Friday, March 25, 2011

Lots of Needle Felting & New Etsy Shop is Open!


I’ve been busy making needle felted creations for spring, and many of them are for sale in my brand new Creating a Family Home Etsy Shop.  It’s finally open!  Please visit to check out my seasonally inspired handmade items: needle-felted creations, seasonal home décor and wreaths, original knitting patterns and knitted objects.


I finally opened this Etsy shop after years of people telling me to do it. And before Etsy existed, my friends and my husband told me I should be selling my handmade items on Ebay. I admit, at the time I just didn’t get it. Why would people want the things I make? Why wouldn’t they want to make these things themselves? I couldn’t understand why someone would want to buy handmade items—I really thought that if you wanted handmade items, you made them yourself. By hand.


After a less-than-successful stint of selling felted purses at a big, high-end flea market, I decided against it. It just wasn’t fun for me at the time and I couldn’t imagine there being much of a market for felted bags. Even though many, many people stopped by my table and told me much they liked my felted purses and hand-knitted hats and scarves, not that many people were buying them. I ended up selling the leftovers to co-workers and giving them away to friends. But now I know that I should have sold them on Ebay, or later on Etsy.
 

So now I know. It finally hit me when I saw the interesting creations my fellow bloggers are selling in their Etsy shops. And I’m finally finding out about the value people place handmade items these days—I think a lot has changed since my felted-purse-flea-market days and I’m so glad!


Just like when I started my blog, this new outlet has given me renewed energy and excitement for my crafts, and I’m getting ideas for new projects all the time. I don’t necessarily make my objects to make money; rather, they are things I’m inspired (driven, really) and want to make for the sake of making them.  (I'm also a process knitter, rather than a product knitter, but you may already know that by now.)

I hope you’ll stop by occasionally to see what’s new in my shop.

Thanks for visiting,
Kelly

9 comments:

  1. Dear Kelly,
    Congratulations on your shop. I too have been contemplating this, I love to create ,when my family committments allow me to.
    I love your blog and have followed recently. I would lov eyou to check out my own when you have the time.
    Blessings
    Gae

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  2. Congratulations on your new venture. Good luck! I love the duck - it's very cute. x

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  3. Congratulations on opening your shop on Etsy! Your work is beautiful and will be a lovely addition to any home!

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  4. Thank you all for the compliments and encouragement!

    Gae, it's been fun opening the shop. You should go for it! Thanks for following -- I'll be sure to check out your blog. : )

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  5. Congratulations on your new shop! I too have been thinking about opening a shop on Etsy, but I'm already so busy with taking an online course and being a full-time mom, I'm scared I wouldn't be able to keep up with a shop. I'm sure you'll do great, people who do value handmade things will seek them out :

    (I found your blog via the magic onions btw :)

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  6. Congrats on your store! I find crafting for etsy really fun! Here's my shop! http://www.etsy.com/shop/MamaWestWind?ref=pr_shop_more

    Going to check out yours.

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  7. Sure looks like spring! congrats on your shop! I just love Etsy and I'll check on you often.

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  8. good luck - sounds like a community as well as an outlet - can't be bad!

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  9. Congrats on the shop opening! You have certainly made some marvelous spring creations there, mama! Handmade items hold so much magic, that just can't be found in mass-production.

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