the ruffly owl

Etsy Dallas Artist Playlist: The Ruffly Owl


Hi everyone! This is Meredith from Sheepish Knitting & Crochet! I asked Dacia from The Ruffly Owl what music she listens to when she is creating her beautiful paper goods...

What kind of music do you listen to when you create? Don't listen to music? TV Shows? Movies?
When I am working on a project in Illustrator, I tend not to listen to any music. My mind is totally focused on designing and tweaking so outside noise sometimes overstimulates me. When I'm crafting and punching tags, etc I like to either listen to John Mayer and the likes... it relaxes me. When I sew, I tend to listen to the early jazz station on pandora. Maybe the sewing reminds me of my Grandmother (who was an amazing seamstress) and feelings of nostalgia get stirred up. Something about sewing while Ella Fitzgerald sings makes my old soul happy. :) 



Do certain genres of music affect your creative process?
I don't think any particular genres affect my creative process. But Lady Gaga might distract me from creating because I'd likely jump up and start dancing if she comes on. I can't help it.


How does music fit into your creative routine? 
Sadly, music has gone by the wayside for me these days but when I know I'm going to be working on something for hours I like to go to Pandora and pick a station I'm in the mood for. Hmm... answering these questions is making me realize how much strain I put myself under when working. It's probably counter-productive for my creative side!


Name some of your favorite artists/bands.
Some of my favorite artists and bands are: Lady Gaga, Modest Mouse, Sarah Bareilles, Coldplay... 



Thank you so much Dacia! 


Blog Walk

What have your favorite Etsy Dallas artists been up to lately? Erin from Haute Hardware will take us on a stroll through their blogs to see!

Pam & Dylan over at Dowdy Studio sewed & screened a new batch of delightful pillows, just in time for their sale this past weekend at Good2Go Taco.

image via Dowdy Studio blog

The always eco-fabulous LaAlicia found inspiration in her mailbox, turning a stack of junk mail into this whimsical clutch bag!

image via La Alicia

Also looking out for our environment is Dacia of The Ruffly Owl, with her new cards made of 100% recycled card stock. I’m especially loving this Happy Birthday Mustache card:

image via The Ruffly Owl

Anna of The Joy Cottage is ramping up for a big update to her Etsy shop in August! A sneak peek of some of the amazingness you can expect to find:

image via For the Love of Joy

Oh Louise! and Silla Soup were nowhere to be found, as they’re on vacation, frolicking in the south of France and Disneyland, respectively! While we secretly hate them for this, we also hope they’re having a great time.

Thanks for taking a walk with us, and please visit all of these fantastic blogs (and more) by clicking the links on the left-hand side of this page!

Discover Pinterest



Today, Yony from YLKphotography introduces us to the inspiring world of Pinterest.

Who’s on Pinterest? Etsy Dallas is on Pinterest! “What is Pinterest,” you ask? Oh ho ho, if you haven’t yet experienced this wondrous, awe-inspiring visual onslaught, you don’t know what you’re missing!

As it states in its About section, “Pinterest is a virtual pinboard” and their mission is “to connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting... With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests.” Sounds intriguing, right? That’s because it is!

Many of us team members have our own personal Pinterest boards, but we are also adding pins to the Etsy Dallas boards every day. You never know what new items we’re adding to our Etsy shops, so this is a great place to come and browse! You simply click on a board and you can see all of the pins added from that shop in one place. How cool is that?

Talk about eye candy. Artists are visual beings by nature, so browsing through Pinterest and pinning and re-pinning bits of gorgeousness to our organized boards is like the ultimate sugar high.

Keep in mind that some of us are on Pinterest as our actual shop names, so you can do a search to find our personal boards, as well! Wanna know what inspires us? Wanna know what makes us tick? Take a gander at some of our boards and maybe you’ll get a glimpse! Join Pinterest and start following the Etsy Dallas boards today!

Meet the Pets of Etsy Dallas

On top of a love for all things handmade, Etsy Dallas loves pets! They are our best friends, the love of our lives, and for some Etsy Dallas members, they make the best models!

Meet Leia, a two year old yorkie, who is the most adorable little model for DC Imaginations Chau Ly. Leia likes to spend her summers hanging with her favorite ducky toy and sleeping. While she is afraid of the vacuum, she likes to bully the other dog in the house, by stealing his food and chasing him in the yard!

Another dog model is Olive, part of a dog and cat trio at Maria Day's house. Olive and her brother Sammy are both chocolate labs and have been on billboards with local radio personalities-in fact; Olive loves the camera and loves to be in photo shoots!

The two love to play with their feline friend, Wasabi who was rescued by Maria when only a few hours old. Sammy was also rescued by Maria, who found him walking the city streets (hooray for rescues). When these three aren't running around the house like crazy entertaining their parents, perhaps Maria should stop feeding them popcorn, which she says is like crack for them!


