Date joined etsy- 4/14/08
Sales to date - 867
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.My name is Mariska Vos-Bolman, I live in the Netherlands. I have two sons one 2 year old and a 3 month old baby. I love to create plush toys. I used to work in the game industry as a 3d modeller. I started my company Fluffels two years ago.I started my first etsy shop mariska.etsy.com. A few month after starting Fluffels I started to create patterns from my soft toys and set up the shop diyfluffies.etsy.com
-Describe an average day in life of "you".
During the day I take care of my two boys. When I have a bit of time during the day I check my emails, send the pdf patterns to buyers. In the evening I have about 1-2 hours to do some design work, stuff animals or make necklaces for my other etsy shop. I get to bed around 22.00 because my youngest still wakes up during the night. So not a lot of time to create new patterns these days, but I know that will change when the kids get older.
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?
Yes I was very creative. I was always drawing, painting, doing origami and sculpting with clay.
-What made you want to start selling on etsy?
I just bought a sewingmachine to make some things for my home. I made a plush monster and thought it would be nice to see if it would sell and it did! I also have a etsy shop together with my mom called fabrickitchen.etsy.com Which she does most of the work for. I help her with the technical things, like updating the shop, creating the banners and making the photo's.
-How long did it take for you to get your first sale on etsy?
A few days in my mariska.etsy.com shop, where I sell soft toys and jewelry. After that I started diyfluffies.etsy.com which is a much more successful shop.
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?Foods: chocolate, chicken adobo, sauerkraut, soup, risotto
Tv shows: Supernatural, medium, greys anatomy, eastwick, project runway
Bands: Pff I just couldn't choose, the music I listened to depends on my mood. I like bjork, coldplay, muse, amy winehouse, and a lot more :)
-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working, an instrument, etc.
Yes I would like to do some more crochet, which I started two years ago, but didn't had much time for yet.
I would love to learn Pottery baking to. Never tried it but it seems something fun to do.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?
Try to get featured on blogs :) That always seems to bump my sales a lot. I also have a facebook page, twitter and a blog that I should update more often. Blog can work really well, but you must spend more time updating it then I do.
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
feltmeupdesigns so cute! I love her little birds!
DogboneArt Cute designs! Great clothes for kids.
jewelsvine I have one of here necklaces, such beautiful work!
-One year from now...
I hope to have more pdf patterns in my shop, and maybe some for a pattern book. I hope my baby will sleep through the night soon so I have some more time to make new patterns.
--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 :)
