I know its been a while since I have been here - life has a habit of stopping you in your tracks sometime. I am happy to be back today with a selection of amazing Etsy Ireland paper crafters. So lets go.....
Let me introduce you all to
- Aoife from eefaa
- Fionnuala from FuzzyIrishCrafts
- Holly from hollytron
- Letizia from ooakie
Mo:
Welcome
on board ladies, apologies for the delay but I happy to finally get you all
together. Can you all introduce yourselves and tell us what you do.
Aoife:
Hi Mo, My name is Aoife (eefaa). I am a 25 year old Graphic Designer / Baker. I live in Waterford but I am originally
from Kilkenny City.
Fionnuala:
My name
is Fionnuala and I make handmade greeting cards and wedding stationery at home
in Dublin, Ireland. I am passionate about everything Irish and handmade and
blog about arts and crafts in Ireland.
Holly:
My name is Holly, and I design and make stationery sets,
among many other things! I did some training as a Graphic Designer,
and have a whole host of other interests that add to my creative process –
History, Nature, Books, Video Games, Drawing, Knitting, Sewing, Skating… the
list goes on! I think a natural curiosity is what drives me to learn, and the
creative process is a great way of processing and expressing my discoveries.
Letizia:
By
day I work in an office - all very ordinary, and when I want to breathe, I open
my wardrobe of tricks (yes, wardrobe!) and see what I can lose myself in for a
while. With the weather so nice recently I got a few plants for the butterflies
and made some stakes from my craft wire to keep them organised until they were
planted out. When I’m not doing that I’m always trying to organise something
new or fun to do or dragging my niece and nephews to cartoon films, fairs, fota
(anywhere you need a child ;)
Mo:
How did you get involved with your
craft?
Aoife:
I can't remember not
being involved with crafting. Paint and Paper have always been my favourite
mediums to create with, so after I finished college and got my degree in
Graphic Design, I opened my Etsy shop!
Fionnuala:
I started making cards for myself in 2012 as a
hobby. In order to fund my addiction to buttons and ribbons, I started selling
to friends and family. I then opened my Etsy shop and started receiving orders
from all over the world. I now sell through my website, through Etsy shop and
through various craft fairs around Ireland during the year.
Holly:
I have always liked
making things, and the stationery sets? well, that’s an aspiration on my part. I was always a terrible pen pal, but I really
loved making something pretty to send through the mail! So making stationery
sets for people who are far more organised and interesting correspondents than
I am is quietly satisfying to me.
Letizia:
I come from a very creative family so
imagination was always there for me but how I got involved with paper craft
stemmed from my love of shopping.... I was watching QVC many years ago and saw
this rotary cutter at a bargain. Really they were practically giving it away ;)
so when I got my cool paper cutting gadget home, that was it, I started making
cards and my love of paper craft was born.
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| Hollytron |
Mo:
Describe a typical day?
Aoife:
I have a little cat
called Milo who loves to watch me make things. She tends to get in the middle
of things so she doesn't get to stay in my studio for too long. I start my day
by checking emails and Etsy orders and then I get down to business. I try to
make a stockpile of cupcake picks and bunting to stay on top of things!
Fionnuala:
I work in a school in the mornings, I run a
craft café (The Hazel House https://www.facebook.com/thehazelhouseie) in the
evenings and I run Fuzzy Irish Crafts when I should be sleeping! Oh did I
mention that I paint as well!
Holly:
A Typical
day is wrapped up in taking care of my Family.
Up in time to walk the kids to school and often on my walk I’ll be
turning over ideas in my head, design ideas, new products. When I get home I usually do some housework
before sitting down to do my “Job of the Day” be it Designing, Blog
posting, Stationery set construction or something else entirely! As I have a
bad habit of getting into my work and losing track of time, I have an alarm set
so I don’t work through pick up time for the kids! Then its back to do Mummy
things......
Letizia:
A typical craft day, I start with a
leisurely cuppa while checking e-mails, then the wardrobe gets unpacked, I look
through my orders and to-do list and dig in. I do tend to flit from project to
project depending on what I find in my hand at any one time so I might make a
start on plenty of cards and only finish off a few from the day before. I like
to live with an idea in my head for about a week; those projects always seem to
turn out the best.
 |
| ooakie |
Mo:
Any future goals and ambitions?
