Isabelles Sunflowers

Hobo Bag Large Coral and Tan

Tell us your name, the name of your shop and what it is that you do here on Etsy.

My name is April and my shop name is IsabellesSunflowers. I love to sew and make bags and things;)

What is your family life like? (i.e. how many children, their ages, names, are you a single mom? Are they supportive of what they do and so forth?)

I have a 2 year old daughter and a 10 year old son, Isabelle and Devon. I was a single mom for many years with my son until my wonderful husband came along and took us in. He is amazing and very supportive of everything I do. My kids keep me very busy, My son is on two baseball teams, I just finished nursing school and I am working full time as well.

Do you have another job outside of Etsy and outside of the home?

I have been working as an LPN for a little over a year now and just finished school for my RN!!! I am working full time at a local hospital and loving it. In the mean time I am waiting to take my boards to be a "Real Nurse." Wish me luck. I am very excited to have my life back, school consumed so much of my time that I missed out on a lot of our family outings because I had to study, or write a paper.....BLAH.

How do you balance home life, Etsy and work?

One day at a time! My kids come first of course. I have to do a lot of planning ahead of time for little things such as, who is going to pick the kids up from school, drop them off, get my son to his games, what time to eat dinner, etc. But what would life be if it wasn't crazy? Unfortunately my hobby, sewing gets put on the back burner quite a bit, especially lately. I just keep in mind that everything I do I am doing for my family and that keeps me chugging along.

What made you decide to sell on Etsy?

I started making bags and things for my friends and family members for their birthdays and holidays. They all kept telling me I had to do something with it because they all loved their items so much. With a ton of encouragement from them, I took the step and joined Etsy.

Do you feel pretty successful in your Etsy shop or is there room to grow? If you feel successful is there a secret you'd like to share with us?

Oh goodness, I need all the help I can get with my shop. It has been a slow process for, I am not that great with computers. I am getting the hang of it. I put myself out there and ask for help and advice and try to incorporate the feedback as well as I can. My shop has come a long way but my sales are still lacking:( So, if anyone knows all the right answers, please share ;)

What do you feel makes your shop special and unique?

I feel that my shop is special and unique due to the inspiration behind the name! I make everything because I love to do it not to make extra money. I loved seeing the faces of my friends when they opened their package and thought this would be great to share with others, the feeling of having something made for you is a wonderful feeling. I love doing special orders too.

As Mom's, things get chaotic and find it hard to stay focused, how do you stay focused and motivated?

I just remind myself to stop for a second and breath. I remind myself that everything I am doing has a purpose for another person, my family and that alone keeps me going. You really do need to just take 5min for yourself to breathe every once in awhile.

Is there anything else you'd like the readers to know?

Oh, I forgot, the reason behind my store name. My childhood best friend passed away when we were 21 from colon cancer. Her favorite flower was the Sunflower. Her name was Katrina. My daughter Isabelle's middle name is Katrina. My son had said hey mom, why not IsabellesSunflowers........ It just stuck.

Thanks for taking time to get to know me, I wish you all luck in your adventures of life!!!