Up-cycled shirt

Based in Lancaster, PA, Jen Hartman designs hand cut, hand stitched hair accessories and up-cycled clothing, using bright colorful felt, buttons and fabric. I talked to Jen about her inspiration, beginnings and how she balances crafting while raising her two daughters.

“I have been crafting, thinking and actively creating for as long as I can remember,” says Jen. “As a child I made pillows and doll clothing for my toys. As a teen I enjoyed raiding my father’s closet for ‘vintage’ clothes and adjusting them to fit me and my friends. (early day up-cycling) I have dabbled in collage many times over in my lifetime, have always adored photography…Being artsy is just in my blood.”

Jen describes herself as “a 36 year old ice cream-addicted mother of two sweet, saucy, adorable little girls (ages 5 and 7), and wife to a dashing, supportive, artistic well, just plain awesome husband.” As well as keeping her entertained, Jen’s two daughters were the inspiration for her Etsy shop, Peachy Tuesday. “When my girls grew to be preschoolers and their hair started to “accept” doo dads, I started buying barrettes, headbands and clips galore. Eventually after being unimpressed with the holiday hair accessories I could find I made some holiday headbands of my own. They gained rave results from friends, even strangers!

Funky headband

“I made some hair clips using the same style and the same occurred. I enjoyed looking at the hair doodles on my happy little ladies, but the friendly compliments were wonderful as well. In addition to making hair accessories I have always adored photography. Consequently, I photographed everything I made, and posted the pictures to Flickr. A friend of mine, also a crafter, saw my pictures and urged me to sell my hair goods. I wavered, feeling little confidence, but eventually decided why not?”

Jen has been selling on Etsy ever since and has recently started looking into other outlets to raise the profile of her accessories. “I recently attended my first craft show in Lancaster, at Landisville Camp Meeting. I will be setting up Crafty By Nature at Shupp’s Grove in July and August as well. In addition I have sitting on my desk, an application to become a consignor at Hodge Podgery in Harrisburg.”

Jen’s items are bright, different and extremely cute and she is right on the mark with what attracts her buyers. “I feel like the abstract nature of most of my headbands and embellished clothing is different from tons of things available out there. I love playing with color, Hand me a pile of crazy colorful felt and I go nuts!”

Another funky headband

Like many artists and crafters, Jen sometimes struggles to find time for everything, especially combined with raising two little girls! She says, “I have never calculated the number of hours I spend with Peachy Tuesday related things. I sure feel like it is full time! I do also work part time at night in the image department of a direct mail magazine, AND by day I am a CEO of household/momma. Both of my little girls will be in full-day elementary school in Fall 2010. This monumental time will be sad in many ways but I do look forward to having a lot more time to work on Peachy Tuesday.”

Jen Working

“I work in my kitchen, my office and living room. Sigh, I’d love to have a studio. It is a goal in the next two years to have our attic bedroom converted to a studio space. For now working amongst the chaos of the high traffic areas of my home is just fine though.”

As Jen grows her business, gaining support in the local area is essential. “The handmade scene in PA is great! I attribute so much of what I have learned and gained from the awesome support I have found online with the hand-makers here in PA. Honestly, if it was not for all the support I have found making online friends I’d have closed up shop long ago!”

For more information, visit Jen’s Etsy shop, follow her on Twitter and check out her Facebook Page.

Ellie is a UK-based designer of handknit and crocheted accessories. In her rare time away from the needles and hooks, she can be found scouring Etsy and Folksy for cute and quirky handmade items, and chatting to indie sellers via Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Ellie sells her creations via Etsy.

Warm evening breezes, carafes of wine, wide porches, jolly company and a singular touch of pure beauty- you. In your Zeto, of course.

Zeto is a gorgeous collection of clothing created by Nami Ogawa and Brian Holderman. They believe that quality and artistic sensibility are of utmost importance- Zeto uses only the highest quality original fabrics, custom dyes, light weight inks and in-house artwork.

Enchantment awaits. I say, “why not.”

Ruffle Patched Stretched Cotton Dress

Flower Patched Cupra Gown

Organic Cotton Gauze Double Layer Pull Over

Kate, along with her husband, bring together farm, food and design at The Steel Fork. They also design and create sculptural metalworks using recycled farm machinery – Gatski Metal. Kate is also the mother of two busy little children.