Dacia of The Ruffly Owl has two talented pups, Emma and Hiro, both rat terriers. These two mischievous pups love treats and have been known to help themselves to stuff on the counter. They thought that they were teaming up to climb up to the high counter, but as it turns out, they are quite the high jumpers!

Another special talent? They roll over and play dead when you say "bang"! How cool are they?

A lot of our Etsy Dallas members have rescued their four legged friends. Stefanie, of Tefi, is a lifelong animal advocate and has rescued many a furry friend. Most have gone on to find forever homes with others, but a few stole her heart. The first rescue that became a permanent family member was George, a little white kitty she smuggled into her UT Austin dorm in 1994.

Then, when Stephanie started volunteering at Operation Kindness, a no-kill animal shelter, she walked a little white fur ball named Oliver. When Oliver became ill, she took him home and nursed him back to health, and the rest is history.

Lastly, to round out her fur family, is a kitty, Zoe, that she saved in the "snowpocalypse" this past March. Zoe loves to play with Stephanie's son Ian, so even though she is allergic to cats, it's all worth it.


Operation Kindness is also where Etsy Dallas member Laura Childs, of childsPLAYdesign, adopted her two rescue dogs, Jess-a hound dog, and Daisy an English pointer.

Jess, who is 12, loves to sleep the day away, while younger sister Daisy (11) scans the yard, patrolling for squirrels. She is actually so good at catching squirrels, that she proudly brings them back to Laura, who now has special "squirrel disposal" gloves (ick)!

Jess's favorite treat is ice cubes, which is perfect for beating the summer heat, but he will eat pretty much anything (including Daisy's squirrels), which is why Laura describes them as the fat one and the fast one!


Another rescued pup is Opie, a 10 year old lab rottie mix, who also likes to chase squirrels (although he finds opossums much easier to catch). He was found near downtown Dallas, tangled up in a fence when he was a puppy. Once he looked up with those big puppy eyes, Sabrina, of The Pig and the Peacock, was in love (even though she is allergic to dogs).

Although he used to be afraid of the water, he finally found his water legs (the lab in him) and now it is impossible to get him out of the water, especially in the summertime. There was even a time that he swam so far into White Rock Lake, Sabrina was sure they would have to swim out to rescue him.

Another dog in the Pig and Peacock family is Jenny's dog Buddy, an English lab, who was best buds with Opie. The pair went on camping trips, hiking, and weekends to the lake house together with the family.


Etsy Dallas also has its fair share of feline fur babies. Cats, true to form, are quite opinionated, and these kitties are no different.

Twelve year old Sam, a Bengal cat, is very vocal. Anytime owner Patricia, of Karmacrochet, says "No" to him, he is sure to tell her how he feels about that. He is also quite the cat "alarm", not only does he wake Patricia up when he hears the alarm clock, he has also alerted her when an electrical fire broke out in the middle of the night!

Another Etsy Dallas kitty is Zena, a Siamese mix. Also an alarm clock, she has decided that mom Bonnie, of BonnyBeads, no longer needs her beauty sleep on the weekends, and nips at her until she wakes. Ouch!

Xena, true to her warrior princess namesake, puts up a good fight when it is time to go to the vet. It has take Bonnie over 30 minutes (and quite a few Band-Aids) to get Xena in her sherpa bag for the vet. So if anyone knows of any house call vets, send their names her way.

Member Spotlight: The Ruffly Owl


Get ready to fall in love! Today we're talking with Dacia Sigler of The Ruffly Owl. Dacia makes the cutest papergoods - I love her clean, simple aesthetic and inventive use of materials (garland made from hearts cut from a map of Paris? Yes, please!!)


Etsy Dallas: So Dacia, what inspired you to start selling your awesome papergoods?

Dacia Sigler: I started my shop in June 2010 after spending the previous 1-2 yrs planning my wedding. I DIY'ed most of the paper goods and basically fell in love with crafting, paper, and typography.

ED: What kind of items do you sell, and what materials do you work with?

DS: I sell an assortment of tags that can be used for embellishing gifts, favors, scrapbooking, etc. I work with card stock, envelopes kraft, stamps, ink, twine, bakers twine, stickers, paper punches, printer, illustrator and photoshop...


ED: What inspires you?

DS: All things pretty and whimsical inspire me. The unexpected and smallest of details is what fascinates me and inspires me to make what I do. I work from my little circa 1940's desk in our downtown apartment at all hours of the day, night, and morning. My wheels are CONSTANTLY spinning and I'm always dreaming up new products.

ED: Tell us a little about yourself...

DS: I live in Downtown Dallas with my husband Art, and two dog-children Emma and Hiro. My hobbies (besides crafting and being creative) are going to antique stores, vintage stores, thrift stores looking for my next find, and watching movies. I have two other jobs: substitute teaching for DISD and medical billing for a co. based out of Florida (been working for them for almost 10 years!). I moved to Dallas from Ft. Lauderdale 2 years ago to be with my fiance then, husband now. We had a long distance relationship for a year before that.


You can find Dacia's work and contact info here. Happy shopping! (PS - she is always willing to do custom work!)