Wednesday, October 29, 2008

in the cafe spotlight: jenngee

Featured Etsian: jenngee
Shop link: jenngee.etsy.com

Coffee Corset - Disco Dots in Blue and Aqua (by jenngee)

Give us the basics:

My name is Jenn George Burt, but I'm better known as JennGee to other Etsyians. I live and work in Raleigh, NC and the most popular thing that I make and sell is my world famous Coffee Corset.

What’s your favourite smell?
What else? Fresh brewed coffee!

How long have you been doing your craft?
I've been sewing since I was big enough to hold a needle and thread. I've been using a sewing machine since the mid 90's when I had a roommate who was a design school student. I fell in love with her sewing machine and had to have one of my own. The rest is history.

Who/What inspires you in your craft?
It is more of a need than an inspiration. If I don't make things on a regular basis I go a little crazy.

Coffee Corset - Red Stone Wall (by jenngee)

What do you like least about your craft?
I would definitely have to say the ironing. I hate to iron.

What’s a normal day for you?
Get up around 10, take the dog out, make coffee, check my email and answer anything urgent, package up anything that needs to be shipped, get another cup of coffee, answer the rest of my email (I'm an online math teacher so there is always a lot of email), take a shower, go to the post office, run any necessary errands, return home and check email again, sew, email, sew, email, sew, email ... until my husband gets home ... make/eat dinner, watch television, tuck in the hubby around 9pm, sew/email cycle until 2 or 3 am.

What advice would you give Etsy sellers just starting out?
Don't expect immediate results, but DO expect to succeed. If you go in with the attitude that it isn't ever going to work for you then you are probably right. DO spend lots of time in the forums (and not just in the promo and etc. sections!) - there is much to learn and that is honestly the best place to figure out what you need to do to get where you want to be. The bonus is that you are getting free publicity just for being in the forums. Most of my first sales were from people who I talked to in the forums.

How do you discover new things on Etsy?
In the forums I click on the avatars of people that I find nice/interesting/thoughtful. I also find many great things by looking at the treasuries.

Coffee Corset - Jingle My Candy Cane (by jenngee)

4 comments:

June Shin said...

Her shop is so cute!

Anonymous said...

Great feature. Very cute items from this seller!

Suziesaurus said...

very cute!

reminds me of those wooden coffee cuffs that are so nice, but so expensive!

Suziesaurus said...

I ended up doing up a short blog on chubbibunnies.blogspot.com about these ~ thanks for posting about them! they're cute!