Saturday Artisan: Little House of Crafting

Happy Saturday!
This week Saturday artisan is Toni! She is the creative person behind Little House of Crafting.
It's the perfect shop when you are looking for something geekery, handmade with love.

Tell us a bit about you and what arts/ crafts that you make?

Hello! I'm Toni, owner of Little House of Crafting!
I'm a happily married 20-something geek that loves to watch Doctor Who, play videogames and of course, craft!

Little House of Crafting came about in early 2013 when my friend, and partner in crime, Lilly Inverse of Lilly Inverse Designs began making and selling art in Artist Alleys at anime conventions. I decided to join in the fun and created a line of pinback buttons. Later, I added perler/pixel art (also known as drawing with plastic) and now offer pinback button designs in magnet form!

Each product is made by me in my adorable 650 square-foot home in southeast Michigan. Every fandom and activity featured at Little House of Crafting is dear to my heart. Great pride is taken in ensuring that you are able to share your geekery with the world at large!

What is the story behind your shop name?  

The story behind my shop name is that my products are handmade by me in my little 650-square-foot house. I take over the kitchen table!

Who is your target market?

My target market are those that attend anime conventions and those looking for geekery to collect and squee over!

Which part of creation process that you enjoy the most?

The part of the creation process that I enjoy the most is designing custom pinback buttons and magnets. I love getting in the zone of designing and sending Facebook messages and emails of proofs for approval before sending out the final product! :)

For us who love to travel, could you share a bit about your beautiful town/ city?

Even though I live in a township, those who live in my area don't pay attention to what towns they are in as our cities are so small. I live on the border of two other towns. It's so wonderful as the town I live in doesn't have a movie theater. We go 5 minutes down the street to the next town! The other town I border has a fantastic tavern that my husband and I frequent very often. The staff are great and will sit down at the table and talk with you!

Could you share on how your organize your products, we all can use a little tips here and there in this department?

I organize my products simply. Each pinback button design is stored in a ziplock sandwich bag and then are collected in a gallon size ziplock bag. I need to be able to find my designs quickly during an anime convention so I have my button designs organized by color and type of text or picture. Choose a method that works and is efficient for you!

How does your day go in general?

My day depends on whether I am working or not. I work part-time at Jimmy John's. Regardless, on the weekdays, I wake up at 7am for a 20 minute work out. Then I get some online work in for my shop before going to work. Typically I'm catching up on social media, preparing orders for shipping, etc. After work I catch up on social media again and work on convention prep, designing new products, completing new shop listings and photographs, etc. One thing's for sure is that every day is different!

How do you balance your personal and work life?

I make sure to have family time every day. This is very important as it's easy to get preoccupied with completing orders and making new products. I also make sure to have scheduled alone time every week. This allows me to recharge and have some quiet time so that I don't burn out.

What inspires you?

Everything inspires me! Be it a conversation with a friend or a loved one, TV shows or movies, a book I've read, a videogame played..my inspiration comes from everything!

 

What is your best seller?

My best seller is my Soul Eater Moon pinback button. That design is hand drawn using my Wacom tablet and GIMP. I am so proud of it!

What is your goal for 2014?

 My goal for 2014 is to reveal a new shop mascot and launch two new product lines!

Any advice for others running their on-line shop?

The advice I would give in running an online shop is that you can't please everybody. Make the online shop you and yours and reflect your passion behind it. It will show! Also, limit the amount of stock you make for new products until you have an idea of whether it will sell or not. If you do find yourself having too much product see if you can donate it to giveaways that benefit charities or to charities themselves!

Saving money is important; tell us one thing that you do to save money?

I research and shop online as much as possible. I also try to purchase from handmade and local shops as much as possible so as to support small business. That balance can be a hard line to walk but typically you can shop online for the supply purchases and shop handmade and local for the freebies included in online orders. For example, I shop at Washi Mall for my washi tape that I embellish my "Thank You" message with.

Stay-tuned for tomorrow's giveaway!