Tell us about yourself: I live in beautiful Southern California with my wonderful husband of 5 years this April. We both grew up in San Clemente, a small Spanish style beach town in South Orange County, and just last November took a huge leap and moved to the big city. Los Angeles has provided so many opportunities for us both personally and for our business. We’ve been able to grow and mature much faster than in Orange County, thanks to the amazing friends and business contacts that we’ve made since moving here. With the growth my husband has pretty much become the real workhorse of Jack of All Trades, with much needed help from our 1953 Singer 201-2 Sewing machine (an absolute miracle worker). He creates all of the leather baldrics, belts, vests, and flasks, while I make the flowers and hair accessories. We take inspirations from Medieval and Renaissance eras, as well as Pirate and Fantasy, and anything else that looks rustic and olde world.

What is your business mission? We create one of a kind items using pure imagination and artistic influences. From the “Olde World” to Fantasy, Renaissance to Weddings, we make illusions and dreams into realities. Using only the best materials, we construct handmade clothing and accessories inspired by the heroes and heroines of yesteryear.

Why did you start your business? We started Jack of All Trades (JAT) in 2010 after receiving numerous inquiries at a Renaissance faire about where to buy the costumes we were wearing. My husband had made a gorgeous distressed leather vest with lacing and suede, and everywhere we went heads would turn. He had also made a leather baldric inspired by Jack Sparrow’s baldric in Pirates of the Caribbean, which had also received many nods from people in the crowd. Slowly he began making and selling these items, and in the summer we decided to take this to a more professional level and to make JAT an official business.

Whats next for Jack Of All Trades? We have many full costumes in the works that we’ll premiere at this year’s Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Irwindale. We’re creating the “Confessor” and “Seeker” costumes inspired by the hit TV Series “Legend of the Seeker”. We’re also planning a full line of vests, frock coats, bodices, and accessories that we’ll display at Renaissance faires later in the year. We’ll also be vending at various weekend events in the Spring and Summer, and will be attending the San Diego Comic Con in July.

Is there anything else you would like to share? Our long term goals involve making costumes for the movie industry. With interest in the old world and fantasy seemingly on the rise, more and more movies and TV shows are using such styled costumes. We have mentors who make similar items for movies, so we hope down the road to learn and evolve with the industry, contributing our designs and love for quality costumes to the diverse world of Hollywood.

Visit Jack of All Trades.

We all have them, but do we always live up to them? Well, for me this is the year! Number one on my list is to GET ORGANIZED! I can not stand the clutter anymore!

This can be a daunting task. Especially when you have children, full time jobs, home businesses, etc. My plan is to take it one space at a time. Not necessarily a full room, because that too can be overwhelming. Start with a small section, ie: the bookcase, the hutch, etc.

I love when you can find decorative items to hold the stuff that you do need to have around, such as a cell phone charging station, DVD’s and CD’s, etc. I found a few things on Etsy that will help in this endeavor.

One big clutter area in our home is the kitchen counter by the side door.  Every day, my husband comes home and empties his pockets right there and drops his cell and keys.  The charger cords are spread out over the counter and when you have limited space like I do, this is not ideal.  Would love to get one of these charger stations by tomroche.

Charging Station Handcrafted in Oak

The playroom is a constant battle. We try to go through and donate toys every 6 months or so. I think baskets are a great way to organize toys by type. After Christmas I went through all my daughters toys and put all Barbie items in one bin, Strawberry Shortcake in another, etc. I then used graphics from packaging to create a tag to hang on the bins. She now knows where each of these items “homes” are and has been returning them to their designated bin. I love these bins by bedesisters. It would be great to use fabric that visually tells what should be inside. This tea cup print would be perfect for putting all her tea party stuff in.

Handmade Storage Basket

Etsy recently posted a great article filled with handmade items to help keep your home fashionably organized. We know how boring and cold some of those store bought items can be.

Do you have any great handmade finds for organization?

