I started Daughter Earth about three years ago with my sister. Our goal is to raise awareness of endangered species and habitat conservation through design. We focus on fun and original surface design that we use to create our products. We really like going out and working hands on with organizations that are protecting wildlife.

What inspired you to go into the craft business, do you still have a day job? I work in fashion and I’ve always been interested in conservation. I was seeing animals in fashion & home goods becoming more and more popular. I saw this as an opportunity to spread awareness and raise money for wildlife conservation. I had that idea in my head for quite some time; then, back in early 2007, I went to Borneo to volunteer with orphaned orangutans. Once I got back I couldn’t really think about much else. I wanted to start a business to help endangered wildlife.

I quit my day job for about 6 months to get things started. I built my website, made a few products and started to do some shows. I soon realized I did not have the money or experience I needed to really built the business as quickly as I would have liked, so I went back to work. I am lucky to have a creative job that I love, but it is really hard to balance a day job with Daughter Earth. It’s exhausting working and having your own business. I always want to be working on Daughter Earth. I rarely have time to do anything fun because I feel like I need to spend every spare moment working on my business.

What do you like best, coming up with ideas or executing them? -Ha! I definitely enjoy coming up with ideas more than executing them. It’s a constant battle for me. As soon as I start one project I get all these new ideas I get excited about and then I have a hard time following through on the execution of the original project. I have a really hard time juggling all my ideas!

What’s the best thing about what you do? And the worst? Best – There are people who get a huge smile on their faces when they see our booth at a craft show. You can tell that our product excites them. Seeing that reaction is a great feeling for me, and it helps to keep me motivated. I also love it when I get to send a check to the conservation organizations I work with.  Worst – No free time! I am always, always working! There is never enough time to finish everything I want to do.

What are your creative influences? I love color and pattern. I am inspired by many different kind of arts. I love the nabis, fauvists and most post-impressionist painters. In fashion, I love Tsumori Chisato and Marc Jacobs. I love animation and animation concept work, especially the work of Mary Blair. It’s great because with modern day technology you can see work by artists from all over the world. There are so many great contemporary artists and crafters that inspire me. At this moment, I am loving the work of Husmann Tschaeni, Leah Duncan, Mocchi Mocchi, Sandra Deickmann, Yukari Miyagi, Jill Bliss, Apak, Leah Duncan, Julia Pott, AyaTakano and Jennie Smith.

What’s the best advice you have been given about your business or craft practices? Stay organized. Keep it simple. Start small. (If only I could follow my own advice.)

How do you stay inspired? Everything inspires me, from the way the water collects on the shower doors and the shape of some gum stuck to the sidewalk to more conventional sources like magazines and blogs. I am always reading about wildlife and conservation. I am constantly looking at books, magazines and blogs. I always try to make it to interesting museum shows. I am constantly coming up with new ideas. Inspiration comes easy! Editing, prioritizing and finishing all of my projects is more of a struggle for me!

Use coupon code JPOP25 to receive 25% off (valid through September 30th, 2010). You have to enter the code on the individual products before adding them to your cart. Sale items and promotional items are excluded.

shop: http://daughterearth.com
blog: http://daughterearth.com/blog
twitter: http://twitter.com/daughter_earth
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DaughterEarthFashion

I am the poet and owner of a small business called The Poetry Store, which is: 1. a typewriter. a poet. a vision: poetry for sale on demand. 2. objective + obstruction = art. Available for music and literary events, art openings, weddings, parties, and get togethers of all kinds.

When you visit The Poetry Store, you tell me what you want your poem to be about, who you want it to be for, pick your paper, and in 3 minutes or less, I’ll have it for you, typed on my red royal typewriter! Spontaneous as combustion and as original as bergamot on your ice cream.

For The Poetry Store, I also make and sell one-of-a-kind and custom poetry art pieces. The images I use come from my own drawings, photos, or paintings, collaborations with other artists, and recycled and up-cycled images from old art calendars, wall papers, and even a woman’s obituary book I found on the street.

What inspired me? Besides an inability to do anything for 8 hours straight, I got into the craft business because it just felt like what I needed to do–I am a creative person, with lots of ideas, who loves working with my hands; I thrive off of meeting new people and hearing their stories; I desire a good challenge (which actually happens with every poem i write! because it teaches me something; and I have a need for work that’s always changing and evolving, so, here I am, making a living as a poet! I don’t have a day job, but I do teach a poetry class to the elderly for The Institute on Aging. Yes, what I do for “work” is pretty amazing.

What do you like best, coming up with ideas or executing them? Definitely coming up with them! If I could get paid just to have ideas, I’d be rich! However, there’s so much satisfaction when the idea is done being executed. So, maybe it’s 50/50 coming up with idea/executing it.

What’s the best thing about what you do? Best thing: I am living my dream–making a living as a writer, being challenged personally, emotionally, financially (oh, growth!), meeting so many people who teach me about compassion, joy, vulnerability, strength, wisdom, fun, and having faith in our fellow human beings. I couldn’t do what I do without all the people who want to buy poems and trust me to write them. It’s all pretty magical. And I am constantly humbled and grateful.

The worst thing? Worst thing: The financial roller coaster, which mostly plunges down an occasionally takes great climbs; if only it would coast there for a while, or just go up forever!

What are your creative influences? Birds, typewriters, old things most people find useless, the moon (especially in daylight), death, Dean Young’s poetry, my students (who average about 85 years old), risk, bunnies, squirrels, jellyfish, string, a desire to understand, a desire to dream, a willingness to fail, a willingness to succeed.

