03.13.08

My Interview with Kelly, Owner of Happy Shack Designs

Posted in Uncategorized, jewelry, fun, hand crafted jewelry, shopping, site promotion, interviews at 6:54 pm by KellyM

Please meet Kelly Warren, Owner of www.happyshackdesigns.com

Where are you located? Jacksonville, FL.
What do you design? Jewelry and accessories.
Where/How did you learn this? I’m self taught!
Favorite Artist who inspires you? Oh my… too many to count…currently, it’s my good friend Wyanne Thompson.
Where does your inspiration come from? Color, color and more color…and my children.
What do you do to combat creative block? Read an art magazine and then TRY to go to sleep…Most of my designs come to me when I’m laying in bed at night trying to go to sleep.
Where do you design your creations? My hubby built me a wonderful little studio on the ground floor of our home.
What does your work space look like right now? Today, it’s actually clean. Yesterday morning it was a disaster because I just finished preparing and returning from an arts festival in Bartow. When I’m in the week prior to a show, I tend to make quite a mess because I’m just constantly creating and not really cleaning up. I took the day off yesterday to recover from the weekend and clean up.
How does your family feel about what you do? Very supportive. Couldn’t do it without my husband who graciously takes care of our girls when I’m traveling to festivals. And my girls are learning to create right next to me so I think that’s a wonderful thing.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? Don’t be afraid to just try something new. I’m fairly skilled in jewelry design but I’ve been trying new things in other art forms. Best advice I ever got (from Wyanne) was just to do it. I had the “Oh, I just need one more little bit of supplies” syndrome. But I just had to realize that I had everything I needed right there. I just needed to quit coming up with excuses and just play. I think “playing” is the key. That way you have to let go of being too hard on yourself.
Best advice you received when starting your business venture? Price your items correctly! Which I’m still not following very well. I think my larger pieces are probably a bit under priced (so snag them while you can! )
Favorite part of owning your own business? Being able to send a little piece of me out there into the world for someone else to enjoy.
Least favorite? Photographing my work! I love taking pictures in general, but dislike photographing my work simply because jewelry is so hard to capture well on camera.
How do you relax? A good magazine and a big bubble bath.
Favorite color? Blue
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? Yes, yes, and yes.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? Creating more. I work full time in addition to my Happy Shack and also have twin 4 1/2 year old girls, so my days are jam packed. In a perfect world, I would win the lottery so I could stay home with my girls and create new things all the time.