wanted to give them a new life. The paper line at daintyhippo was born in that moment. I’ve also started using maps to make the same items as well–I’ve been able to create customized orders from specific geographic locations.

I’m always looking for new things to experiment with. I just started selling coasters and lightswitch plates using fun papers, vintage book pages, and maps. I have a bunch of new product lines I’m introducing this holiday season and I’m so excited.

I can customize ANYTHING in my shop. I always make sample items for photographs and listings, but beyond that, EVERYTHING is made-to-order. Customers love being able to have a hand in the creation process and I love knowing that I’m making something just for them. My biggest custom orders have been for weddings or parties–one woman ordered a fabric flower that was 11in wide, weighed over 1 lb, and had over 100 hand-cut petals! I’m always on e-mail and reply to inquiries quickly, so any customized items are sent out just as quickly as standard ready-to-order items.

A Sample of Dainty Hippo’s Beautiful Offerings

Home for the Holidays Prize Contribution

The winner of the Home for the Holidays giveaway will receive the gorgeous wreath below, valued at $30. Don’t forget to come back Monday to enter!

Home for the Holidays Sponsor Spotlight: Dainty Hippo