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    I found ByHand.me randomly one day whilst bored and aimlessly browsing the internet. I immediatly contacted the creators, because this site has a lot of potential for crafters and DIYers. Although new, it still bosts a lot of awesome features, and well.. I'll just get one of the creators, Rebecca Dillon, to tell you about the site.

CreepyQueen: First off, what is Byhand.me?

Rebecca: ByHand is in essence a social community for handmade artists and buyers to come together and make handmade personal again. We offer a number of features for artists to promote their work and for buyers to find it. The most popular aspects of the site are: Spotlights and Wishlists.

Spotlights allow you to curate 9 items in a gallery format. This allows you to pull items from multiple venues and create what Etsy calls a "treasury" of handpicked items that you'd like to show off to the world. Spotlights never expire, and only are removed when you choose to delete it. All spotlighted items are randomly featured in Window Shopping and at the top of every ByHand page.

Wishlists allow you to create wishlists of items from a multitude of handmade venues including Etsy, ArtFire, 1000Markets, DaWanda, SilkFair, Made It Myself, ShopHandmade, iCraft.ca, WinkElf, Foodzie and Zibbet. (These are same venues that we support in our Spotlights feature. ) A wishlist is many things to many people. It's a great way to keep up with gifts for friends and family, or to compile a list of those must haves for your own indulgences. Our wishlists allow you to keep organized by creating lists of items, allow you to send your wishlists to friends in an email, either as All Items, or just a particular list. Wishlists are private and remain private unless you choose to share your Wishlist.

Adding an item to your wishlist is as simple as clicking a link on your browsers toolbar. You can add items to your wishlist on selected venues in just one click without ever leaving the page you are on. You can also import all of your etsy favorites to your wishlist in just one click for easy organization.

CQ: Who are the creaters behind ByHand?

R: M. Adam Kendall is the creator, designer and programmer for ByHand. He currently works full time as a programmer for an independent company in Arlington, VA. However, his background growing up was very different from this and another reason that ByHand was created. Adam actually came from a lower income family with three other brothers and a sister. His dad lost his job at one point so he is very familiar with what it is like to struggle through a hardship. He also, unfortunately, remembers what government cheese and powdered milk taste like. Adam's mom was a seamstress who worked at her craft to pull in extra money to help support the family. It's because of her that Adam gained an appreciation for arts and crafts and the reason he knows how to sew. He also learned woodworking from his dad and metalworking from his grandfather.

Myself, Rebecca D. Dillon, I'm from a pretty average American family myself. I grew up as part of the struggling middle class in the 80s with a mother who was always trying to give my brother and I whatever we wanted and therefore living a bit beyond our means. My mom was always doing arts and crafts with me and taught me how to bake. I attended college locally at Roanoke College where I studied a bit of everything including photography, screen printing, graphic design, pottery, 3-D design, drawing, painting, art history, poetry and even writing. It took me seven years, but I eventually managed a BA in fine arts. I do a lot of the basic customer support for ByHand members, the advertising and marketing. I also work up the artist features and interviews.

Together, husband and wife make a pretty good team.

CQ: Why did you two decide to create byhand?

R:  ByHand.me was conceived and created by my husband, Adam. Frustrated withhandmade venues that seemed to advertise only to sellers and not to buyers as well as social networking sites that seemed steeped in nothing but seller spam, he wanted to create an environment where artists could showcase their work and at the same time really get seen. We feel ByHand reflects an answer to these issues. Front page blog posts are carefully monitored for content and we also actively advertise to buyers as the bulk of advertising.

You can read Adam's whole story on why ByHand was created under Our Story.

CQ: Are there any requirements to join?

R: To become a member on ByHand all you have to do is register. It's as easy as that.

There are no restrictions on joining ByHand. Everyone is welcome. You can be an artist, a venue, a reseller, or just buyer. We welcome everyone to become a member and celebrate handmade. The only restriction we have set forth is that only handmade artisans can list their shops in the Artisan Directory.

CQ: Are there any special events or promotions going on right now?

R:  We are running a handmade contest through March 18th in which you can enter to win $103 in handmade products donated by ByHand.me members. There is a new contest every month.

So there you have it! ByHand.me is an awesome new site for crafters, shoppers, and more! We've signed up!

Feel free to post your byhand address/username at the bottom of this article as a comment.