I never did take to the fiber arts very well...you know, sewing, crochet, embroidery, needlework, etc....But I can spin a good yarn (pun intended - I'm a storyteller!)
Since I always enjoyed drawing, but the "need" for it is mainly directed at graphics like clip art, SVGs, and similar things, I got interested in graphic art. I enrolled in classes locally and thus began the start of a two-year program, at the end result of getting that little piece of paper that says "I've got smart skills" :)
The programs I am the most familiar with include Photoshop (well, who doesn't know about that one), Illustrator, and Corel Draw. The first two were what I got the most exposure to in coursework.
There's another thing about me, I like to "wax nostalgic" every now and then.
Here is a picture of me taken way WAY back...at the table drawing and coloring...
Wow, I barely remember those Snoopy pencils I used to have....
I started my shop on Etsy in 2017 and focused on "print on demand" products, which is a great model as you don't have to keep and accumulate physical inventory - a product, once bought , becomes printed with a design of my own making, "on demand". It's a great business model that works great for all types of physical products like mugs, clothing, accessories like smartphone cases, pillowcases, the list goes on.
The first product type I started showcasing was t-shirts. which are an easy sell because, let's face it, the demand for them is high. Just about everybody and their uncle is looking for tees...whether for a bridal party, a sports team or a family reunion. That can make getting traction in the niche a little difficult, unless you can drill down to a smaller, niched target market, like, let's say...tshirts for animal lovers, sports fans, golfers, well, you get the idea.
Although tshirts are a great product to sell, there are some nuances involved that can be problematic. Because you never even touch an actual t-shirt, you don't know if all of your customers will like the materials, whether or not the designs will come out well, and ...of course, how well they will fit. I have to be honest, I haven't got the market cornered on tees...although I really like the "Beefy-T" brand which may be a little more expensive, and I have some that I've found to be more 'scratchy" feeling than others. And unless you're familiar with the brand, you don't know for sure how well it will fit. Some brands run true to size and some don't.
I don't want to discourage anyone form starting a tshirt selling venture (what with so many opportunities and platforms available today!) but know going in the things I mentioned.
Later on I got into mugs with the advice of a friend. Let's face it, mugs are a great product to offer, as there are so many niches and things you can create to put on them...the sky is the limit! Because they are all solid white (with a few exceptions, sometimes black mugs and "color changing" mugs are popular too) you don't have to worry about what colors will work. Also, what you see is what you get. A mug doesn't need to be "tried on" for size.
I started getting into printables as the need and demand in the market was showing that people are looking for things they can access right away, and don't have to deal with shipping costs (which is a variable that takes a lot of consideration, especially when you think about different countries and how they all have different rates)
But printables are a different ball game, they offer people a way to learn something new, get organized, and get creative! Patterns, tutorials, planner pages and coloring pages are all good examples. So beginning in the middle of last year I expanded and got into creating printables.
I'm unsure at the present what I want to do there, I am kind of thinking about starting a second shop on Etsy later on to showcase my printables. You can have a second shop on Etsy, there are seasoned sellers who do when they have more than one product type.
************************IMPORTANT UPDATE 8/15/22*********************
I have been doing a major overhaul on my main blog, Create With Jennifer, since last year and decided to do a cullout of posts that didn't fit my new vision of what I wanted to do with it versus when I first started it about 5 years ago.
Many of the posts on here are older posts from that site that I couldn't bear to part with as they took a lot of time and energy, so instead of trashing them I decided to republish them here. They reflect all different kinds of crafts that I was experimenting with at the time.
Well, I'll talk to you again soon! bye for now!
