Feature Friday - lauriescustomcreations

Please say hello to our Feature Friday artist, Laurie Magoon


Where we can find you on the web?



the necklace that started it all



Etsy Shop - http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauriescustomcreate

Webpage - http://www.lauriescustomcreations.com

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/LauriesCustomCreations

Blog: - http://lauriescustomcreations-laurie.blogspot.com/

1.) Tell us about yourself, your shop, and what brought you to the Etsy community

Let's see...I'm 29 (30 next month), been married for 8 years, have 2 cats (Flutter and Slick), am considered disabled due to bone deformities in my feet...I love studying the Bible, music, reading, sewing, and other crafty pursuits.

I got started in this whole jewelry endeavor because of 2 things: a broken pair of earrings and a dress. I needed to fix the fishhook part of a pair of earrings, and I had this dress that didn't have a necklace to go with it.

While I was getting the replacement fishhooks and pliers to fix the earrings, I saw these beads that would go just awesomely with my dress. So I picked them up along with the earring fixings and headed home.

Once I finished that necklace, I decided to post it on my Facebook page where I'd been posting pictures of my sewing projects. I had so many compliments and questions of "Are you making jewelry to sell now? You should!" that I thought I'd try my hand at making & selling jewelry.

Bought a few books, watched a few videos online, and voila, I was making jewelry. A friend of mine mentioned Etsy to me as a place she looked at for inspiration. When I checked it out, I was hooked. A few days later I opened my shop with 1 item...which has now slowly grown to about 40.

2.) Walk us through a typical day in your life

I can't say I have a very typical day...I'm usually up by around 8:30. First thing I do is check my email to see if I had a sale, then check Craftopolis and Craftcult and reset my item view on Craftcult. Then I'm off to Etsy to check the few promotion threads that I've started participating in. Then it's time to get up, get dressed, give the little cat her kitty milk (yes, they make "milk" that's special for cats to digest) and eat breakfast.

After that the days vary...sometimes it's straight to my desk to start creating, or if I have a buildup of made-but-not-photographed items I may set up for taking pictures. Then it's back to the recliner end of the couch to put my feet up, check the forum threads again, work on editing pictures and listing items.

Somewhere in the middle of doing all that comes lunch, waking up my husband (who has an unusual sleep schedule), making doctor's appointments and trying to arrange the cat so she doesn't inhibit my ability to type.

A couple evenings a week I play piano as an accompanist for a vocal teacher, and teach a few piano lessons myself. Then I check my email again before going to bed, cuddle up with the cat and head off to sleep.

3.) Name your top 3 of each of the following:

Books - Bible, the Dune series by Frank Herbert & his son Brian Herbert, and Pride & Prejudice

Music - I have really eclectic tastes...I like everything from Mozart & Bach to 80's to some country. About the only things I can't stand are rap and heavy metal.

Movies - A&E's Pride & Prejudice, Sci-Fi's Dune & Children of Dune, and The Interpreter

TV Shows - Star Trek Next Generation, Star Trek Voyager, Alias

Websites - Etsy, Fanfiction.net, Facebook

4.) What are your top 3 favorite shops on Etsy?

There's no way I could pick just 3...there's too many talented people on Etsy.

5.) Where do you hope your shop will be in a year?

I'd love to be making at least 1 sale a week

6.) What projects are you currently working on?

I bought a bunch of beads from an Etsy jewelry artist who is slowly selling off her bead stash, and my projects right now revolve around using the beads I got from her. Some of the things I'm working with are black onyx, freshwater pearls of different colors, and some beautiful colors of Swarovski crystal pearls.

7.) What suggestions/tips would you offer to someone new to Etsy?

GO TO THE VIRTUAL LABS!!!! Not only will you get great tips on things to improve your shop and your Etsy experience as a whole, you'll meet wonderful people who can really become friends, even if you never meet in actuality. The support of the people who are in the labs is a great resource, especially when you're really new and feel like you have no idea what you're doing.