04.07.08
Posted in Uncategorized, fun, hand crafted jewelry, shopping, site promotion, interviews, bath and body, clothing, handbags at 4:09 pm by KellyM
Meet Yvette Estime, Owner of www.bellepourlavie.com.
Where are you located? Coral Springs, FL.
What do you design? Handbags, jewelry, shoes, bath products.
Where/How did you learn this? I am a self taught crafter. I mostly read books on the subject.
Favorite Artist who inspires you? Dali. All my work has double meanings and very symbolic.
Where does your inspiration come from? I love the ocean so most of my work has an aquatic theme. I also love astrology. My twin sister and creative parnter also inspires me.
What do you do to combat creative block? I read. Also, I am a watercolorist, so I sometimes paint.
Where do you design your creations? In my bedroom, everything is piled in a corner. I really need more space. LOL
What does your work space look like right now? Sewing machine in one corner, 3 containers of fabric, a 3 drawer stand full of beads and another full with essential oils.
How does your family feel about what you do? My mom thinks it’s a fascinating hobby and my sister (also my parnter) wants to turn it into a more successful business.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? Try not to be discouraged if no one takes to your work right away. It’s a process.
Best advice you received when starting your business venture? Well, I think the best advice was stay away from craft shows. Always try to consign or wholesale. If you must sell, try trade shows.
Favorite part of owning your own business? Doing what I love and getting paid for it.
Least favorite? More than 8 hour work periods.
How do you realx? Music.
Favorite color? Purple.
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? In the form of Amethyst.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? Making more handbags! They take the most time to create.
A sample of Belle Pour la Vie products. For all products, please visit Yvettes website.
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03.26.08
Posted in Uncategorized, fun, shopping, site promotion, interviews, paper crafts, Glass at 8:00 am by KellyM
Meet Emily Goodwin, Owner of www.emelegifts.com.
Where are you located? Crete, Greece.
What do you design? I make handmade cards and home decor gifts, such as painted flower pots and decorative glass jars which make great candle holders! I have plans to add magnets and keychains to the site in the not so distant future. Some items are one of a kind. I also do custom work.
Where/How did you learn this? Through books and magazines and also by trial and error!
Where does your inspiration come from? I have more ideas than I know what to do with, but each one gets noted down so that I can come back to it. Most of my business ideas come to me when I’m just going to sleep so that I have to put the light on and write/sketch them down before I forget. Always keep a pen and paper by your bed!
What do you do to combat creative block? Usually I’ll just move onto another project or spend more time doing website things or concentrate on my photography until the creativity comes back. It always comes back eventually.
Where do you design your creations? The spare bedroom is my workspace for creating. The laptop and random pieces of paper sit on the dining room table for when I’m doing website things, promotion etc etc etc.
What does your work space look like right now? Messy!
Best advice you received when starting your own business venture? I’m not sure I received any, but here’s something I soon learned. Build a website and they (visitors) will come is a lie! you have to work hard to get visitors and then to get those visitors buying.
Favorite part of owning your own business? Being my own boss.
Least favorite? Not having a “regular” income every month.
How do you relax? I always seem to be doing some form of work as I love what I do, so, “Huh, what’s relaxing?” But I guess I do the usual…Watch TV/films (not horror, I have nightmares!) I read a lot and love taking photos. Photography is my hobby, although it’s slowly turning into another business!
Favorite color? Purple, yellow and green. Impossible to choose just one!
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? Not so much in my work, but I have a purple and yellow website!
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? Everything that I love-Website design, crafting and photography.
A sample of Emele Gifts products. For all products, please visit Emily’s website.
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03.21.08
Posted in Uncategorized, fun, shopping, site promotion, interviews, crochet at 6:04 am by KellyM
Please meet Mikki, Owner of www.kustomkrochet.ecrater.com.
Where are you located? Texas
What do you design? Crocheted throws, baby blankets, place mats and coasters.
Where/How did you learn this? My Mom taught me the basics when I was 5 and I’ve built on it since then. I had never seen anyone else “draw pictures” on afgans and decided to give it a shot. Only recently have I discovered, I’m not the only one. Haha.
Favorite Artist who inspires you? None in particular.
Where does your inspiration come from? Life, my kids, family, something I want to try. Who knows, sometimes it just creeps up on me.
What do you do to combat creative block? Do house work for a while, or look at pictures in magazines. Sometimes, if I just stop trying, it comes to me.
Where do you design your creations? My living room, bedroom and kitchen. I crochet almost everywhere, even while riding down the road.
What does your work space look like right now? Overflowing with yarn ~ LOL
How does your family feel about what you do? They love it because I use them as test subjects from time to time. LOL
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? Just do what you love and love what you do.
Favorite part of owning your own business? I get paid for doing what I love.
How do you relax? I crochet.
Favorite color? Pink
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? It depends.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? More crochet.
A sample of Kustom Krochet products. For all products, please visit Mikki’s website.
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03.16.08
Posted in Uncategorized, jewelry, fun, hand crafted jewelry, shopping, site promotion, interviews, crochet, knitting, Stained Glass at 3:29 pm by KellyM
Please meet D’arcy, Owner of www.littlesalem.com
Where are you located? St. Paul, MN.
What do you design? Stained glass (panels, lamps, pendants, jewelry boxes). Various knitted and crocheted items (chokers, halfmits, soap satchels)
Where/How did you learn this? I returned to college when I was 42, and spent most of my time in the Fine Arts Dept. There, I learned sculpture, watercolor, graphic design, but mostly fell in love with all aspects of glass, from stained glass and fusing to glass blowing. I learned how to crochet from my grandma when I was very little.
Favorite Artist who inspires you? Oh, there are so many! I love John Waterhouse. There are so many people in my life who are artistic though, and they inspire me.
Where does your inspiration come from? Life and dreams. Sometimes I can see art in the mundane, and I dream so much when I sleep it’s like I’m just visiting another, more colorful place. That’s given me a lot of ideas in my waking hours.
What do you do to combat creative block? I have so many different things I like to do that I don’t even have the time to get to all the ideas I have now.
Where do you design your creations? I have a workspace in my basement that I use for doing my glass. Soon, I will be setting up space to include pewter casting and silver metal clay. (I just got a new torch and I can’t wait to fire it up!)
Upstairs I have a little room where I do my sewing and beading, and I crochet and knit when I’m watching tv at night.
What does your work space look like right now? Very cluttered! I’m always working on at least a couple of things at the same time!
How does your family feel about what you do? My whole family is very supportive! My partner in life is a very talented artist, so he is not only supportive, but he “gets it”. My kids are following a creative path also, so there’s always plenty of creative energy in this house!
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? For any method, follow what drives you. Learn what you can, and get your hands dirty and try it. If you’re passionate about it, you’ll succeed.
Favorite part of owning your own business? The hours. I can work around family, appointments, etc. I just need to remember to stop sometimes.
Least favorite? The actual business end. I’m still learning that, and I feel like it takes so much time away from what I love to do.
How do you realx? A bonfire in the back yard after my guy BBQs a great steak!
Favortie color? Hmmmm. Lately, I’m liking reds. Overall, black and purple.
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? Oh yes, lots of black.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? Learning to play my harp, and playing my guitar more.If there were more hours in the day, what would you
A sample of Little Salem products. For all products, please visit Darcy’s website.
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03.13.08
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.
A sample of Happy Shack Designs products. For all products, please visit Kelly’s website.
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