I’ve been on a roll with uploading a post and video every single day for over a week now! My mom and I ended up going on some errands that took longer than expected yesterday afternoon, so I didn’t have time (or the mental power, thanks, massive headache) to write this post to accompany the Etsy-story-time video. I did publish the video yesterday though, and this post is going up today, so does that make it a 9-day streak?! We’ll pretend it does :).
This time last year, I make the jump to open my own Etsy store! If you’ve been reading my blog over the past year, you may have seen me mention it here or over on Instagram. PaintedGracebyKS is such a sweet & special part of my life!
This time two years ago, I started this blog! And the 2-year celebration this week is giving me allll the feels (enter my giveaway here – open til 8/10). I wouldn’t consider myself to be sentimental about physical keepsakes or mementos, but I’m extremely reminiscent of past memories and ‘mental keepsakes’. In looking back on how far KristenShane.com has come in just two years, it’s also been special to look back on the shorter history of my little graced-filled Etsy shop.
WATCH THE VIDEO: WHY I STARTED MY OWN ETSY STORE
I’ve been shopping on Etsy for years and years now, and I’ve always loved the whole premise of the site. If you’re not familiar with Etsy, it’s basically a platform that allows creators, work-from-homers, & self-starters to run their own online store, primarily focused on custom, handmade, one-of-a-kind goods. Monogram products and custom jewelry have been some of my favorites from Etsy over the years.
I love shopping small and supporting fellow entrepreneurs! Also, you can pretty much find anything and everything on Etsy, and you’re almost guaranteed quality and a good price, considering they’re largely run by just one person, so quality and customer satisfaction really count!
In all my years of shopping on Etsy, I’ve been blown away by product quality and professionalism from each and every purchase I’ve made… except one. I probably shopped on Etsy a few times a year (for myself or for gifts) for maybe 6 years before I ever had a negative experience with a purchase (and this is still the single negative Etsy experience I’ve had).
That being said, I’ve grown up seeing and buying these hand-crafted goods for a long time. Last year, I finally mustered up the inspiration and courage to do it myself!
I originally started my own store, PaintedGracebyKS (‘painted’ because my original products were all painted items, ‘grace’ because it’s such a beautiful, inspirational reminder, and ‘KS’, my initials), to sell some extra sorority-painted canvases during Big-Little and Initiation season (when lots and lots of sorority women are buying/making sorority crafts & gifts). I had about 4x as many sales in those few months of big-little and initiation last year than I have total!
I’ve grown up in a very craft-oriented-book-worm family, so this Etsy store was a natural addition to my life. My sister was a huge help in choosing a name for the store and in the original launch. My mom is always helping inspire and shop for new products, and my best friend Hayden is my very best customer to date ;). When I first hesitantly told my closest friends that I was thinking of opening this store, they were so supportive and saw how much this meant to me, and how naturally it fit with my passions and love for DIY-ing.
It’s been one of my great-big-scariest dreams to start my own business, and this little shop has been a great place to start. Etsy makes it so easy to start and maintain a shop, no matter the size, and Amazon has lots of inexpensive shipping & craft materials that help, too.
It’s not always easy to be a full-time-honors-pre-law-graduating-early-college-student, a blogger/YouTuber, and somewhat sane person, along with having this store, but it’s been absolutely worth it, and I wouldn’t change this experience for anything.
I’ll link my Etsy store here: LINK and the video edition of this post again here. I also make lots of custom items, and I’d be happy to create your very own PaintedGrace product.
Thanks for reading! While you’re here, you can also check out my 2-years-of-KristenShane.com giveaway (open til 8/10 @ 12pm EST) and subscribe to my YouTube Channel. I’ve been posting videos just about every day!
Blessings, friend!
