You could win £1000 when you start your own Etsy shop!

Have you ever thought about selling the lovely things that you make at home that would make wonderful gifts this Christmas? As the festive season approaches now is the perfect time to take the plunge and it couldn’t be easier! All you have to do is sign up to become an Etsy seller and to help you get started you can begin selling on Etsy here and if you use the code ETSYHEROESAPARTMENT by November 30th you could be in with a chance of winning £1000 to spend on absolutely anything you like (terms and conditions apply**). Couldn’t ask for a better start than that, right?

I am very excited today to share Sophie’s Etsy story with you and I hope it will inspire any creatives out there to set up their own shop.  Etsy is a brilliant resource to enable anyone to sell their creations, perhaps for a bit of extra money in the run up to Christmas, to help develop a hobby, or like Sophie to help launch a full-blown creative career. Sophie’s business geo-fleur is a brilliant example of what is possible so when I caught up with her last week I couldn’t wait to hear more about how she has grown her business over the last two years from the early seeds of being an Etsy seller to today with a bricks and mortar shop selling her gorgeous terrarium kits, plants, macrame hanging planters, ceramic pots; a book on the way; a plant installation at the Tate and running massively popular botanical workshops – it is truly amazing what you can achieve! She was also kind enough to teach me how to make one of her very cool macrame hanging planters that she sells in her Etsy shop as well as giving me a few tips on how to plant up a terrarium using her DIY kits.

Etsy Hero: Sophie from geo-fleur | How to start a creative business | Botanical styling | Photograph by katharinepeachey.co.uk

Sophie is a very inspiring Etsy seller whose botanical styling business has grown by leaps and bounds since setting up her Etsy shop just two years ago. I met up with Sophie to hear her story and she taught me how to make one of her gorgeous macrame hanging planters that she sells in her Etsy shop. All images by Katharine Peachey.

Why Etsy?

Sophie’s mum is a florist so she was always surrounded by beautiful plants and flowers and she tells me that at a very young age she was always helping her granddad in the garden so her interest in botanicals started there. After studying fine art and starting down a more conventional job path she started geo-fleur ‘on the side’ as a hobby and decided to open an Etsy shop to help her sell her handmade plant accessories and terrarium kits, as well as running market stalls. She remembers her first order well and the excitement of receiving the notification: “I was like, YAY! Someone wants to buy something I have made. It was a wonderful feeling. Etsy is great at connecting you with people that want a custom order, or want something more specific, for example we made 200 mini concrete pots for succulents for wedding favours!”

WIN £1000 to help to start your own Etsy shop | Etsy Hero: Sophie from geo-fleur | How to start a creative business | Botanical styling | Photograph by katharinepeachey.co.uk

Sophie explains that Etsy helped her get a foot in the door and, “connect with customers I wouldn’t normally be tapping into via selling at markets.” Setting up an Etsy shop was really easy in her experience and the app really helped as she could just upload everything from there – particularly helpful when you are maintaining a full time job, I would imagine (I remember trying to upload blog posts when I was still working full time as a teacher and it was a real juggling act).

A lot of hard work and very little sleep later Sophie’s business has grown from strength to strength. She has managed to build up a great network of support (especially her mum!) and a huge Instagram following where she can showcase her products and services: “Now we have a few more resources, a lovely van that we crowd funded, it enables me to go and partake in some amazing jobs around the UK and just last week I was styling up a lovely new creative space in Liverpool and we’ve currently got a plant installation at the entrance to the Turner Prize exhibition. I never believed it would be this exciting or take me this far. It’s been a very big rollercoaster and it’s still growing!”

WIN £1000 to help to start your own Etsy shop | Etsy Hero: Sophie from geo-fleur | How to start a creative business | Botanical styling | Photograph by katharinepeachey.co.uk

Words of wisdom

Sophie loves the freedom of running a creative business and the fact she can connect with someone over a lovely product and make their day. Her one piece of advice to anyone who wants to follow in her path to run a creative business is not to give up. She never dreamed that her teeny tiny business on the side could grow so quickly or become so successful: “It’s crazy but I’m so thrilled. Plus we’ve got some really exciting growth plans for 2017. I’d love to have a couple of branches of our geo-fleur shops around the UK and maybe an international version. Also our geo-fleur book is out next May, which is super exciting.”

