02.29.08
Posted in Uncategorized, fun, shopping, site promotion, interviews, clothing at 8:27 am by KellyM
Please meet Brew, Owner of www.couturebrew.etsy.com.
Where are you located? I’m in the middle of NoWhere Indiana.
What do you design? I mainly focus on Younger Girls Fashion, Dresses, Shirt & Pants sets, Shirt and Skirt sets. I’ve just recently started doing some Hair Clips and Barrettes along with very Girls Socks.
Where/How did you learn this? I learned to sew from my mother who, it seemed, was always at her machine. I, of course, did pay as much attention as I should have, and I learned from trial and error as well-lol.
Favorite Artist who inspires you? Oh, my goodness, there are so many! I’d have to say Pitti Bimbo is a real source of inspiration though.
Where does your inspiration come from? I’ll have to say that my inspiration came from wanting my own girls to dress their own age without having to purchase clothing for them that looked like a miniature copy of an adult or Junior item. I really enjoy little girls who look like little girls in their own right, not just a shrunken copy of their big sister or mom.
What do you do to combat creative block? Well, since we’re still getting snow, I usually go outside and throw snowballs around with my kiddos ~ you’d be surprised how a good smack with that cold snow wakes you up, LOL!
Where do you design your creations? Oh, my goodness…anywhere and everywhere! When an idea strikes me, I have to write it down or it just drives me nuts until I can go start touching my fabric. Otherwise you can usually find me in the studio, I’m not one to draw out a lot of my ideas. I do best when I just start right in with the design process and let it flow from my minds eye.
What does your work space look like right now? Controlled Chaos! I have a place for everything but, I always seem to need something to trip over or move out of the way to get a jolt of “oh, I could use this for…” as I’m touching it.
How does your family feel about what you do? As a whole, they support it. Individually, it just depends on which of the 7 kiddos wants this or that. And my hubby ~ he’s and Awesome guy! He supports me no matter what I decide to do.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? Don’t be totally disappointed if you don’t get exactly what you had in mind and be prepared to absolutely surprise yourself. That’s the best way. You can step back and say, “I knew it was gonna be cute but, this is really SWEET.”
Best advice you received when starting your own business venture? Treat it as a business, not a hobby and enjoy it as a hobby not a job.
Favorite part of owning your own business? Flexibility to change my mind and direction any time the mood strikes.
Least favorite? Ugh, there is no one else to blame when I don’t feel like stepping up to the plate.
How do you relax? Cooking, reading, family time.
Favorite color? Greens, not bright green, but all the muddy, mucky shades of olivey greens.
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? I think it depends on the season.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? Networking! I need to be better organized with my networking skills.
A sample of Couture Brew products. For all products, please visit Brew’s website.
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02.28.08
Posted in Uncategorized, fun, site promotion, interviews, fiber art, knitting at 8:08 am by KellyM
Meet Jenny Hofer, Owner of www.jennyhoferdesigns.etsy.com and http://icraftblog.blogspot.com
Where are you located? Omaha, NE
What do you design? At the moment I primarily work with fabric and yarn, creating sewn handbags and housewares, and knitwear accessories.
Where/How did you learn this? My mom taught me to sew when I was little, and I remember creating my first purse when I was eight. I sewed it all by myself (it even had a divider panel inside!) and my mom sewed in the zipper. She also taught me to knit when I was about the same age, though she is now quick to say that I have surpassed her in skills. I love how my knitting skills are a direct reflection of how my great-grandmothers practiced the same craft. They taught my mom, who lovingly passed it down to me. I am excited to do the same with my own daughters!
Favorite Artist who inspires you? I love Amy Karol and her work. And who doesn’t love Martha?
Where does your inspiration come from? I’m really drawn to color, pattern, and anything that demonstrates a nice aestetic balance. So, I could be inspired from a piece of fabric, a cool magazine ad, and I always love a reallly good Treasury listing on Etsy.
What do you do to combat creative block? Take a break, read a book, just try to get away for a little while and let ideas percolate on their own.
Where do you design your creations? Several years ago I claimed a tiny walk-in closet as my workspace. It is adjacent to our home offic area as well as my bedroom, so I kind of float between those spaces when designing something.
What does your work space look like right now? Messy! I have been getting better about keeping my sewing area a little neater, but the floor and bottom shelves of my tiny closet are always overflowing the extra “junk” that gets cleared from our office and bedroom. My five year old daughter frequently tells me, “Mom, you should really clean up in here!”
