Holizaar 7!

I'll be selling for the first time at the Studio@620 Holiday Bazaar! If you're in the neighborhood, come over and stop by. You can find event details in our Markets & Events tab up above. I'd love to meet ya! We also have a lovely feature over the St. Pete Craft Hero Blog. 

http://craftheroes.blogspot.com/2014/11/vendor-spotlight-carolyn-kospender-of.html

Press!

So excited to find out that we were featured in a recent article of Good Housekeeping. Take a look! Our kitties are famous :)

Easter Wishes

Just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very Happy Easter!  

Windsor says, "hmm smells like Easter!"

Feeling the Love!

Hi there blog buddy. Do you remember me? Yeah, I know you're thinking, "so you have one hoop featured on an Etsy page and you're all Mrs. BigShot-has-no-time-for-her-blog-buddy-anymore."  Not true! Ok, so things got quite busy there. Great busy! 

But I'm happy to say that I have a moment to stop and chat with you!

 It's been quite a ride this year and I'm loving it. My most popular item has been my custom dog hoop. One of my favorite things about making art for other people has been seeing where my hoops turn up. Here are some pics of places a few puppies have landed...

 

       BIG plans are in the works for some brand new dog-themed items in the shop - so stay tuned! 

A Day in the Life of A Dog Hoop

Schwoo! So this is the first moment that I could finally come up for air! What a great few weeks it's been for the shop! Max the dog hoop was featured in Etsy's ART section and the traffic has been amazing! 

It's also been so very cool to talk to my customers and listen to their stories. Ya know, I've always felt like I loved my dog WAY too much, like on unhealthy levels of loving. Almost as if no one could even really understand the amount of love I have for my dog. I love his paws, I love his big pointy ears, I love his little nose, you get the point. But after reading the stories that my customers include with their orders, I've realized that I'm not alone. There are a LOT of people out there who love their dogs tremendously. And I've also been honored to memorialize some special friends this week as well. 

So I thought I'd take you behind the scenes and show you how exactly a custom dog hoop is done...

First, I spend some time looking at the photos my customers send and sketch out a few ideas. I'll focus on little details that make each dog special - could be an interesting marking or a floppy ear. Then I make sure to get those rosy cheeks in just the right place.

Next, I transfer my finished drawing to the fabric. It sounds really fancy, but I just use my iPad as a light box and re-trace the design. Then I brush on fabric paint by hand. 

This is my favorite part! I use fabric crayon to color each design. This is so much fun because each dog is completely different. Even if I have an order with two huskies, their markings and coloring are always a bit different. And I really think the little touches are what brings the magic into each piece and makes each dog, THAT dog. 

Then I sew the design onto my backing fabric...

...and hand embroider each name onto the hoop. 

Once I secure the fabric to the back, the hoop is ready to go to its new home. 

So that's it! And real quick, I'd just like to take a moment to thank Susanne who sent an email just to tell me that she also thinks her dog's head smells good. Sniff on, friends!

The Big Time

So this afternoon I realized what was bringing so much traffic to my shop. The Max Hoop was featured on the front page of Etsy's ART section! SO excited blog buddy :) I think the coolest part of it all was that I got an official email from the Etsy Team that ended with a "High Five! Your friends at Etsy." I may or may not have high-fived to myself in the air. 

Holy Shop Traffic Batman!

Oh man, you guys. I'm coming off a really great day in the shop and just wanted to share! Our beloved Max hoop made the big time. No, not the glorious front page of Etsy, but at the top of a treasury named just after him. You made it Max - you're a star!!! Thanks dmers for the feature. It brought a lot of new eyes to the shop and I'm super grateful. (happy dance, happy dance)

A New Name - A New Year

Well hello there blog buddy. I know it's been quite awhile since I've written. 2013 was a bit of a roller coaster year. And it ended with a nasty sickness that I couldn't quite seem to shake for about three weeks. So I am hereby stating that today is the official start of my new year.  Here we go 2014, I am now ready for you to begin.  So to recap, here's what I've learned from last year...

If you don't like doing it - don't do it.
I think as an Etsy shop owner, it's really important to try and think about what your customer is looking for and what they might buy. However, in the long run if you really don't enjoy making it, then you should steer clear of that path. So many times this past year I have pursued ideas that didn't interest me what-so-ever, just because I thought it might make a buck or two. But ya know what? If you're not into it, the product never really turns out quite right. You really do have to follow your passion when it comes to this. It's kind of what I've learned from teaching - if you're not excited about it, everyone knows.

Step away from it
Ok, so I obsess. I'm a perfectionist. At times I really can't help it. But sometimes it does get a little bit in the way of being, shall I say, productive? I can honestly sit in front of the computer for hours comparing one shade of blue to another shade of blue in one of my shop listings. I guess it gives me a false sense of control. When really I should be getting dirty and doing the sometimes scary job of bringing objects into creation. So when I get carried away, I just step away from it.  And by step away from it, I mean have my husband tear the laptop from my clutching fingertips.

Find a shop name that's unique and then don't EVER change it
So I'm sure you probably figured out that I have a new shop name. This was, by far, the biggest challenge of last year.  And not so much the changing of the shop name, but obsessing over the choice of whether or not TO change my shop name. In the end, it seemed like the right thing to do. My old shop name perpetrated the three no-no's of naming a small business.
1. Never have weird, quirky mis-spellings of words. (Instead of the word "Willow," I used "Wilo")
2. Have a name that is original that sets you apart from the crowd. (My name was "Wilo Tree" which I had no idea was a HUGELY well-known line of wooden figurines)
3. Don't have a name that binds you into selling one product or only one process (At the end of my name was the word "Press" which really didn't pertain to my shop and tied me into one form of process).

Now, I really should have done my homework before social networking with the other shop name. Because in switching to the new name I lost a lot of Twitter followers.  Granted, I never made a sale from a Twitter feed but losing 50 followers hurt a bit.

All in all, I'm really happy with where my shop began and where it is at the moment. We've come a long way, blog buddy. Can't wait to see what this year brings!

Where I was and where I am now...(pretty cool, yeah?) 

First Year Anniversary!

Hither Rabbit turns one year old today! A BIG thank you to everyone for your support over this last year. It was full of ups and down, that's for sure. But I'm so excited to see what creations this next year will bring! 

Just enter the coupon code: FIRSTYEAR to receive a buy 2 hoops, get 1 free discount!