At Tell Me Girlfriend, we really, really love artisan-made and handcrafted goods. Back in the old days, before we spent all of our time finding great online things for you, Girlfriend, our homes usually had at least one project in progress. (Well, a few of them are still hanging around. OK, quite a few.)

That's why we were thrilled to discover Etsy (www.etsy.com), an online marketplace that connects artists and customers.

Etsy is an online marketplace, sort of like an eBay especially for artists, artisans and crafters. The selection can be really overwhelming - there are about 40,000 registered sellers making about everything you can imagine. To help you to find what you'd like, the home page gives you several approaches for searching. To begin, you can browse categories the traditional way. You can also put some key words into the search box at the top of the page. You can also search by color with a really fun color-picker. In the Showcase, designers feature their favorite creations. The Showcase changes daily. Etsy has all sorts of ways to look for just the right thing.

When you find something you like, Etsy makes it easy for you to look at the artist's other items. You can tag your favorite items or artists, and you can also see who else likes what you like. This is useful because you can check out what else someone likes who likes what you like. (Whew! This explanation is becoming truly opaque. . .) All of this searching may

take some time, because any crafter can sell on Etsy - this is not a juried show. There is a lot of dreck. The search is worthwhile, though, because there are lots of gems.

Although the Alchemy site is under construction right now, it also is an excellent resource. If there is something you would like that you don't see on Etsy, you can post your description in Alchemy and artists will bid on custom-making something just for you.

We are very happy to report that the artists get to keep much more of their money than they can through galleries. The flat charge for selling through Etsy is 3.5% of the sales price - lots better for the artists than the 40 to 50% that shops or galleries will charge. A nice benefit for us is that the prices tend to be lower. Etsy is another happy situation where we all benefit from the Internet.

Your Unique Girlfriends,