Giveaway from Wilde Designs: 5x7 or 4x6 Print

Win a 5x7 or 4x6 Print of your choice, courtesy of Wilde Designs!
Get to know Beth, the artist behind Wilde Designs. She was featured as Saturday Artisan yesterday.

Here are some of my favorites. There are more in her shop, so check it out!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest starts now and ends on March 9th, 2014. Contest opens to worldwide. Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you. Entries without contact information will be disqualified. Entries that do not follow the rules will be disqualified. Contest winner will be drawn on March 10th. Winner must respond within 48 hours after being contacted otherwise another winner will be randomly selected. Good luck, everyone!

Saturday Artisan: Wilde Designs

Meet Beth, our Saturday Artisan. I had a pleasure featuring Beth in the past and this is her 2nd time being featured here. She has a new website: Wilde Designs, check it out!

If you like geeky stuff, you would love her shop!

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

I've been making crafts since I was old enough to figure out how much fun drawing and stringing beads together can be. As I got older, working for myself and selling my work full time became one of my biggest dreams. I'm still a long way from that being my primary income, but it makes me feel good to know that others enjoy my work as much as I enjoy making it.

Over the past few years, I've begun making more and more upcycled pieces using old VHS covers, calendars, and magazine clippings. It's fun learning to make new things and expanding my shop.

What is the story behind your shop name?  

When I first started selling online in 2007, I was on a major Oscar Wilde kick. His wit and humor fit well with how I saw myself and the shop that I wanted to run. I'm a graphic designer by trade, so the two came together, and it's stuck ever since. 

 

Who is your target market?

Geeks and oddballs, for the most part. I certainly have some very normal, very mainstream items in my shop, but a lot of it tends to be more off the wall and geek-centric. It's what I enjoy, and most of the people who come back often tend to share my love of strange.

Which part of creation process that you enjoy the most?

I enjoy seeing the finished product. Nothing compares to knowing that you came up with an idea, put it together, and managed to make it work the way you wanted - or sometimes even better! It keeps me going even when sales are slow.

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

I live in Ponder, TX, which is a tiny town near Denton (which is, in turn, near the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex). It's a tiny little town, but since it's close to so much, it's a wonderful place to be. Every time I get annoyed with my twenty minute commute to work, I find myself seeing a gorgeous sunset or sunrise and remember why it's worth the extra effort.

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

That is a skill I find I am constantly honing. My methods have changed dramatically over time. My craft room became my son's room, so now my craft supplies are housed in the loft, which also serves as office space for my husband and I. We have three large sets of Expedit shelves from IKEA, and with those and a lot of storage cubes (including some I made myself out of old diaper boxes), everything manages to have a place.

What is your best seller?

The My Other Car is a Police Box bumper stickers, hands down. It's one of the few items I've had to fully restock since moving to my stand alone store. It makes me happy that they do so well because I adore them too.

How does your day go in general?

I get up at 6am (even on weekends, my son keeps to his schedule, silly toddler!), do breakfast with Pike and my husband Wes. Then it's an hour of getting Pike to daycare and me to work, a full nine hours in the office, then an hour of getting Pike and getting back home. I'm lucky that my husband works remotely for his company, so he usually gets dinner going for us before we get home. It's awesome! Then there's family time and, often, after Pike is off to bed at seven, I end up using my "me" time to do shop business.

How do you balance your personal and work life?

With working full time and running a small business, sometimes it feels like I don't very well, but I'm learning. Hopefully I get better all the time at carving out time for everything that I want to do.

What inspires you?

Usually whatever show or movie I'm obsessed with. I find random hits of inspiration in the strangest places - a throwaway line from an episode of Supernatural or a painting a friend did. I haven't found a sure fire formula except to keep sketch pads handy so I can always jot something down.

 

What is your goal for 2014?  

My goal is to increase my sales and just plain get myself out there more. This should definitely be a step in the right direction! I also want to work on my shop organization, move some old items out and some new items in, which will be time consuming but also lots of fun.

Any advice for others running their on-line shop?

Keep going. It will sometimes feel utterly futile or just plain hard or tedious, but if at the end of the day the feeling of someone wanting *your* work makes you feel amazing? Keep working. Keep creating. It won't always click with people, but when it does, it's fantastic.

Where can we find Sarah and her Wilde Designs?

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Tumblr
Instagram

Stay-tuned for tomorrow's giveaway!

 

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!