Date joined etsy -4/5/08
Sales to date - 728
Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.My name is Vicky and I live in Southern California with my husband, Casey and our 2 boys Asher (who is 5)and Jasper (who is 2). We have two tank frogs (Juan and Fellow), a couple of stray cats (Tim and OC) that we feed and we're hatching chicks in a couple of weeks to raise as our very own chickens!
I'm originally from England and moved to the States after meeting Casey and falling in love on a painting trip to Italy. We have been married for almost 13 years and he is the most wonderful person I have ever met :)
-Describe an average day in life of "you".
I wake up with my littlest, Jasper, at about 6:30am. We hang out, play with trains and make some tea. When I can grab time I catch up on e-mails, re-list items and check on how things look in my store. Asher wakes up at about 7:30 and then Casey gets up if he hasn't already left early for work. Basically my day consists of juggling some really fun activities with my boys, preparing lots of food and snacks, cleaning up large messes and working on my toys when the boys are content and happy playing alone. They actually play very well together and get along great. Asher has preschool 3 mornings a week until 12 and that's when I usually do my grocery shopping and ship internationally so that I only have one boy to wrangle :) I do the majority of my Etsy work after the kids are in bed between 7pm and midnight (sometimes 2am!!! if I'm very busy).
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?
I was always very creative. At first this presented itself as me taking every single thing apart to see the insides and how it worked. This wasn't very popular in my household, especially with my sister! I have clear memories of drawing fairies with Princess Leah style hair buns over and over again in elementary school.
When I was about 12 I started to realize that I could draw pretty well and my art teacher gave me a box of oil paints to take home and try. I would spend hours in my bedroom just painting and painting and breathing in awful fumes. My parents were awesome and let me cover my walls in hand painted poster paint murals.
I went to art school and completed my BFA in painting and drawing in England, met my husband and completed my MFA in painting and drawing in California.
-What made you want to start selling on etsy?
After having children, my creativity was put on hold for a while. I wanted to make something new and taught myself how to needle felt from watching a couple of YouTube videos. I had purchased a couple of things from Etsy previously and thought it would be fun to open my own store and try to sell these things that I had made.
-How long did it take for you to get your first sale on etsy?
2 good friends bought from me within days of opening and then I had my first 'real' sale about a week later - 2 bird balls :)
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?chocolate, sushi, nuts, kale, fresh figs.
We don't have TV. Just access to movies through Netflix. My husband and I LOVE going to the movie theater. I like listening to KCRW public radio.
I'm not a big music person. I love silence or listening to interesting things on the radio.
-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working, an instrument, etc.
I really love to cook and bake and make up my own recipes. It's something I might consider more seriously in the future.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?
Make sure that your photos are clear and aesthetically pleasing.
Have a great product and keep trying to improve upon it.
Renew listings daily
Create a facebook fan page
Use Flickr
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
I just love these clothes and own several things sarahclemensclothing.etsy.com
My kind of jewelry RachelleD.etsy.com
I just love the sweetness of this store and will buy a piece one day Intres.etsy.com
-One year from now, I hope my number of sold items is... 1500.
--Have a successful etsy shop and want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)