I have to admit that I am a bit blown away how far geo-fleur has come in such a short space of time; it’s enough to inspire anyone. My one piece of advice would be to take that leap to start, which can be the hardest thing to do. I remember it took me six months to press publish on my first blog post. Sophie and I both agree that you don’t need a hard and fast business plan when you begin your creative journey as growing organically and being open to possibilities and opportunities can get you so much further than a rigid plan that can lead to disappointment.

WIN £1000 to help to start your own Etsy shop | Etsy Hero: Sophie from geo-fleur | How to start a creative business | Botanical styling | Photograph by katharinepeachey.co.uk

Sophie’s top tips for setting up an Etsy shop

  1. Make sure your product stock levels are up to date
  2. Dispatch orders as soon as you can!
  3. Use lots of keywords to optimise the search feature.

Starting your shop in the run up to Christmas is great timing, Sophie told me. The demand at this time of year is massive and apparently DIY craft kits go down very well – her terrarium kits are always best-sellers as they make such great gifts.

Etsy Hero: Sophie from geo-fleur | How to start a creative business | Botanical styling | Photograph by katharinepeachey.co.uk

Sophie gave me a quick demonstration on how to plant up a terrarium using one of her DIY terrarium kits that she sells lots of during the Christmas period.

Set up your shop now

So, what are you waiting for? Set up your Etsy shop this month, begin selling your creations for fun, experience the same excitement Sophie did when she received her first sale notification and you never know where the journey may take you. Remember, you can begin selling on Etsy here and if you use the code ETSYHEROESAPARTMENT by November 30th you could win £1000 to help you launch your creative business (terms and conditions apply**). Good luck and fingers crossed!

Go on, take the leap…

Katy x

Etsy Hero: Sophie from geo-fleur | How to start a creative business | Botanical styling | Photograph by katharinepeachey.co.uk

*This post was written in collaboration with Etsy and with thanks to Sophie from geo-fleur and Katharine Peachey for the photography.

**Terms and conditions: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER. Promotion is open to legal residents of the United Kingdom, age 18 or older who open an Etsy shop via http://etsy.me/2eHlwH7 between 7 November 2016 and 30 November 2016 using the code: ETSYHEROESAPARTMENT. Entries must be received between 12:01 AM GMT on 7 November 2016 and 11:59:59 PM GMT on 30 November 2016. One prize available of £1,000. Odds depend on number of eligible entries received. Sponsor: Etsy UK Limited. See full terms and conditions here.

 

Scandinavian Christmas dining

I always think that Christmas and Scandinavian style go hand in hand and where better to bring those two things together than on the dining table? I’ve never been a massive fan of the traditional red, green and gold of the festive period so I have been on the look out for more pared back tableware but pieces with lots of lovely textures that help to soften the hard edges of winter light and weather.

Scandinavian Christmas dining | ALSO Home | Apartment Apothecary

The perfect Christmas table by ALSO Home

To create that Scandi feel go for beautiful ceramics, warm wooden serving boards, touches of blue, the natural texture of baskets for bread, linen table cloths and napkins and lots and lots of beeswax candles. Here are some of my favourite pieces that would help to make any table this Christmas look and feel amazing…

Scandinavian Christmas dining | ALSO Home | Scandinavian tableware | Apartment Apothecary

Sue Pryke’s tea pot – Simple Shape / Handmade oak serving platter – ALSO Home / Seagrass basket – ALSO Home / Linen tablecloth – ALSO Home / Natural beeswax honeycomb candles – The Future Kept / Hand painted dinner plate – ALSO Home / Monochromatic dinnerware – Heals / House of Rym -Tea & Kate

Oooo, it’s making me feel all festive and excited for the next few weeks!

