• Tell me a bit about yourself

Hi there! My name is Amanda. I live in the beautiful Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee with my wonderful husband, sweet little kitty, and four gerbils! During the school year I work part time at the most wonderful after school day care; I’ve been working there for six years now!

• What is the name of your Shop?

The name of my shop is Migoto Chou. It means ‘beautiful butterfly’ in Japanese. I’ve always been interested in Japanese culture; I’d love to visit there someday. And I am ever enchanted with the magical transformation of the butterfly. Their representation of all things that are new and changing; it’s all very fascinating to me. And there aren’t very many things in this world that are as beautiful as a butterfly!

• Please describe your creative process

My ideas usually come from a thought. I’ll see something, or think of something, and try to figure out a way to bring it into jewelry/miniature form. Sometimes I’ll sketch out the idea, sometimes I’ll just go through all the possibilities in my head, and sometimes I even write out step by step directions for myself! It’s all a lot of trial and error, but I really enjoy the process.

At the moment, I am working in jewelry making, bead embroidery, fabric embroidery, beaded flowers, beaded wirework, sewing, felting, aromatherapy, polymer clay, and resin. I think I’ve tried just about everything now, but those are the ones that seem to have stuck with me.

• Where do your ideas come from?

I have discovered that most of my creations stem from childhood memories. Or just fun childish fairytale things in general. Wishing stars, princesses, castles, doll houses, fairies… I just adore all of these things, and I am so happy to find ways to bring them to everyone! More recently, I’ve been working on jewelry that is inspired by some of the places that I would like to visit… Paris, Hawaii, England, Africa… There are too many wonderful places to name!

• How did you get into your craft?

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always loved being able to make things with my hands. There’s no question that I got this from my Mom. She’s one of the most wonderful, creative, talented, supportive people that I know! I am so grateful to her for always encouraging me to try new things, and to never limit myself.
As far as selling my creations… I started out taking jewelry orders from friends and family while I was in high school. Now I participate in local craft shows and fairs, sell to both local and international boutiques, and I am working on getting up an online boutique as well! It has been such a fun and exciting experience so far!

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I love to travel, especially to Walt Disney World! I’ve been 13 times now and still can’t get enough! It is my happy place, and I could go on forever about how wonderful it is!
I also enjoy candy making and a little bit of party planning. I would really like to get into gardening as well, but we’ll see about that!

• How do you promote your work?

I like doing link exchanges, swaps, blogging, and posting on the forums. I have found those to be great ways to not only promote my shop, but to meet some wonderful people as well!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!