TeamHiP is an Etsy street team comprised of artists and makers featured on this blog. Below is a sampling of what you can find when you go to etsy.com and type in ‘teamhip‘ to find members of this new-ish group.

Be sure to follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Hummingbird by 111collagedesign

Ginkgo Earrings by contempojewels

Assorted Ceramic Washers by JoanMillerPorcelain

CUPCAKES cover by brookiellen

Reusable Waterproof Snack Bag by The Point

Capelet by PrettyCoolClothes

The Duffel in rosewood by moop

circling around slouch bag by tremundo

reusable snack bags by fabrik

Biggie Buttercup Bag, Almost Argyle by PrettyCoolClothes

perfect burger tote bag by girlscantell

(prints by Stephanie Corfee)

When I joined Etsy last fall, I thought it would help my sales immensely. After all, it’s the premier place to buy handmade, right? What I didn’t expect was to be so lost in numbers. With many sellers being there for years, they had formed friendships and joined teams. I noticed those teams and friends stuck together quite tightly. That’s when I made the decision to get more involved with the people who are already supportive of me. I am thrilled to announce I am the new team leader for the Handmade in PA team on Etsy!

While I am still working everything out, I have had half a dozen requests to join since last week! I am really excited to have taken this on and hope you all will be too! My goals for this team are quite simple:

To encourage, support and promote each other through twitter, our blog, and of course, etsy.

I am also looking to organize a craft show this summer for as many members that can be a part of it. Sound good? If you are interested in joining, please convo me through Etsy. There will be a slight jurying process, just to make sure you are an active seller on Etsy. I am hoping to organize a team chat very soon. Any ideas or suggestions are very welcome! I am also looking for people to help me with organizing and planning team events, posting on our team twitter account, and blog. Thank you everyone for your continued support!

animal lover scarf by xenotees

ruby beetle mechanique by 19 moons

cedar waxwing watercolor by sixsisters

all handmade in Pennsylvania and found in the HiP flickr pool.

Hello holiday party. I’ve got on my new Kelly Lane.

These absolutely gorgeous dresses are made by Kelly Lane Design (Pittsburgh). They are designed and sewn in Pittsburgh. They are made with eco-friendly and over-run fabrics including organic cotton, soy, tencel, hemp, and recycled fabrics.

Personally, I think the holidays are a great time to treat ourselves. I just know you gals would look amazing in one of these dresses.

I could go on and on. I want to show you all of them…. take a moment and check out her site (it’s just for perusing). If you need to buy one right away, I found these on Jute and Jackfruit.

If you have a little girl, or have one in your family, then you MUST have a look at this week’s featured artist! I found this talented seamstress through Around Main Line and instantly fell in love with her pretty, unique, and well-made clothing. Rachel of Momi Boutique and Pink Momi is a mother of two and energetic designer/seamstress. I hope you will enjoy a day in her life!

A typical day in my life begins anywhere from 6-8 am, depending on the events in my shop the night before. I never set an alarm (pure bliss), so I am either abruptly awaken by my internal clock, who has no rest for the weary, or one of my two sleeping angels, typically the youngest.  The events of my day have become pretty predictable and the day usually plays out as follows…
 *I take the 10 step commute across the hall and dive right in to all that needs to be done.  My mornings are usually filled with putting the finishing touches on orders that will be shipped that day.  After all orders have been tagged and pressed to perfection, all folded nice, and lined up on my cutting table…I get into a pure packaging frenzy.  Tissue paper, tape, & ribbons are flying.  That’s usually about the time Leah (1) & Lily (3) wake up and the work is put on hold for a breakfast downstairs. If I feel overloaded I will just serve them dry waffles in a tupperware and let them watch tv upstairs so I can get back to work right away.  

After their breakfast I am on on-call diaper duty and play referee as they play about & bicker often.  I would say that packaging takes up about all of my morning from approx 7-12.  After I place all of the orders on the post office counter and drive away in my car I feel relief and a large weight lifted from my shoulders. Sometimes I feel so good that I take the girls to a local drive thru for lunch. 