How does your family feel about what you do? My husband loves it. He is the first to mention my business anytime we are with others. And my kids love it too, though I get a lot of requests to make stuff for them-especially from my daughters. They’ve already wizened up to the idea that Mom is pretty crafty and has lots of supplies.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? Make what you love. Don’t be afraid to show it off a little and to use your own items-you never know when someone will ask “Where did you get that?”
Best advice you received when starting your own business venture? Keep track of expenses! (from my husband of course)
Favorite part of owning your own business? Creative freedom, and I love the idea that people from all over the world can see what I make (and are willing to pay for it as well!)
Least favorite? Keeping track of expenses!
How do you relax? I love to nap. If only my three year old loved it too, life would be much easier.
Favorite color? I am loving kelly green these days!
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? Not yet, but it will.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? I would always get a nap, and then I would make more stuff!
A sample of Jenny Hofer Designs products. For all products, please visit Jenny’s website.
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02.27.08
Posted in Uncategorized, fun, shopping, site promotion, interviews, Photography at 8:18 am by KellyM
Meet Robert Socha, Owner of http://www.robertsocha.etsy.com/ and http://www.robertsochaphotography.com/.
Where are you located? Sparta, New Jersey in rural Sussex County.
What do you design? I am mostly a nature photographer. While I do commercial photography for companies and portrait work for people, most of my photography is nature, landscape and wildlife.
Where/How did you learn this? My mother taught me the basics of how to use a camera when I was really quite young, maybe 9 or 10 years old. Since then I am self-taught. I never attended schooling for photography, but I do always enjoy learning from others as much as possible. I read photography books and magazines, the internet and talk with other photographers. I’m always hoping to improve and the way I see it, there is something to be learned from everyone.
Favortie Artist who inspires you? In the world of photography, believe it or not I don’t really get much from the “Masters”. There are a lot of contemporary, unknown or relatively unknown photographers that inspire me. A lot of photographers become famous because powerful people in the art world tell everyone else to like them, then you are supposed to worship these people. I think some of the best photography is coming from people who aren’t seeking acceptance by the “fine art” world.
Where does your inspiration come from? Nature. I grew up in a log cabin, John Denver was on the stereo all day long, and my backyard was the woods. During my childhood, my mother worked for the Raccoon Ridge Bird Observatory, which she runs today. We were involved in the care of the orphaned and injured birds and animals which gave me an immense love for wildlife and the outdoors.
I spent my childhood feeding baby birds, playing with raccoons and giving mice to hawks and owls. It’s an experinece I’ll never forget. It influences my photography to this day. I do commercial work for people, portraits, even product photography, etc. But I’m most happy out in nature with my camera.
What do you do to combat creative block? It happens to everyone. Sometimes I go out to shoot and come back with absolutely nothing. It seems sometimes when that is happening that the root cause is I’m not shooting for the love of shooting, I’m shooting for some other reason. Maybe to take the perfect bird picture or take a photo that will sell. Your best art always comes when you’re not thinking about the future, and just focusing on the enjoyment of doing what you love.
If I get into a creative funk, I will take a break, watch a good movie, hike, bike, spend time with friends….anything to put me back into a better mood.
Where do you design your creations? The vast majority of my photography is done outdoors in natural light. I then edit my photos with Photoshop in my office and do all of my own printing with a professional Epson printer and archival inks. Typically, I’ll use Hahnemuhle photo rag paper but in the end I use whatever is best for a particular look I want to achieve.
What does your work space look like right now? A mess.
How does your family feel about what you do? Very supportive. My wife and mother especially pushed me to begin selling prints and putting myself out there professionally. Both are very creative and understand the need for that creative outlet. Since I’ve made the decision to do so, it’s been exciting. Even though I maintain my “real” job of selling coffee/espresso, I do commercial work now for people and companies which is fun, and I’m trying to promote my personal work as prints.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? Don’t try to emulate anyone else. Shoot what you like, shoot a lot because it helps you learn about light, shape and composition, and always evaluate yourself honestly.
Favorite part of owning your own business? Running a couple of businesses is tough, but at the end of the day, I have only myself to answer to. I like that part a lot.
Least favorite? At the end of the day, I have only myself to answer to, ha ha. Least favorite, I guess, is that with any business there is the day to day boring responsibilities. I’m more the creative type, so being in charge of all the business end of things is difficult sometimes.
How do you realx? By taking pictures. Honestly, when I’m out with my camera, there is nothing that relaxes me more. I absolutely love it. And when people buy a print or view my photos online and write to tell me how much they enjoy what I’ve made, that’s a nice feeling too.
Favortie color? Different shades of blues and greens.