Tell us about yourself: I have been a hairstylist for 20 years and I am the mother of 2 wonderful children. When I worked in the salon I had 2 specialties. I was a color specialist and would give advanced training in color to new stylists when they would come to work in the salon. I also ended up being the up do stylist for weddings and formal occasions. A lot of stylists did not like doing up dos as much as I did so whenever someone wanted something special they would book me with the appointment. I loved going to weddings and doing everyone’s hair. I kept coming up with new styles just for fun. I ended up becoming a salon manager and went to night school to study business management with the hopes of owning my own salon someday.

What is your business mission? I want everyone to feel beautiful. I strive to give excellent customer service and make my customers happy!

Why did you start your business? When I became pregnant with my second child I had complications in my pregnancy and could no longer stand up for long periods of time. I had to leave the salon. I love doing hair so much I started brainstorming on ways I can sit down and still do what I love. I started playing around with loose hair and designed a few braids and headbands made of hair. A bad situation turned into a great one when I realized that people like my hair designs! Now I have the ability to be home with my children and still do hair. I decided to not go back to the salon and let my studio become my salon and the world be my customers!

Whats next? I am colaborating with a music artist to do hair for her next music video. I am not going to say who yet but when the video comes out you will know. Someday I hope to do fantasy hairstyles for the movie industry! New hairstyles are coming out all of the time. I am going to continue to dream up new pieces. I love taking requests and I get the most inspiration by my customers.

Is there anything else you would like to share? With my custom made hair pieces and extensions anyone can have an instant hairstyle so you will never experience a bad hair day again. It makes it really easy to get out the door every morning looking and feeling great without a lot of effort. It is like you have your own hairstylist in your home every day. I custom match the colors to your hair’s highlights and lowlights and make each piece specifically for you. You can request complimentary hair swatches or send me pictures of your hair and I will match it and send you out a style that will be easy to put in- and you can wear it over and over again!

More about Puppycatmeow…

I am so sick of buying paper towels, napkins, wet pads, dusting cloths, etc.  At least one of these items always seems to be on my shopping list every week.  I’m spending a fortune, not to mention producing a lot of waste!  Well, I’m done!  I am investing in reusable items for my home.  As the disposable items I have already purchased are gone I will replace with reusable items.

I have found a few items that are not just pretty, but they serve a purpose.  These scrubbies by sweetmellyjane almost make me want to do dishes they are so cute.

Reaching for the paper towel roll is a hard habit to break, but I am working on it.  I would be delighted to have these lovely hand towels by MichelleBrusegaard in my kitchen.

I love the lightweight ease of use of my Swiffer vac and mop and don’t want to give that up.  I have been using these reusable microfiber pads by MicroMops and love them!

I hate my laundry room it is a mess.  I mean really… it’s a disaster.  It is a small unfinished part of the basement that serves as the laundry room, storage, tool shed and general catch all.  It is on my 5 year plan to completely finish off this room complete with storage closets and all the organizational bells and whistles.  When I do, I am going to add these beautiful wall words by HouseHoldWords. Then it may be my favorite room in the house.

Tell us about yourself: I have lived in Alaska since 1981 and love living a slower less complex life.  My family and I moved to a remote town along the Yukon River in 1997 and love living in the Alaskan wilderness…we haul water from the local well, we heat our log home with wood, we mushed dogs for several years, we love to snow machine, ski and build snow caves. My husband is the pastor of our local church Eagle Bible Chapel and I teach our 4 children at home.  I am a full-time crafter/creator.

What is your business mission? I love teaching and so I look at my jewelry and my knitting as another way to impart history to others.   My jewelry mostly is made using antique trade beads from the 1800’s and my knitting is mostly felted in the tradition of the original cold weather gear.

