Handmade By Anne Potter

1) How did you hear about Etsy?
A friend recommended it to me because he knew that the things I make fit nicely with Etsy's offerings.

2) How did you come up with your shop name?
A little obvious, but the things in my shop are varied - I have a lot of interests and media that I like to work with. "Handmade by Anne Potter" sums up the variety of things that I dreamt up and handmade.

3) Is Etsy your only "job", or is it something you do on the side?
I am a stay-at-home-mom to five children. My youngest are two-year-old twins; after coming out of the fog of their infancy I realized that I was able to go back to creating more, so I started selling on Etsy as a "job" that wouldn't take away from my real job.

4) What inspires you?
So many things: nature, travel, materials, fashion and I'm a magazine/catalog junkie. Garnet Hill and Peruvian Collection are my favorite catalogs right now.

5) What is the easiest to make? The hardest?
The easiest things for me to make are the items that I'm currently hot on: a pair of earrings that I'm excited about, or something that is breezing through the planning stages and is ready to be MADE. Conversely, I find it hardest to keep at a project that needs finishing, but I am not as excited to work on anymore: like the last few inches of a long knitted cowl.

6) What is your favorite item that you currently have in your shop?
My Goa Silk Necklace or Bracelet and my Sausalito Hydrangea Bracelet. These pieces fit my aesthetic perfectly. And they're unique: I haven't seen anything like these on Etsy.

7) What made you decide to use Etsy instead of sites like ArtFire and MadeItMySelf?
I am very low-tech. My friend Brock suggested Etsy, I checked it out, liked it, and didn't really think about shopping around.

8) Are you attending any art shows in the future?
Not currently, but I have some ideas for local promotion that I'm thinking about: forming a low-key local co-op of artists and also selling some pieces through some boutiques in the area.

9) Any future projects?
I have some cute quilting/piecing projects that I've been starting to work on: star-shaped baby quilts, passport covers that will lessen the trauma of bad passport pictures and I always look forward to Valentine's Day projects.