Featured Artist - Scarletdgn

January is a month for reflection; where we delve into last year's endeavors and find out what worked and what didn't. So this month, we thought it would be a great idea to have our featured artists be members of our team that are the oldest to Etsy.

Our first featured artist is Kate from Scarletdgn is a Scrapbooker's dream with an assortment of fun scrapbooking supplies and doo-dads! She has been a member of Etsy since July 2005.

Tell us a little about yourself:

My name's Kate and I became an Army wife in October of 2006. We have lived in Albuquerque,New Mexico since Nov of 06 on Kirtland Airforce Base. We currently have one son together who will be turning 1 January 2,2010.

When did you start selling on Etsy? When did you make your first sell?

I started an etsy store July 10,2005. I started out selling handmade jewelry and made a first sale December 12,2005.

How did you find Etsy?
I found out about etsy from a crafty forum I was on at the time and decided to give it a try. I had been trying to get my jewelry mainstream for awhile and was not having any luck.

I took a year or so off from trying to sell on etsy from lack of sales and got back into selling again after going the Homefront Team and getting some better marketing ideas.

Near the end of my pregnancy with my son I ended up getting carpel tunnel in both hands and I couldn't make jewelry anymore and decided to go in a different route with paper goods and scrapbooking supplies and it ended up being the best choice I made I gained 300+ sales last year.

What has kept you on Etsy for so long, as a buyer and a seller?

I've stayed with Etsy for so long because it was one of the first of its kind to be able to bring crafters together and gave an outlet for people all over the world to see their work. I've had to take some time off to take care of my son and etsy gives me the ability for people to still see my work even when Im busy chasing him all over.

I joke that everything I earn on etsy gets put right back into someone else's hands because I love to shop here. I love finding one of a kind things and look for sellers who take the time to answers questions and get back to a buyer. It means a lot. If I have a great expirence with a particular seller Im definately going to be a repeat buyer.Most of all I just love being able to create and share with people all over the world.

What a great community to be able to change our craft to meet our personal lives and the ever-changing wants of the customer! Thanks Kate for sharing a little of your world with us!

Check out Kate's store at http://www.scarletdgn.etsy.com/, and visit all of the great Homefront Team members of Etsy by searching "homefront team" at http://www.etsy.com/!