Get To Know - Findings Leslietsy

By Michelle of Evie's Tool Emporium

What is your Etsy shop name?
My supply shop is Findings
My original work is on The Creative Block

How did you come up with that name?
Both names are descriptive but slightly punny: Findings of course refers to jewelry components, but also to other interesting stuff I find and list.
The Creative Block is a place to create, but it also refers to that dead spot every creator experiences from time to time.

What sort of crafting supplies do you sell?
Mostly jewelry supplies--findings, of course, lots of vintage, both new and used, gemstone beads (in assortments and for eurostyle/pandora), some sterling (especially chains at great prices), quite a few Jewish, Buddhist, and Wiccan items. I sell only things that I would use myself.

Favorite website(s) aside from Etsy?
Couchsurfing
Facebook

Do you craft yourself? If so, what do you like to make?
These days I mostly make jewelry, for both humans and ball-jointed dolls, but that's partly a function of mobility limitations and a house that seems to be an ongoing construction project. I knit and crochet in the car and sometimes at meetings, etc. where I can't work on jewelry. I also love to sew, often my own designs, often using recycled fabric, but at the moment cutting space is limited.

Please tell us one thing that nobody would know about you.
Actually a fair number of people, but not too many on Etsy, know that I'm the mom of 5 kids (now adults) adopted from foster care at ages between 8 and 14 -- and now also have 5 grands, ranging in age from 23 to 6 months, 4 of whom are girls.

What is your favorite thing to make for dinner?
Anything quick, simple, healthy, and delicious.

What goals do you have for your shop over the next year?
Amazingly to me, Findings has been largely self-supporting since around the end of its first year, and making enough to pay for a lot of my personal supplies since then. I'd like to cultivate more bulk and repeat orders, to maintain the level of personal attention my customers talk about in feedback, and, of course, to turn more stock over faster. Findings is at around 950 sales - I know we'll reach 1000, but would love to hit 1500 or even 2000 in the next year. I'm also working on being well enough organized so that we can travel and someone else can pack and mail orders.

If you sell on other venues, where else can we find your items?
Other than etsy, I sell only at a few Art/Craft fairs and one local coffee shop, which turns out to be the best venue, especially for my handmade items, that I've ever had.

I do post works in progress and occasional items not listed on Etsy on my blog, Those Blue Remembered Hills and each shop has a Facebook fan page, on which Findings has a monthly drawing entered by posting a photo showing something you've made with anything from the shop.

In addition to all of the above, I belong to several etsy teams besides this one. The newest is Couchsurfing (not sure if it's etsyCouchSurfing or CouchSurfingetsy), + a CouchSurfing team for Etsy sellers. I highly recommend these--with CouchSurfing you can travel all over the world visiting friends you haven't met yet, and what better than having them also be Etsians?