Date joined etsy- 10/24/06
Sales to date - 1531
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.I’m Tobie and my Etsy shop is LuLu’s Woobies.
I’ve lived in Southern California all my life, but just moved to Las Vegas 7 months ago (and love it!).
I share my space with my husband Brad, two crazy, genius girls: Sofie,8 and Tallulah,5, and my brother PeeWee (a Great Dane), two terriers Vinnie & Petey and a sulky little cat who hides in the laundry room.
-Describe an average day in life of "you".
I’m not a morning person at all, but still get up early with the family. I suck down a pot of coffee, fumble through making breakfasts and packing lunch and shuffling off to school. Nothing actually really gets accomplished until after noon. I terrorize the dogs a bit, get cleaned up and then make myself to get to work.
My typical work day is organized chaos. I’m happiest when I’m doing many things at once. There are always new projects and piles of fabric and yarn and needles and orders on my work table and desk at any given time. I sort of hop from task to task and then end up done within a surprising few hours. When school is out, I’ll run to the post office and then it’s pretty much family time for the rest of the day. We try to reserve weekends for fun and dates.
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?
I had a very imaginative childhood with my 3 sisters. We definitely lived in a very strange little make believe world most of the time. I picked up sewing and crochet when I was about 10 or 11 and everything I made was a gigantic mess. I’ve gotten much better in my old age!
My dad was the original handcrafter in our family. He built the home I grew up in, the bedroom I slept in. There wasn’t anything that he couldn’t do if he put his mind and hands to it, and he never gave up. I love to think that I got my handy-ness from him.
-What made you want to start selling on etsy? Etsy was still very young when I started selling on the site. It was a very likeable place, personable, fun and friendly. It was a really refreshing to sell on Etsy compared to other sites, and still is. I couldn’t resist it’s charms.
-How long did it take for you to get your first sale on etsy?
6 days
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?
I love anything with cheese and salt. I love coffee and beer.
I don’t watch too much TV, but when there’s time I enjoy Project Runway, Survivor, cooking shows and any program about the universe.
My favorite band is Radiohead, my girls love P!nk and Lady GaGa, my husband is into the 80’s and Vampire Weekend, so we have an interesting mix of music.
-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing?
I’m planning on picking up woodburning very soon! The new tool has been on my desk for a month now.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?I’m a pretty quiet seller. As far as promotion goes, I could be a terrible example for others.
BUT, I’ve learned that taking custom requests is essential to broadening your horizon and getting out of the comfort zone. I’ve met some amazing people, repeat customers and made some wonderful friends this way AND discovered best selling items through other’s wants. The word of mouth referrals from custom request sales make for valuable shop promotion.
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
I’m a big fan of ashleyg (since my beginning on Etsy) and have a few of her prints in our home.
The best service I’ve EVER received along with beautiful product was from idreamicanfly.etsy.com.
I admire greatly WrenWillow’s beautiful product, images and happy upbeat style.
Also, any shop that sells ridiculous dog and cat apparel is my favorite.
-One year from now...
...I’ll be creating like mad and possibly have my enormous to-do list half way tackled. I’ll have the house all to myself for a HUGE chunk of the day because both girls will be in school fulltime. I’ll probable be found wandering around fabric shops and Target talking to myself like a crazy person because my little people will be gone.
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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 :)
