Last year for the holiday season the lovely Crafted by Lindyhosted a wonderful handmade Christmas card giveawaywith us and today she is back with us to share her inspiration, how her shop began, and what she hopes for the future of her Etsy shop. Handmade products and small shops are important to support so check out these 7 Fun Facts about Etsy shop Crafted by Lindy and be inspired to get organized and share one of a kind greetings... Getting Crafty with Lindy...
How did you get started in designing greeting cards, calendars, gift tags, and other paper goods?
After I had our first child I decided to stay home full time. I was very grateful that I could but started to miss working a lot. I've always loved paper and making cards. I came across Etsy and thought I'd give it a shot. When I first opened my shop I offered printable files only but soon realized that I liked making the cards myself and shipping those off to buyers rather than doing it all through email. I started offering greeting card and note card packs first and soon after added calendars, tags and wall art to my shop when I wanted to offer more variety and play around with different types of paper products.
Oh my....anything and everything. The time or year, what holidays are approaching, colour combos, custom orders. A lot of times I'll be working on one design and another one will come to shape instead.
What is your favorite piece, what is the most popular piece?
I like them all as I feel it's important to offer products that you truly like and feel good about but I will say that I'm quite fond of the Perpetual Calendars in my shop. It took awhile for them to come together and I'm really happy with how they turned out. The most popular pieces in my shop are probably the Perpetual Calendars and anything with Owls on them. My Twelve Days of Christmas Card does quite well too.
** Is this a full time business for you or just a part time passion?**
This is full time for me mostly because I really enjoy it! I can't help myself. I'm constantly thinking about my shop, new design possibilities, learning new things, etc. It's a lot of work but honestly so fun! Continue Reading...
I love the unique idea of the polaroid cards, what inspired you to take photos and put them on cards?
What makes a good photo for your greeting cards? I honestly don't remember! Lol. The Polaroid Cards were some of my very first designs I put up in my shop. Most of the photos I've used for them were from vacation pictures. I love the shape and look of Polaroids. I played around with some of my photos to give them the right look and then tried to come up with appropriate captions for each one.
What goes into the process of designing your greeting cards and paper goods?
Well first an idea. Then playing around until the idea becomes an design that I like. I then decide what products that design is going to go on (eg, greetings cards, tags, note cards, etc.) and then decide on a layout that I'm happy with. It sounds so simple but it's not. Some designs come together very easily and some I have to revisit many times until I'm happy with them.
What do you see in the future for your shop? What other projects and crafts would you like to get into?
I'd basically just like to see my shop get bigger and bigger over the years, more products offered and a wider variety of each. I'd like to start offering note pads and different sized of Wall Art Prints, things like that and I'd like to get my website up and running once and for all. That's been a long time coming!
I'd like to try making cards that aren't all paper and ink, maybe some with fabric or thread. Multimedia cards you could say. I'd also like to get into sewing a bit more. Nothing major but there are so many fun fabrics out there and I want to play with them!
Stop on over the Crafted by Lindy**Etsy shop** if you are in need of a great organizational calendar, cute greeting cards, blank note cards, or just to say hi! You can also see Lindy's creative ideas and thoughts on her blog, her facebook, twitter, and pinterest...check out the links below. Lindy can also customize your greeting cards and work with you to create the perfect greeting for that someone special. She is wonderful to work with and just a sweet person to talk to! Thanks Lindy for giving us this great insight into your life and shop!
