1. What do you sell in your shop? I have two Etsy shops. At PoppyHill Creations I sell digital art and printables ranging from scrapbook papers and clip art to diy party supplies such as invitations, cupcake accessories, and banners - all digital graphics of course.
At PoppyHill Baby I sell baby gifts. Right now the majority of my items are what I like to call diaper creations - diaper cakes and diaper motorcycles. I've also recently started to sell my tummy time quilts, something I've been making for the past five years for close friends and family.
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| tummy time quilts |
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| diaper creations |
2. What is your favorite thing about Etsy? I love that I can sell from home and that if I ever have a question I can jump onto one of my team threads and ask. I have learned so much from my teammates and have really found a sense of camaraderie. It's been a really positive experience.
3. What is your least favorite thing about Etsy? Getting found and finding the right tags. I'm still learning what works and what doesn't. It's very frustrating. Thankfully, something must be working because my views have increased over the past month to averaging around 50 per day...finally!I'm open to any advice on how to find good tags for products.
4. What does your studio/workspace look like? Usually a mess...ha! When I'm working on my graphics, the mess isn't so bad. Just paper, pattern books, and printouts all over my computer space. I tend to draw a lot of things out by hand before I scan them in and touch them up or detail them with photoshop/illustrator. However, if I have an order for a diaper creation, or if I'm sewing then you might as well forget about walking in my workspace. There is usually fabric, diapers, ribbon and all kinds of baby supplies strewn about as I assemble products for shipping. All of my listed items for PoppyHill Baby are housed in storage bins in my closet in my loft. Yeah, I could do one of those things where I say something will "look similar" to this item and purchase supplies on an as needed basis. But, I prefer that my customer knows exactly what they are going to get when they make the purchase. So, that means I use up storage space. It's okay though...I have a system...LOL!
5. What do you do to relax? Spending time with my two kids - ages 3 and 15-months - and I guess my hubby too...just kidding. Of course, I love spending time with him! I especially love introducing my boys to new mediums and watching them create their own kind of art. My favories right now are dry erase crayons. No mess! How could I not love them? I'm also a TV and movie junkie. So, when I'm not spending time with the fam or crafting, I'm probably watching something on TV or I'm at the movies (though I don't get out to the movies near as often as I like). In fact, come September I'll be eagerly awaiting the new and returning fall premieres. This year I'm especially excited because I'll be posting critiques on my blog for the first time!
6. What accomplishments are you the most proud of? Definitely my family. They are the best thing that I have ever done and I'm so grateful to have such wonderful kids and a loving husband that take care of my like they do. I only hope that I'm as good to them as they are to me. I'm also really, really proud of my Etsy shops. They have given me so much confidence in my artwork! It still catches me off guard when I have people tell me how cute a diaper motorcycle is or how lovely one of my quilts are, or how well a paper pack worked in someone else's creation. It's wonderful to be appreciated for something that you have a passion to do!
7. What are some of your goals for the next year? There is a lot of goals that I have set for myself in each shop. My number one goal is to grow my views and my sales for both of my shop. I know that building a shop, let alone two shops, takes time, but I feel like as long as I'm persistent I can accomplish this goal. In PoppyHill Creations I'd like my views to reach 150+ per day and I've set a sales goal of 100 sales by the end of 2012.
In PoppyHill Baby I'd like to grow my quilt line. This is my slower shop as I spend more time on the graphics shop, but I'd like to see views increase to 60+ per day and sales to 35 by the end of 2012.
You can find Jamie at these places:
PoppyHill Creations (Jamie): digital downloads and art
Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PoppyHillCreations
Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PoppyHillBaby
Blog: http://poppyhillcreations.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PoppyHillCreations
6 comments:
Good luck, Jamie, with sales and views! I loved seeing what your studio looks like, and felt reassured when you said things are a mess when you're creating. That's my style, too! Everything everywhere all at once!
I agree- getting found is a frustrating part of etsy! I just found out about dry erase crayons when shopping for my friend's kid- they're so cool!
I enjoyed this interview and getting to know you better! Good luck with your goals!
Your diaper motorcycle is adorable Jamie! Welcome to the team and it's great getting to know you :)
Best of luck, and welcome!
I'm a paper junkie and I love looking at what papercrafts others are doing! Congrat. on your new and growing family - it must be fun, seeing the boys get excited about art. Great goals! {:-D
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