El is the mastermind behind every design and is the woman in charge of all the business activities at Elephant Dance where she offers one of a kind crochet and greeting cards. Besides sharing her creativity with her clients, her main goal with Elephant Dance is to help animals in need one step at a time. For this reason, she currently donates 15% of every purchase to PAWS-Saipan through her HELP THE PUPPIES Campaign.

 

El also dedicates her time to animals through Indiesmiles and EFA Artists Helping Animals. Because Indiesmiles evolved from El and Sue’s dedication to helping animals through EFA, an Etsy Street Team, El and Sue has dedicated 10% of the profits from Indiesmiles to their favorite charities, PAWS-Saipan and Town Cats.

 

While El and Sue have known each other for over a year, it was not until July of this year (2008) that they were side by side as co-chairs in EFA’s recent promotion, the EFA Birthday Bash Extravaganza. During that time, they learned that their ideas and business acumen complimented each other and that together they are dedicated to the promotion of the independant artists and crafters and the independant artist’s desire to help animals.

 

As co-leader of EFA, El also assists animals and independant artists and crafters through EFA by spearheading promotions, coordinating volunteers, and masterminding the new EFA website and EFA Team Store (where 100% of the profits go to the animals).

 

So how did El start her Etsy store? El says, ”I have crocheted practically all my life. I just started papercrafts after my friend convinced me to go to a paper crafting party and I got hooked! I first started selling my crafts after so many of my friends insisted that I should. Then one day, after I realized that I could use my craft to help puppies in need, I decided to jump in and try it! Now I offer crochet and greetings at Elephant Dance. (I originally started at Tantalizing Stitches but moved my creativity to Elephant Dance. I now offer supplies at Tantalizing Stitches.) I’ve also expanded my reach to the animals by becoming a leader of EFA Artists Helping Animals, an organization of indiepreneurs that combine their efforts to provide charitable relief to animals.”

 

You can find El’s work at http://elephantdance.net, http://tantalizingstitches.etsy.com, and http://etsyforanimals.etsy.com.