Once in a lifetime opportunities

There are several shops on Etsy that I am attached to by some means or other, and one of those shops is Merimask Designs.  Merimask Designs…run by leather-worker Andrea Masse Tognetti…is having a special fundraiser right now that I want to mention.

Andrea’s daughter Charlotte is going to be going to Japan on an exchange program that is absolutely packed with fabulous traditional Japanese experiences of which most lovers of Asian culture can only dream.  With the amount of things they pack in, all the costs add up, and the overall fee needed to allow Charlotte to have this chance is in the thousands.  That’s a LOT of extra money to pull out of nowhere.  So Andrea, who was a professional artist long before discovering Etsy, is putting her skills to use to raise these extra funds.  She has opened a new section in her new and already very successful Etsy shop, called ‘Kitsune for Charlotte‘, where she has put items especially designed for this fundraiser.  ALL the money made on these items will go directly to Charlotte’s exchange expenses, and once the needed amount has been raised, the section will be closed and all of the designs will be destroyed and never made again, so these are very special items…it will be a very limited run.

Andrea’s work is already in several galleries across the US and her popularity on Etsy is skyrocketing, as Etsy is a place where the customers know the value of original art, especially in unusual mediums.  All of Andrea’s art is hand-sculpted and painted.  I have two of her masks and several of her beautiful leather leaves.  Her work is already selling in those galleries for genuine art-gallery prices, and the prices she offers through her Etsy shop are pretty much wholesale…you can’t possibly get them for less.

Go take a peek at her work, and if you like it, consider purchasing one of her ‘Kitsune for Charlotte’ items to help her send her daughter to Japan.   :)  I’m thinking of buying a wave barrette, myself, but this would look pretty cool on my livingroom wall, too…

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