Why did you start your business? I love creating and I quickly realized that you can only give so many things away, and since I am a creating fiend, I rarely am able to finish a project before I am thinking of my next project. I began making jewelry about 12 years ago and soon discovered antique trade beads.  I love history and as I was gathering history about beads I learned that beads had been used as buying commodity for centuries, this concept was fascinating and I began researching which beads came through Alaska with the trappers and miners in the 1800’s.  Most of my jewelry is made using the same types of beads brought in to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890’s.  I clean up the beads and then show them off in modern styles using sterling silver accents.  Each of my pieces comes with a card that gives a bit of history of the beads.  The only drawback with antique beads is that since they were handmade each one is different and so matching the beads to make a necklace or earrings can be tedious so when I get overwhelmed I turn to my collection of Swarovski crystals and design with them, my most popular crystal items is my Northern Lights in Stained Glass bracelet, celebrating the famed dancing northern lights.  I also learned to knit about 10 years ago and after having made socks and sweaters in abundance, I learned the old tradition of felting wool, to make a wonderful thick fabric that is water resistant, yet soft and sturdy.  I am also selling knitting patterns so that others can create the fun, unique totes that are mostly inspired by the world around me.

Whats next? I have only recently begun selling online, I have been selling off-line for the last 8 years and my goal is to build up my online business to match my off-line business.

Learn more about Log Cabin Creations.

If there is one thing I have learned as an art student in college and now an entrepreneur, it’s absolutely that presentation is everything.

In college, as an interior design student, you always have to do material boards and presentation boards of your concept, finish & furniture selections, and space planning at the end of the project. It didn’t matter how good your project and ideas were if your boards were not meticulously planned and executed.

I remember one project when I decided to do something a little different with my boards – trying to throw in a few artsy ideas I suppose – but it just didn’t work. In the middle of the presentation, one of the samples fell off. I cannot tell you how mortified I was, and despite the fact that my project was solid, the presentation absolutely affected the grade.

So what am I talking about? It’s the same thing with your handmade or art/craft based business. We have to convince people to make a conscious decision to go with you over cheaper, mass produced goods. Your product might be infinitely superior to something you’d see in Target, but if you present it poorly, then it will read that way.

I’m coming up on one year of being a member of the website Etsy, although I only started selling in November, and if there is one thing I have learned, it’s that the sellers who go the extra mile on their presentation are the ones who are the most successful.

One of my suppliers for my stationery line sends my cellophane so prettily packaged that every time I order it that I look forward to getting it in the mail. Think about it: Wal-Mart doesn’t even bag your purchases for you anymore; so there is huge opportunity for impact with just a little thought in the packaging.

Some sellers are probably more consistent with their packaging than I am, but my thought is that it is probably a little more fun for repeat customers to get a little bit different presentation when they order each time. For example, for the box above (which is actually a wholesale order), I used the kraft bags that my paper purchases come in and cut it up to wrap the box. Eco-friendly, budget friendly, and makes a nice presentation!

I mainly use some variation of twine, kraft paper, and white paper to create a pretty presentation for my products. I always make sure my business card is prominently displayed, and make sure that the card tells not just how to get in touch with you, but also what you do! I have opted to do a double sided card, so that all my contact information can be on one side, and the other side is more promotional in nature so it works well on packages as well.

So no matter what you do, try not to miss the branding opportunity and huge impact that can be made with simply tying an item with twine or wrapping it in inexpensive (or even reused!) paper.

Check out my blog at www.thequirkydesigner.com for more tips and tricks as I navigate my way through being a small business owner.

I often find it hard shopping for the men in my life.  I found this great gift guide treasury, by SmilingKnitting, on Etsy this morning.  This makes it a little easier.

View the treasury here.

Search the directory for more great gift ideas.

My daughter will be turning 4 just after Christmas. She is the ultimate girly girl. She plays princess, tea party, mommy and recently told me that she was too big for her Winnie-the-Pooh room and wants to repaint and decorate with everything princess. I knew the moment I finished painting the Winnie-the-Pooh mural in her room that this day would come. I just didn’t think it would be so fast.