What’s the best advice you have been given about your business or craft practices? Don’t worry about what you think other people want; make what you love, what you think is beautiful, and other people will think so too.

How do you stay inspired? Reading (see esp. the same stuff over and over), constantly meeting new people, riding my bike around San Francisco, hobnobbing with artist friends, going to the ocean and, this is embarrassing but, the real answer is: sometimes, watching stupid TV. It’s the only way I can decompress, really take my mind off of the 100 things I have to do. And when my mind is off of things, it opens me up to ideas that have been waiting to come out.

website: http://thepoetrystore.net/
etsy: http://thepoetrystorepoet.etsy.com

Pieces on display in Philz Coffee on Van Ness and in the window of Femina Potens Gallery on Market and Sanchez, San Francisco

What inspired you to go into the craft business, do you still have a day job? I have always made things and never thought I could actually sell anything and one day a friend of mine suggested that I try selling at a craft fair, ever since then I have been hooked! Making things with my hands has always given me a chance to “get away” from everyday life. I have spent hours and hours making things and every time I finish it is just as exciting as the first.

I have a wonderful day job as a Special Education Instructional Aid, the kids are amazing and inspire me everyday. It would take a lot for me to ever want to quit my day job, I think because it is less like a job and more like fun :)

What do you like best, coming up with ideas or executing them? I have to say I love executing them the best. There is something really exciting about sketching something and seeing it “come to life”. I have so many ideas that sometimes I can’t even decide which ones to get started on first so I have to think that the ones that make it through to completion do so because they are extra special.

What’s the best thing about what you do? And the worst? The best thing about what I do is the freedom to create whatever I want but the worst thing would be just that, the freedom. I tend to have a hard time editing my choices and not wanting to limit myself in what I make.

What are your creative influences? There are so many things that influence my work and me: old movies, T.V, old Martha Stewart magazines.

What’s the best advice you have been given about your business or craft practices? To price my work accordingly, it is hard to do and sometimes you feel like you should under price your stuff to sell more of it but in the end you have to value not only the time it took to make some thing but the time that goes into the quality and care that goes into each piece. I double and triple stitch everything and make sure the safety eyes are double backed with wool felt. I like to think that my creations are not only worth the price but also worth the originality.

How do you stay inspired? I carry a sketchbook around all the time and now that I have a decent phone I am always taking pictures.
I really love doing what I do and I am grateful for everyday I get to do it.

Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/tanyap

What inspired you to go into the craft business, do you still have a day job? My beautiful daughter was born in 2003, and, like many other moms, I was inspired at that time to revisit crafting and make things for my tiny, new arrival. In meeting like-minded moms through the crafty blogosphere, I was introduced to the wonders of Japanese craft books and fabrics. I was also quite frustrated that there was no place in the US to buy the fabric – the only option seemed to be using a shopping service, and those can be quite cost prohibitive! So, I started to think about importing the goods myself, and that was the genesis of superbuzzy.

I am *incredibly* lucky to be able to work full-time for superbuzzy. When the shop was first launched, I worked another job while superbuzzy was still in it’s infancy. As superbuzzy grew, I realized that I had to shift my commitment in order to continue to provide the best service and products to our awesome customers. I thank my lucky stars every day as I come into work that I have a job that I love, and that our supportive customers continue to make this possible.

What do you like best, coming up with ideas or executing them? I have to say I am an idea person. My biggest struggle at superbuzzy is finding time to implement the “big picture” projects amidst the day to day operations of the shop: order fulfillment, receiving new product, accounting, customer service, etc.

What’s the best thing about what you do? And the worst? The most rewarding part of being a part of superbuzzy is seeing what people make with our craft supplies. I love looking at finished projects in our Flickr group, and it’s incredible to see how different people will approach the same fabrics or supplies. Oh… and I also *love* peeking into the boxes of new shipments… it’s like Christmas morning every time!

Probably the least fulfilling part of the job for me is the accounting. I know that sales tax reporting and quarterly budget projections are important, but I always dread those deadlines!

What are your creative influences? My most significant creative influences come from my trips to Japan and the products themselves. With each new bolt of fabric, I see a host of fun, new projects that need to get made. The craft community in Japan is like no other I’ve ever seen, and there appears to be no limit to Japanes ingenuity and creativity. Visiting a Japanese craft mega-shop like Yuzawaya or Okadaya is a mind-blowing experience for most folks from the US… just walking the aisles, floor after floor, is sufficient for a lifetime supply of project inspiration!

What’s the best advice you have been given about your business or craft practices? I think the most important advice I’ve gotten is to stay true to myself and my own tastes. Every time I venture outside my own personal loves for the shop, I end up with something that is not successful and sits here (reminding me of my mistake) for far too long! I’ve learned to only stock what I truly love, regardless of what other folks might suggest.

How do you stay inspired? Sometimes, with the day-in, day-out routine at the shop, I get pretty wiped and need a creative push. That’s when I know I need to get myself to a trade show or on a plane to Japan. Both are energizing and inspiring, and although exhausting, they give me that boost of excitement and inspiration I need to sustain myself at the warehouse.

I am so lucky to have such a savvy and fun community of customers. With each order we fill here at the shop, we get a peek into customers’ projects, their creative influences, and their loves. It’s great fun for me to see things in new ways each day, through the eyes of my customers.

Website: http://www.superbuzzy.com/index.php