Katy x

*This post was written in collaboration with ALSO Home.

Friday Faves

How is it the end of October already?! Seriously? I’ve spent the week planning features for November and I suddenly realised that my planner is about to run out of pages as well as the year running out of days (and once December starts that’s the end of the year with just a hazy month of fairy lights, parties and presents, right?). Anyhoo, I promptly put an order in for my annual Rifle Paper Co calendar – I chose this one from Papermash – and now I need to choose a new planner so I thought I’d share some of my favourites that you can buy right here…

Right, I’m focusing on making the most of the rest of this year and trying to slow time down a bit. Hope you’ve all had a good week and enjoy the weekend!

Katy x

Friday faves

This week has been mostly about clearing to-do lists and completing a couple of craft shoots. I have realised that as my blog has grown I’ve become a bit time poor and as a result I have dropped lots of my crafty DIY tutorials, which I really miss. Therefore, I did a big trawl through some of my favourite blogs this week and made a list of projects I would like to complete over the next couple of months, which make up this week’s Friday Faves…

Six DIY craft projects to try including hand printing fabric, air dry clay bowls, using Ikea spice racks as book shelves, waiting furniture with folk designs and making a toy box | Apartment Apothecary

I’ve always loved Jeska’s crafty ideas for Lobster & Swan and I’d really like to make some gilded sea shells for the autumn/winter table as salt and pepper pinch pots (top image) and the air dry clay trinket dishes made by Heather (bottom left) would make the most perfect presents. I’m thinking of things I can make for the nursery before the Christmas madness begins and I love Artemis’s projects that she makes for her daughter over at Junkaholique. I would love to try my hand at making a crate with a padded lid and castors to store toys or blankets (middle left). I’m also inspired to do a bit of fabric printing to make some unique cushions to sit on the day bed that we will have in the nursery (middle right). I definitely want to get a few Ikea spice racks to mount in creative ways to add a bit more storage to the room. We have a child’s chair that we currently use as a step stool but needs a bit of decoration and I spotted on Poppytalk this week the idea of adding folk designs so I might give that a go (bottom right).

Hopefully, you guys might find a bit of inspo here, too, and I hope you have all had a good week.

Katy x

Friday faves

This week has finally felt like Autumn, hasn’t it? We’ve had such lovely walks with Otto crunching leaves underfoot and being able to see our breath. Boots and coat are firmly out and in use! I love this time of year and how snuggly it feels (and I don’t feel like such a loser spending Saturday nights on the sofa).

I have started to make a few changes to the flat to prepare for the colder weather and there have been a few new additions to my wardrobe too. Here’s a taster…

Friday faves | Autumn essentials | Apartment Apothecary

I’ve been to a couple of lovely events recently, the first being the Livingetc house tours. Whilst on the tour I caught sight of the best log pile ever as well as gorgeous baskets from The Basket Room and so I have followed in their lead and started filling my baskets with extra blankets and throws. It may also be time for some fairy light action and aren’t these marshmallow coloured Cable & Cotton lights perfect for this time of year?

I was also invited to a beautiful celebratory lunch for The Linen Works’ ten year anniversary and I promptly came home and changed our summer duvet to the winter one and popped on our linen duvet cover ready for cosying into bed that evening. Heaven! I’m in love with The Linen Works’ cassis rose linen duvet cover.

I’m currently looking for book recommendations if anyone has any for me but for the time being have you all pre-ordered your copy of 91 magazine? I’ve contributed to the A/W 2016 issue so I’m very excited to see it in print. Other than reading there has been lots of cooking going on here and I love the transition from summer to autumn food: the Le Creuset is well and truly out in action!

And lastly a couple of new additions to my wardrobe for the colder months include this indigo denim dress from Toast and Jules very sweetly bought me this gorgeous kimono style dressing gown from Verry Kerry – it is truly beautiful and perfect to cover up for colder mornings.

Hope you have all had a good week and enjoy the weekend!

Katy x