Meet Etsy Artist: elsiee

Elsie Echevarria is the talent behind Etsy shop "Namaste Designs" via her user ID elsiee. "My daughter is an amazing artist and beautiful soul, who has been my biggest source of joy and inspiration for the past 20 years," she gushes. And her mother is "a super independent, strong, fashionable, jewelry collecting, travel crazy woman." When her daughter left for art school in Vancouver her mother asked her to join her on yearly trips and "two big amazing changes in my life came together – I started attending jewelry making classes to fill my achingly empty nest and my mom and I started traveling to exotic places together." In the last two years they've been to exotic locales such as Egypt, South Africa, India, and Nepal. It was the latter that captured her heart. "My Etsy shop Namaste Designs opened when we returned from Nepal in June 08," she explains. "It was the trip of a lifetime (happily my daughter and husband joined Mom and I on this trip)." With her long time love of Buddha and goddess imagery - and "never )having) met a chunky stone or bead (she) didn’t love – Nepalese and Tibetan crafts struck a chord and inspired her to share her jewelry via Etsy. "I’ve never thought of myself as crafty or much less artistic, I’m the stereotypical 'can’t draw a straight line' girl, but sometimes, when I look at beads and stones, they become images of fantastical jewelry pieces in my mind," she admits. "Sometimes the entire design comes together in my head while they’re still on their original strands...sometimes the beads put up a valiant fight, but making bold beautiful pieces brings me so much joy, it keeps me up late many, many nights." As dedicated as she is to her new joy, by day she is a Marriage & Family Therapist with her own private practice. While she doesn't have any immediate plans for her Etsy shop, she hopes to "continue to befriend and be inspired by all of the crazy amazing local Etsy women that I’m so blessed to be surrounded by." Please check out her shop: http://elsiee.etsy.com/

-Wendy Baylis

Dharma Designs

http://dharmadesigns.etsy.com