Aoife:
I would love to work
at my shop full time - that would be my ultimate goal. I want to continue to
expand my Wedding Range, I love making special items for Brides and Grooms to
be. Eventually I want to open a shop, where I can work and interact with my
customers face-to-face every day.
Fionnuala:
My short term goal is to develop my range of
wedding stationery in my Etsy shop. My long term goal is to own my own little
craft shop stocking handmade Irish crafts and become a ‘brand’ for Irish crafts.
Holly:
Oh, this is always
changing, but at some point, I’d like to get my Stationery sets into a lovely
Brick and Mortar store with lots of other lovely things – at the moment
everything is made to order, which is nice because I can customise things
really easily, but it’s not so good for expansion! I also want to make more
stationery things – Notebooks, Wrapping paper, bookmarks, etc. and I’m slowly
plugging away at that
Letizia:
I’ve never been overly ambitious, I’m
happy to get orders when and if they come in although I do have it in my head
recently that I’d like to submit to a magazine, so when I’ve got some product
shots that I’m happy with, watch this space!
 |
| Aoifes wee cat Milo |
 |
| Fionnuala and her pal |
Mo:
Are there any Designers, blogs,
crafters, arty people you follow and why?
Aoife:
There are so many
crafty people I admire. I love Paper Panda, Shen Wong Jewellery and A Drim Design. I love their use of social media to showcase
their items.
Fionnuala:
I am constantly amazed at the wealth of talent
that Ireland has to offer in term of crafting. There are so many Irish crafters
that I have featured on my blog that I just love like Rosario at Ventry toys,
Kay at Ruby
Robin Boutique and Maria at Lollipops and Daydreams to name but a few.
Holly:
I love How About Orange for all the resources she posts, and
other amazing people she links to. Also love the work of Olly Moss. He makes my inner Geek (Both design and
regular) sing
Letizia:
Dawn Bibby an English card maker – I learned all
the basics of card making online from Dawn, and of course I follow loads of our
fabulous Etsy Ireland Team members, It really makes me happy to see when you do
so well and turn up on magazines, newspapers, at craft fairs etc.
 |
| Letizia at play |
 |
| Holly at work |
Mo:
Any advice for new crafters?
Aoife:
My advice for new
crafters would be to start out slow and enjoy crafting. It will take time for
you to find your 'niche'. Try new things all the time! Don't get bogged down if
sales aren't coming your way. It will take time, and that's OK! Just remember
to enjoy it all!
Fionnuala:
My advice would be to do keep doing what you
love to do and what gives you energy and then you will never have to work a day
in your life.
Holly:
Go for it! Listen to Advice and Ideas from other people,
but always listen to your gut. 9 times out of 10 its right. Don’t let fear make your decisions for you.
Letizia:
Try
not to give yourself unreasonable deadlines, if you’re new to crafting you need
lots of playtime to work everything out. Also don’t let one obstacle or
negative incident make you quit, I read only yesterday something along the line
of – Giving up after one setback is like getting a flat tire so you cut the
other three.
Mo:
Where can we find you .......
Aoife:
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eefaadesigns
instagram: http://instagram.com/eefaadesigns
etsy: www.eefaa.etsy.com
Fionnuala:
Website http://www.fuzzyirishcrafts.com
Holly:
Letizia:
Facebook www.facebook.com/ooak.ie
Twitter www.twitter.com/ooakie
Mo:
Wow girls, you are all such busy people. I love your enthusiasm for what you do. Thanks for being part of this Designer group. I wish you loads of success for the future. Now folks please pay these paper crafters a visit and share some love.......
Thats it for now from this occasional series of Designer blog articles. As there has been no crafters in the spinning and weaving section who have come forward to be interviewed, the next category is Woodwork and Rushwork. So calling all wood and rush workers on Etsy Ireland..... If you would like to be included please get in touch.
Cheers for now
Mo
