Date joined etsy- 8/13/07
Sales to date - 1809
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.When I was a little girl, I used to tell people that my name was Maria. In truth, Lisa is so boring and hardly fits me as a person. Alisa would be so much better. I suppose that is why when my daughter www.TayloredArt.etsy.com turned 17, I finally gave in to the endless requests by her to legally change her name. A name is like a brand, and her birth name came 5 days after she was born, so I suppose it never really suited her. My mother was not so accommodating. “Lisa was a good, practical name.” she would say. So here I am Lisa , spelt without the aide of a front “A.”
My husband and I live in Wisconsin, out in the country along side the Amish…no, I am not peddling to run a computer, we are not Amish ourselves. Currently we have 2 extra large sized dogs and one very fast and fit mid sized dog sharing our house. And to mix things up a bit, our daughter, her husband and their three kids all under 3 years old { a set of twins in there} and their 160 lb dog have temporally moved in since selling their house last May. So a lot of action around here! In the winters, my husband and I escape to Arkansas for a visit to our Cedar Stone cabin that we have built by hand. He and I along with the help of my sister and brother in law. It was built to look like something from the early 1800’s. I adore it!
Speaking of adoring, Hagen Daz coffee ice cream is a passion of mine! I buy it by the pint, and eat it right from the contain in a couple of sittings. I make sure to buy my husband his own favorite as to not have to share mine!
-Describe an average day in life of "you".
5am, let the dogs out, flip a coin, stay up, go back to bed. 50/50 chance for either. If I get tails and go back to bed, I sleep in till 7am.If I stay up, I make an iced coffee with allot of whipped cream. Feed the mutts and flip the ON switch to the computer. As it runs through it’s cycle I unload the dishwasher and then fill the wash machine with a load of clothes. Then KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, “Grandma…Grandma….Papa??” The door that divides the two living quarters of us and my daughter’s family is opened to let the 3 anxiously awaiting children in. I am usually asked for yogurt and the boxes of our cereal and oatmeal seem to find their way out of the pantry. I give the 3 grandkids a dose of grandmother & Papa love then send them back to their mom. I give my husband a kiss and hear what job he might be off to. He and I are both self employed, so the days are never typical or duplicated.
I check emails, package any sales and print postage and take my packages to our mail box accompanied by the oldest grandson. I proof read the days blog entry for my daughter’s and my blog http://dearmaryjanes.blogspot.com/ and then hit PUBLISH. I go to Taylor’s blog http://www.maryjanesandgaloshes.com/ to see what she has posted. I price and tag inventory for the brick and mortar shop, box it up and set it aside to take in to my antique spaces. I sit and have lunch with my husband at noon which also includes the visit of 1 - 3 of the grandkids. I usually hear the exciting news that the oldest has used the big boy potty. Praise is given. If my daughter is feeling cooped up, we some times pack the kids up and take them to the aquatic center for a swim. When we return, I check my etsy shop, reply to convos and then list a couple of items. Supper is ready at 5pm and we sit down for grace and a meal. If it’s been a hot day, we jump on the motorcycle and take a ride around the back roads to cool off. When we return, we sit on the back yard swing and talk about the day….this usually includes three grandchildren running between us. I play on the computer at night until about 11:30 and then off to bed.
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?My family lived in the country on 5 acres, you had to be creative. My mom is very crafty and loves to bake. I was a story teller when I was young, I esp loved making up spooky stories for friends. I loved digging up treasures out in the woods and I hoarded them away like fine china. I was lucky to be raised with horses so a lot of my time was spent horse back riding. I spent a lot on time on my own with a horse out exploring the woods.
-What made you want to start selling on etsy?
My daughter started her shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/tayloredarts and I saw how nice etsy was. I just had to hitch my wagon!
-How long did it take for you to get your first sale on etsy?
60 seconds! Honest, as soon as I listed a key, it sold. So I listed a couple more, and they sold within seconds.
I was hooked!
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?Fav Edibles:
Lobster
Milk chocolate
Ice Cream
French Bread
Milk
I rarely watch TV, but if I do, it’s something reality.
Tunes
Anything that makes me dance, so pretty much anything.
I like Nickel Creek the best I guess.
-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working, an instrument, etc.
I bought my husband a banjo a few years back, I wish I knew how to play it! When we go to our Cedar Stone cabin, we get back to the basics, so I plan to learn a lot of the Old World crafts.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?
Twitter, Facebook, Blog It, Try some Blog Giveaways & Promotions, hand cards out that have your etsy shop on them. Make Rack cards and find out where you can place them. Word of mouth and visit the etsy forums.
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sadienstella
http://www.etsy.com/shop/mfayrephotography
http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlebrownpen
-One year from now, I hope....
Someday I will focus on Etsy seriously, right now I just dabble in it. So a year from now I hope to be working at being more productive at it.
Also I hope to be hosting monthly Vintage Country Chic Sales out of my one room school house that we just moved here. Want to come to them?
--
Have an etsy shop with over 300 sales and want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)