*The afternoon hours are usually spent cutting new orders and new designs that will be sewn that night.  I found this is the best time to cut orders because Leah is usually napping so that is the time with the least distractions. I use my own copyrighted patterns but for some of my designs I do not even use a pattern and it just takes a lot of simple arithmetic to cut the order.  When I have little mouths chattering at me it can be hard to add and subtract at the same time and that is why I choose nap time to cut orders!

*The evening hours are used for sewing, sewing, and more sewing.  I currently have 3 machines in my shop but, only 2 hands! My husband arrives home from work anywhere from 8:30-9:30.  He is gone approx 70 hours a week so the majority of the time the girls are my sole responsibility and they have learned to march to the beat of my drum…for the most part. They know that mommy makes pretty dresses for little girls all over the world but, heaven forbid if I should try to get them to put a dress on! I will have to chase them around the house and wrangle them like a rolling alligator.  I believe I have given them a dress phobia with all of the modeling that they have done and still do for Momi boutique and Pink Momi.  

Around 12 midnight I will make coffee & see if I can stretch my day just a little longer…afterall I do not have elves in my shop at night.  Some days time is on my side and I will stay awake sewing until 3am, other times the eyelids can not stay open and it’s just time to call it a day. However, I will never go to bed early if there are orders half complete.  I run a very tight ship at momi boutique and know that it shows in my turn around time and the quality of my work.

 
Of course everyday is not the same as I do have to make time to blog, photograph my designs, create new listings in my shops, and customer service of course!  I check my emails and sales approximately 12 times a day. Typically I do this from my phone while I am working so that I do not have to jump on the computer.  Get me on the computer and I may just never get off!

Michelle is a graduate of Albright College with a B.A. in Visual & Apparel Merchandising. After years in the fashion/ retail industry, she is now a WAHM. Michelle is a self-taught jewelry designer and owner of Michabella Creations.

5:30 am – I am up and feeding pets, making coffee, and eating my Oatmeal Squares and peanuts. 

6 to 8 – After doing some kitchen chores, I begin my new job! What?  Yes, I am the new owner/editor/researcher for The Fabric Shopper ”the blog about fabric and the people who love it.” There is fabric researching to do (shopping) and sponsors to visit (shopping) and emails about fabric sales to collate (shopping)!  See, a lot of work (shopping)!
 
8 to 9 – Sit with Hubby and have my second cup of coffee while he eats his oatmeal. I have such a rough life :-)

10am to 5pm  - Time to sit down at the sewing machine to get caught up on clothing alterations. If there is not too much of that, I can start making skirts for L. Blanche Designs. Some will go out to my brick and mortar stores and a few will make it onto my Etsy shop. Of course, there are lots of breaks to do a chore or two, start supper, check on pets, and check email (I never know when I might get sent a picture of my beautiful grandbaby!)

Exception to the above schedule is Lola Day!  I get to spend every Tuesday with my granddaughter. Yes! [Editor's note: YES!]
6pm – Time for supper, feeding pets, and relaxing.

7:30 to 9:30 I’m either cutting out skirts for the next day’s sewing, packing up skirts for shipment, or writing a new blog post.

9:30 Yep, it’s my bedtime!  Actually, I’m awake for another hour or so but Hubby and I like to cuddle and watch DVR’d episodes of Criminal Minds ;-0 Did I say, I love my life! :-)

Michelle is a graduate of Albright College with a B.A. in Visual & Apparel Merchandising. After years in the fashion/ retail industry, she is now a WAHM. Michelle is a self-taught jewelry designer and owner of Michabella Creations.

My mom’s brand name “Rosie’s Whimsy” is so appropriate – she is prone to flights of fancy and changes of whim. But only in the most positive way! She’s read to take a risk, explore a new path, or take on a new skill.

In case you hadn’t heard, her children’s clothing line morphed into a line of pretty but oh-so-comfy ladies’ skirts that are taking Central PA boutiques by storm! She even re-branded her Etsy shop to reflect her daily inspiration in sewing, her mom. You can find her new line at L. Blanche Designs.

I’m also pleased as punch to announce that my mom is the new face behind The Fabric Shopper – a blog dedicated to fabric and the people who love it (that means you, by the way!). She takes over posting tomorrow and you can look for a major site design to go live that day, as well. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t subscribe today!