Featured Etsian: Susan Li

About: Ever since I was young, I've loved art. I loved to draw, fold paper swans, and do all kinds of crafts. I just loved the feeling of taking paper, colors, and other supplies and making something beautiful out of them. Right now, I'm in high school. I don't really know exactly what I want to do with my life, what career path I'll choose, but for right now, I'm finding enjoyment out of running my own store here on Etsy. I've only had my store here for about 4 months, but so far my experience has been good. I'm learning a lot here and I've had a lot of support, so I hope that things will only get better in the future:)

To see Susan's shop: www.etsy.com/shop/SusiesBoxes

1. A little about yourself: I'm a full-time student, so I can't devote as much time to my craft as I'd like to. But I also find that making my boxes and stars provides a nice creative outlet to help me de-stress from school, since I take challenging classes.

2. What do you create? I create decorative boxes, with usually a wooden or metal box as a base. There's no real theme to my boxes--I have some that look like cupcakes or slices of pizza, some that are just decorated with natural items, and some that are just decorated treasure chests. I also have decorative origami stars with patterns ranging from zebra stripes and rainbow colors to polka dots and everything in between.

3. How do you get inspired? There's no specific place I go to or specific activity I do that inspires me. I don't know--ideas just come to me from every walk of life. I don't know how they come to me, but if I like them, I'll implement them in my items.

4. Last night, I saw I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry on TV. I love that movie. It's so funny. I love the cast too. Adam Sandler and Jessica Biel are great.

Also, about two weeks ago, I saw the 8th Harry Potter movie over a friend's house. The Harry Potter movies are so well made--amazing cast, great special effects, nice story--and under all that, they're actually really funny too!

5. Read any books lately? Right now, I'm reading Emma by Jane Austen. A while ago, I finished reading The Scarlet Letter. It's really nice literature, and as for me, personally, i'd really like to get to know more about the classics.

6. My family and I do celebrate Christmas. Every year, we eats lots of food over the holidays and do lots of baking. Usually we go on some kind of trip, like to Vermont to ski or to somewhere warm like Florida or Hawaii over Christmas, and so we only bring like one present with us on the trip. Most of our presents are left under the tree for us to unwrap after we return