Today's Blog Feature is on a Fellow Etsykids Member The Tutu Palace.
1)How did you first hear about Etsy? - I actually was watching Good Morning America and Tori was on, talking about how mom's could earn extra money at home. A couple months later, I actually got laid off and was looking for a fun way to make money at home and remembered that episode. I crafted, but not "full time," just here and there, and decided that I could give Etsy a try. At 20 cents a listing, it's not like I would be out a WHOLE lot of money if I didn't succeed, so I gave it a shot.
2)Tell us about a little about yourself and your favorite craft/art! - I am Mommy to Coco and Mabel, the names I like to call my kids. Coco is a 4-year-old, get-into-and-onto-EVERYTHING boy and Mabel is my 2 year old baby girl. I craft for them. I don't have any boy items in my shop because it's SO HARD to craft stuff for him, so he mostly gets PJs and the like, things I can sew. As for Mabel though, she gets EVERYTHING. I make felt food for her, bows, dresses, tutus... literally anything you can think of, I can make it for her. I love to craft because not only is it fun, but it saves us a TON of money on things (even though my husband ends up spending the money on things for the kids anyway!).
3)How did you get started as a designer? I actually learned to "craft" when I was young and participated in 4-H. I don't know if that's a southern thing or if it translates all over the place, but it's basically a DIY group for youth for everything from planting and canning to raising animals and sewing. I hadn't done anything in forever but when my daughter came along, I decided it was a good time to get back to crafting because every single bow I looked at online, I thought, "I can do that. Wow, they are charging THAT for that bow?!" LOL.
4)What inspires you to create? My kids. It's so cliche, but it's so true. I see things they like at the stores, and go home and create them for the little booger snatchers. From clothes to cloth toys, if I've seen it, I can probably recreate it. And yes, bows always go with the clothes, and if I can add some tulle or a tutu under a skirt, she's got one. ;)
5)How do you get the word out about your shop and Etsy? I have a Facebook page... just search The Tutu Palace.And I just started a blog. www.doingmischief.blogspot.com I envision it being a little bit of everything from my life to DIY crafts and more. As a professional writer, I can't NOT write, but as a crafter and mom, I had to find a way to blend all of that and blogging seems a good place to do it.
6)Any advice you would give to aspiring designers? Be creative and do what you want. Sure, trends dictate sales, but seriously, why not create your own NEXT trend? That's always my goal, to try and create the next trend.
Make sure you check out her shop and the links to her blog listed above:
www.thetutupalace.etsy.com
1 comment:
Really great feature! The tutus are really pretty.
~Kim
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