Since she wants a “big girl” princess room, this has given me a theme for her Christmas and birthday gifts, as well as some dolls and tea party play food. Here is a collection of items that I have found that I think she will love…

She will have hours of fun playing dress up in the Princess Dress Costume, serving tea, Cookies and Cake to Georgy the Gnome Cat, Miki, and this cute little Owl.  Her room will look lovely with the Princess Castle wall sticker, Elephant wall plaque and Tea Party Girl print. For on the go the Mini Dollhouse Purse will be perfect to travel with her little princess girls and she can wear this lovely headband with any outfit.

You can see this treasury live on Etsy.

Share your girly girl finds…

Composition makes a good photo of a product into a great photo in itself. In this post, I’m going to be talking about my favorite trick to use. There are definitely more tricks and rules that I won’t speak about here, but I encourage you to do some research on them. It’s always good to have your own signature when it comes to your Etsy shop, and photographs can be the best way to personalize your business. Using certain compositions, colors or tricks can make your etsy shop recognizable and keep customers coming back.

My favorite composition technique is to arrange items in a way that enhances the perspective of the photograph, drawing the viewer into the image. In order to achieve this, I try to create a 3-d feeling in a 2-d picture. Using the accessories I choose to photograph my jewelry with, or sometimes even using the jewelry, I make sure to create lines that draw the viewer into my photograph.  I will explain what I mean by using an example from my shop:

Franken Heart III

In this image, you can see a few of my favorite accessories for photos, my small white porcelain vase and  my mother-in-law’s red leather case. The porcelain vase has is textured and has great crevices in it, creating the perfect opportunity to utilize lines in the photograph. In this case the lines seem to appear from the top left hand corner of the photo and lead the eye down towards my Franken Heart III. I use the rules of perspective to enhance the 3-dimensional quality of the photo. The texture of the leather helps create even more depth.

Tell us about yourself: I have always been drawn to the beautiful, natural colors that surround us in nature, whether strolling down a country road or hiking in the mountains, she always seems to pick up some different rocks or minerals. Craftsmanship quality is my top priority. Nancy personally handpicks the finest quality materials from trusted names in jewelry and gemstones suppliers to ensure that all of her creations not only have a timeless design but is also durable enough to last a lifetime.

Most of the pieces are one of a kind and all have their own unique spiritual meaning. One of the intriguing aspects of selecting gemstone jewelry is that we are usually drawn to the stone’s energy that is most appropriate for our situation, whether it is needed for healing or intention, you can be sure to choose the perfect piece of gemstone jewelry for you or your loved one.

I have always been interested in the arts and has worked with making jewelry for many years. I first started making jewelry with the designs of the Hopi and Navajo in Sedona, AZ. Later on I graduated to working with larger pieces and giving them as gifts. With the encouragement and support of friends, I launched my business in 2009.

I am constantly taking more classes in working with wire wrapping, an age old art of wire sculpture with wrapping cabochons to make a beautiful piece. Stay tuned in for more designs in metal from her studies.

What is your business mission? GemJazz Designs’ business mission is simple!

I am committed to providing our customers total satisfaction in fine quality workmanship and one of a kind pieces. Every time. Guaranteed!

Why did you start your business? I was recently laid off of a job due to cut backs being close to retirement age, I decided to take the time to continue with my jewelry making, thinking maybe it would turn into a little supplemental income. Several friends encouraged me to put them up on a website, and GemJazz Designs was born.

Whats next? I’m really interested in learning more metal fabrication techniques to design some interesting pieces in silver, copper and brass. It is quite complex and yet, I love working with my hands.

Is there anything else you would like to share? I live and works in my home in Southern California with my two cats, Ms. Phoebe, a beautiful silver tiger and Ms. Kaddie a colorful calico diva. Never a moment goes by without their constant inspection and advice for each and every design. They are really into making jewelry.