Introducing: Nice Day Designs

Hi all, my name is Ruth Crean of '...Nice Day Designs', and I'm one of the new members of the Etsy Ireland Team. If you've got a few minutes to spare you can fritter them away while I self conciously babble about myself and my work.
I'm originally from Celbridge in Kildare but I moved down to wonderful Limerick 9 years ago to attend the art college here, and a mix of a great social/cultural scene and the love of a good Limerick man has kept me here since. I originally studied Fine Art: Printmaking, but in my final year I dabbled in photography and model making. Since graduating in 2004 I have tried my hand at many aspects of visual art, having a few exhibitons in photography, painting and digital collage. I spend about two years working with a great company, Impact Theatre, doing all their graphic design for them. With them I learned tonnes about design and creativity as applied in practice in the real world. It was while working with them that '...Nice Day Designs' was originally born, as a label for my design and for my handmade cards that I had started making.

In 2007 I started selling my cards and illustrations at a local craft market here in the city. It was after a year of this blind optimism that I realised that I would never make my first million selling cards, so I decided to capitalise on my life long hobby of sewing and customising clothes. My mother is a dress maker and it was something I always did on the side, either brightening up a jacket with a few buttons, or making halloween costumes. Things started out very small and tentatively, with one rail of clothes, and a few listings on Etsy. But quickly things grew and there was a growing demand for the clothes I was making.

At first to be honest I didn't have much focus but after a few months I realised that I should promote the fact that they were recycled clothes, as I started to see the growing trends in greener products. Since those first couple of steps I have started selling in a few boutiques around Ireland, and I was lucky enough to be on RTE's Nationwide earlier this year. In Autumn this year I had my first fashion show, which was a daunting and amazing experience. Since the show finished I've been catching up on custom orders and trying to get my cards and accessories sorted for the Christmas rush. Since then I also got my hands on a large lot of vintage buttons which led me to set up my second Etsy shop nicedaysupplies. I was really fortunate to find them, and I know it will take me years to get through them but I am a complete button addict!
It's been a tricky balance with all the different things that I work with, but that's what I love most, one day I could be sewing an evening dress, the next designing my pocket mirrors, and another day making Christmas cards. It means I never get bored and all the different techniques keep me inspired for the next project. I know this sounds nuts but I'm happiest when I'm working away in my studio, with a hot cup of coffee, and listening to a good audiobook.

Unfortuneately I don't have any of my clothes in my Etsy shop at the moment because I have prior commitments to shops to get through first, but check out my blog for more pics from the fashion show.
http://www.nicedaydesigns-ruth.blogspot.com/
http://www.nicedaydesigns.etsy.com/
http://www.nicedaysupplies.etsy.com/

Thanks for reading!