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? They do, though probably green more than blue. I like to use color as a background paint. Much of my style is to shoot with a shallow depth of field and I enjoy searching for colors in the background that I can throw out of focus and create a nice painting effect.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? I would love to live simply. Maybe like a Hobbit. I’d cook stews over an open fire, I’d have friends over more often to enjoy some good conversation. I’d like to learn to make jewelry from metal and to play an instrument. Really, I’m dissappointed how short life is. If I lived 1000 years, I couldn’t do all I wanted.
A sample of Robert Socha products. For all products, please visit Robert’s website.
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02.26.08
Posted in Uncategorized, style, fun, shopping, site promotion, interviews, clothing at 8:58 am by KellyM
Meet Meredith, owner of www.spookystarclothing.etsy.com.
Where are you located? Ohio
What do you design? Clothing (DIY)
Where/How did you learn this? I am self taught. I taught myself how to sew and make my own patterns. I also use online to get tips as well.
Favorite Artist who inspires you? I’m very inspired by tons of different DIY sellers out there. Hard to choose. I also get inspired from looking at maufactured clothing and see how I could make those into my own style. And sometimes, just by looking at fabrics can give you ideas.
Where does your inspriation come from? Everywhere. In my dreams, going to rock shows, watching fashion shows, magazines, anything really.
What do you do to combat creative block? I usually play my guitar or drums.
Where do you design your creations? My room.
What does your work space look like right now? It’s a little cramped right now in my room. I plan to have another room just for my sewing and business things.
How does your family feel about what you do? They support me. They think it’s neat how creative I can be and how long I’ve been doing it for.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? If this is what you want to do, then go for it! But make sure you really want to do it.
Best advice you received when starting your business venture? Make sure this is what you really want, or is it just a hobby thing. Because running your own business isn’t easy and you have to promote like crazy. Not everyone will like what you make, but make what you want. Also, don’t expect to get tons of sales real fast, it takes some time to get your name out there. Good luck!
Favorite part of owning your own business? My favorite part is that I can be as creative as I want and no one telling me how to do things. And I can work as much as I want and when I want.
Least favorite? Dealing with non paying people or people wasting your time.
How do you relax? I relax by listening to music a lot.
Favorite color? Red and Black.
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? It does at times, I am trying to add more colors and different styles in my work, so I’m not stuck in one style category.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? More time to work, play my music, promote and time to help out more in the animal field, which is what I also do besides clothing.
A sample of Spooky Star Clothing products. For all products, please visit Meredith’s website.
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Posted in Uncategorized, Thank You at 8:32 am by KellyM
I need to interupt the interviews for a moment. I need to say a huge thank you to two young ladies who have helped me.
First let me tell you that every morning about this time, after I have sent my daughters to school or even on the weekends I am online and posting my interview for the day. It is not only important to the person I am interviewing, but to me as well. I promised myself that is what I would do until the very last interview was done. My family has come to understand that this is something I do.
Well, on Sunday morning, same as usual, I was on posting. (I was not going to post because we had important plans that day and I had a lot to do to be ready for that. But my conscience over took me and I posted.) After I published the interview, I noticed a huge problem with my site. Of course I freaked out. I did not know what happened, or how it could be fixed! So I went to find help in the forums for WP and reluctantly asked. I say reluctantly because the people who are on the forums are very technical and didn’t seem to have tolerance for those who are not~like me. They pinpointed my problem in no time! A bug, virus, glich, whatever you want to call it, infected my blog, poor thing. Amazing how fast they found the problem. But it was up to me to fix, and four hours later I finally figured it out.
Anyhow, while I was in freak out mode, my two daughters, 10 and almost 9 kept coming in to make sure everything was OK and that we were going to make it to our planned destination. (So nice of them.) Well, because I was so involved in the computer thing, I did not notice what they were doing in between visits with me until I was finally finished. As I was packing up my notes so I could go get ready, now very late and still stressed, my two daughters presented me with the nicest thing anyone could have done. No it was not flowers or a pretty picture. Nothing like that. They presented me with posters they had made for my website. Advertising they said so I could get more traffic and orders. Several brightly colored well written posters. Awwww! Of course, I thanked them profusely for their efforts and told them I would figure out where to put them so people would see them and know just what to do. They were so proud and I was so touched by what they had done for me.
So, a HUGE THANK YOU to my wonderful, thoughtful daughters!!!
And to the people who infect computers ~ SHAME ON YOU! Taking time away from families and others who depend on their computers….Why? Just because you can does NOT mean you should. And if it’s beacuse you have nothing better to do, I could find plenty of things to occupy your time better.
And to the people who helped me on the Word Press Forum….A HUGE THANK YOU! as well!!
Ok, on to the interview for the day…
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