Date joined etsy - 4/27/07
Sales to date - 294
about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.
My name is Stephanie Maslow-Blackman. I live in the crazy world of New York City. Believe it or not it’s a quiet street in an edgy part of Manhattan within walking distance of lots of kids’ playgrounds, the famous Macy’s at 34th street and the Hudson River. I have 2 boys ages 2 months and 5 years, and two hilarious kittehs. My husband works at Nickelodeon in Times Square and we feel so lucky to live the life we do. Lots of people think we are crazy for raising our kids in the ‘big city’ but honestly we have a lot of fun. I’m a country girl at heart. I grew up on 12 acres in the ‘garden state’ part of New Jersey, a mile away from a dairy farm. Um, you didn’t want to be downwind on hot days. Summers saw me reading books while floating in a rowboat on our pond. So I try to bring a little country to our city life. On winter nights we make a fire in the fireplace, turn on my son’s planetarium projector that puts stars on the ceiling, and make s’mores while we tell ghost stories. In the summer we go back to my childhood home so my boys can catch frogs, climb trees and roll in poison ivy if they want to. My boys get to go to museums and take subways but they also get to be Huck Finn if they want. That’s how we roll here on 27th street.
-Describe an average day in life of "you".
Well, my days right now consist of diapers, feedings, lack of sleep and more diapers. I had my son on December 9th and I’m currently on maternity leave. Exciting, no? But my ideal day, once Mr. Smooshkins is old enough….*dream sequence*
8am—wake up after 10 hours of sleep uninterrupted by crying, feeding, bed wetting, bad dreams….
8:30am—hubs takes sons to school, I take a quick run out by the river. Shower. I love showers.
9:30am— I head into my studio (which is a workbench crammed into a corner of my bedroom) and get on the computer to check for orders, answer convos, check in with my JET (Jewelry on Etsy) team in the forums. Then I start work: carve waxes for new ideas, order castings for orders, solder, polish, saw, file, sand, set gemstones until my stomach starts yelling
noon—lunch and checking in again with the cyberworld (see above and repeat)
12:30—more working, running errands to the jewelry district to pick up castings, buy more gemstones, go to the plating workshop
3pm—pick up boys from school, if it’s nice out we’ll go to a nearby park. If not, we’ll walk home (school is 3 blocks away). On Tuesdays my older son goes to robotics class (cool or nerdy? You decide.)
4pm—snack time, read books, build more robots, play games… anything to keep from watching TV. I have a limited timeframe before my son would rather watch TV than play with me so I’m enjoying our playtime as much as I can now!!
5:30—TV time FINALLY (Nick Jr. of course) so I can cook dinner.
6:30—Hubs comes home and he takes over kid/baby duty so I can go back to work. More checking of convos, metalsmithing, etc.
9:30—Hang out with hubs, watch movies that are finally out on DVD, or Intervention, or Modern Family, or Lost, or Project Runway… yee hah!
11:30—BEDTIME and hopefully 10 more hours of uninterrupted sleep (see above)
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?
I think everyone is creative, just in their own way. I liked playing barbies. Barbies wore jewelry, right? Ha. Ha. Ha.
-What made you want to start selling on etsy?
I bought a beautiful pair of earrings from esdesigns. Then a friend told me to try to sell here and I figured why not!
-How long did it take for you to get your first sale on etsy?
Hmm, I think a few weeks. I didn’t really understand how etsy works so it wasn’t until I’d been on here 4 months before I met a wonderful seller, OneGarnetGirl, who explained how things worked and then sales started coming in. Once the economy crashed though, it was tough going. But things seem to be picking up again thankfully!
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?
I am a Geminii, so these are only true for today. Tomorrow is another day.
Chocolate, cheese, bread, donuts, gelato
Arrested Development, Modern Family, Big Love, The Office, Glee
Sugar, Queen, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Ella Fitzgerald, Erasure
-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working, an instrument, etc.
Yes, to everything. Geminiis cannot be sated.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?
Renew every day. Make friends in the forums. Join an Etsy team. Make treasuries, get into treasuries—that’s the only way to get to the front page. And front page exposure is GOLD.
Make sure your photos are amazing. And that they create a signature ‘feel’ for your shop. You photos should be recognizable as your signature look—so everyone can tell it’s yours just from the ‘look’ Don’t copy anyone else—go with your own ideas and stand behind them. You are creative and smart and unique, there is no one else like you in the world. Your shop should reflect that.
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
Hmmm. Too many to list but here are my 3 for today only:
Meegun
FocuslineArt
HomeToRoost
-By December 31, 2010 I hope my number of sold items is another 250!
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Have a successful etsy shop and want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)
