Date joined etsy- 10/21/07
Sales to date - 582
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.My name's Emma Klingbeil, I live in a very quaint/(SMALL) mid-Wisconsin town with my boyfriend Chris and spotted cat, Poopy - don't ask, the name just stuck...her new official name (her nickname being "thunder bunny") is Poopy Pooperson, Attorney at Law where we imagine her wearing a smart navy blue pant suit. She brings a lot of entertainment into our small apartment. Ice cream - honestly I'm not a big fan...Chris is the ice-cream eater here.
-Describe an average day in life of "you".
Hmm...an average day. I've recently started getting up early - I used to have pretty late mornings, but found the day to go WAY too fast, so I added a little more discipline in my life to get things going...the early morning is amazing. The first thing I do is put music on, then check out etsy - see if anything happened in the evening hours. Then, go out and for a walk or run in the woods...sometimes take a spill or two thanks to the plethora of mud, then get ready for "work". For the most part, I consider myself a full-time artist; I do work part-time as a framer at a local shop after a stint of cake decorating, and go to school for traditional illustration online (academy of art university). I've got a new little art shop/studio with my mother, Sandra Klingbeil and sister Ivy Klingbeil. So all day we work on art and hopefully sell some. You can see our website that Ivy created at http://www.exvotostudio.net. After a hard day of creating, I usually have to go to the store since I apparently hate buying more that one meal at a time...go home, make dinner, drink some wine with Chris, check out etsy again and eventually go to bed.
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?
All I know how to do is art...my mom always had paint and paper out for my sister and me, and my dad brought REAMS of old printer output paper home for us to tear through. My father's also a musician, so music and art were constant in the house. Another common past time activity was making robots out of boxes with my sister; we did a lot of "building".
-What made you want to start selling on etsy?
I think I first heard of etsy through my mom showing me an article in "the Home Companion" by Mary Engelbreit. It was a little blurb ad in the back, I checked it out and one day painted a quick little picture, posted it in my new etsy shop. It was pretty exciting - in the first 30 minutes after posting it sold! I new right away it was going to be a great venture.
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?food -
sandwiches!!
roasted peppers
anything pickled
hummus
curry
tv -
not a huge tv watcher...we never got one after the issue of needing the cable-box thing, but we do watch off the internet.
right now it's "penn and teller's bullsh*t"
music -
anything that Mike Patton's doing...everything Patton. can I stress that enough?
the National
Les Baxter's always enjoyable
the Knife
Mumford and Sons
Saul Williams
Kings of Leon
Al Green
Jane's Addiction
Dub Trio
throw in some Slick Rick
okay I'll stop.
-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working, an instrument, etc.
I would love to be able to play SOME instrument...my dad's a stand-up bass player - and dabbles in pretty much everything else. My sister can also play guitar/piano well - I however have no talent with music. I'd like to try my hand at anything... Maybe some metal-work one of these days... I'm working in encaustic right now which is pretty neat.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?
Post things often...it's really easy to get lost in the vastness of etsy. I find if I renew things regularly, and post new work (I'm slacking lately) my work doesn't get too lost in the art category. Also getting involved with blogs have really helped get the word out...I'm working on Merchant Circle right now. Advertise your shop in other areas - magazines, get a mailing list started.
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
poodlebreath
elsita
joncarling
-One year from now, I hope...
Jeez - the pressure! Have some more art shows in various areas...I'm quite happy where I'm at right now; if that continues, maybe with a bit more full-time work and independent selling, that'd be super fantastic. I'd love to be doing more free-lance illustration work...maybe have a studio with windows.
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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 :)
