0 October 1, 2012 Giveaways

October’s Etsy Artisan Giveaway: Yours Is The Earth, by Allie Peach & Jamie Wyckoff

Now that the kids are back to school, I've finally had a chance to start fleshing out my to-do list of projects around the house. With our bathroom finally finished (pictures coming soon), I am now focusing on our kitchen. It's definetely in need of a gut job, but I just can't fathom having contractors in the house again.

So instead, I'm just trying to pretty it up a bit which is how I stumbled upon the incredibly cute Etsy store, Yours Is The Earth, a colloborative effort between Allie Peach of AllieRuth Design & Jamie Wyckoff of juliaspoppies.com. These two down-to-earth gals have joined together and stocked their Etsy store full of pretty, but useful prints, posters, and goods.

We're happy to feature them in this month's Etsy Artisan interview and even happier to offer a great giveaway to our readers from their store, Yours Is The Earth.

This month, one lucky winner will receive a vinyl-lined, burlap tote that's perfect for your next trip to the farmer's market!

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Your Etsy store, Yours Is The Earth, is a really happy place! Your beautifully illustrated and calligraphed goods make me smile. How did the two of you end up working together? What's your story?

Jamie and I were both in the circle of independent wedding invitation designers and had been fans of each other's work through social media for a while. I loved her creative use of color and pattern (and still do)… she's really a brilliant creative mind. We started talking over twitter and sort of struck up a friendship!

I had a project in mind, just for fun, that I knew I wouldn't be able to accomplish on my own. It was a line of seasonally focused foodie prints, to help people conquer their kitchens. So, I reached out to Jamie to see if she would want to work with me on it. She was all about it. What turned into a small collaboration morphed into what it is today-a full-fledged LLC that we're super proud of. And we have so much fun working together!

How do the two of you decide which fruits and vegetables get to grace your designs? I really adore the peas…

We like to keep everything seasonal. So, if we're working on prints and goods for the fall, we'll choose food items that grow during the fall, like pumpkins, squash, and apples. I adore the peas too… but you have to wait for spring for those! That's part of the beauty of doing things seasonally. You have to savor (literally and figuratively) what you have right now, and when the next season rolls around, you're that much more excited at the new possibilities.

But why food? Are you both secret chefs? Foodies? What gives?

Why not food? I can safely speak for Jamie and myself when I say we are both food obsessed. I think we both love how much food is able to bring people together. The community aspect of sharing a meal, coupled with the acts of creating and enjoying the meal, are what we're all about.

We grew up in a home where there were all sorts of different "towel rules". There were kid-towels, adult-towels, cleaning towels, and even fancy-schmancey guest towels. What advice would give to those of us stifled beings who just can't imagine using your beautiful tea towels for ordinary use? 😉

Well, in my house there were no towel rules! I'm not sure my sister or I would have followed them, in any case. What I would say to someone like you, who grew up in a towel-restrictive household, is that our tea towels are meant to serve as functional art. Emphasis on the word functional. Why have pretty things if you can't enjoy them and get something out of them? I've found that using our towels, even when drying dishes or spread on the table under a hot pot, brings a little bit of color and life to my day, even if just in that small, simple moment.

How do you go about making your pieces? How does a piece go from idea to completion?

There's quite an involved process from concept to finished product. Usually, one of us will have an idea that we think is so awesome we've got to share it with the other. More often than not, it is a really good idea, and it will immediately spark a conversation about design, printing, and packaging. Lots of times, these excited idea-bouncing sessions will take over our regular Skype meetings. Our real designing for upcoming launches always happens in one crazy chunk of time (usually shorter than we'd planned), and we'll both work on art files, swapping them back and forth via Dropbox. Once we're satisfied, we'll make sure the files are print-ready, and then will go into the production phase. That's when we're the most nervous! When everything is done printing, we will eek and swoon over them, and then hit the road with product photography.

On your independent web site, Yours Is The Earth, I saw that you two recently delved into the wedding industry. How's that working for you?

Wedding invitations are ingrained in both of us, as we both have (and still do) run our own invitation design companies. We love weddings. We also really wanted to see what a wedding line, with our foodie flair, would look like. I think we accomplished exactly what we set out to do, by creating an invitation line that's completely unique, and has our signature YITE style. We haven't made any plans to release another wedding line any time soon, but you can never say never! Something we're stoked about, though, is being able to incorporate a lot of our Fresh Love art into our lifestyle products. Look for some of those designs to cross over, as we release new items!

Aside from wedding goods, do you make custom orders for buyers? Or do you prefer to pick your designs?

We have done custom work in the past, and we might take a request here and there. It's always fun to see how fans of our work envision our style being used within their product needs. However, we have found that our time is most effectively used when we're focused on our own collection.

What do the two of you do when your not making lovely items for Yours Is The Earth?

As I mentioned before, Jamie and I both run our own wedding stationery companies, separately. Jamie is really well connected to the wedding scene in Atlanta, and is constantly collaborating with other artists on amazing styled shoots and other projects. I would describe Jamie's style as super-current (she's always incredibly fashionable) and fun and maybe even a little funky. She's also a great branding and collateral designer. You can see her work (and read her adorable blog) at juliaspoppies.com.

My company, AllieRuth Design, is a little different from Jamie's in that I run a letterpress paper goods and calligraphy studio. While I do, sometimes, work with clients on items that are digitally printed, my preferred medium is letterpress. I would describe my style as vintage-inspired, etherial, and sweet. You can check out my work at allieruthdesign.com

If you are in the market for wedding invitations, Jamie and I are both in the process of releasing brand new collections through our own companies. Mine is currently online, and I haven't seen all of Jamie's yet, but I know it's going to be fabulous.

Where else can we find you?

We're on Etsy as Yoursistheearthshop. We're also on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest as @Yoursistheearth! This holiday season, look for us at a few indie craft markets. I think we'll be at ICE Atlanta and hopefully Porter Flea in Nashville.

Well thanks so much, Allie & Jamie, for talking to us. We had so much fun chatting with you and we wish you both the best of luck!

Denine & Daniele

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Want to win a vinyl-lined, burlap tote that's perfect for your next trip to the farmer's market?

Here’s how the Giveaway Contest works:

1.) Like Us on Facebook.

2.) Help Us Spread the Word:

Tweet this: New #Giveaway Contest from @WeKnowStuff_US: http://bit.ly/Te56bq – Win a lovely burlap tote courtesy of @YoursIsTheEarth. Ends 10/31/12.

Post it to Facebook: Check out https://www.facebook.com/WeKnowStuff.US and enter to Win a lovely burlap tote courtesy of Yours Is The Earth, http://www.etsy.com/shop/yoursistheearthshop

3.) Like Yours Is The Earth on Facebook.

4.) Leave us ONE comment below and let us know what you've done (please include a link so we can see how you helped us spread the word).

The winner will be selected on October 31st at 4:00 PM EST. USA residents only, 18+ or older.

Good luck,
Denine & Daniele

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About weknowstuff

We Know Stuff is an award-winning lifestyle blog written by two sisters, Denine & Daniele. Based in New York, we cover a variety of topics that interest families such as recipes, crafts, pets, safer skincare, fitness, parenting, education, special needs, and travel. We Know Stuff won Best Blog of Long Island from Bethpage Federal Credit Union in 2017 & 2015. The blog was also voted #2 in Pop Sugar’s Circle of Mom’s Top 25 NY Moms!