• Tell me a bit about yourself

My name is Audrey. I live in Manitoba Canada, have a wonderful hubby and 2 great teenage boys.

• What is the name of your Shop?

The name of my shop is “Audrey’s Country Crafts”. My imagination isn’t that great, so I thought I’d use my name and basically describe what I did all in a title. After starting on Etsy – I see a lot of shops with wonderfully imaginative names, so mine looks pretty boring. But I was looking for something that is self explanatory.

• Please describe your creative process

I’ll paint anything that sits still long enough. I love to work with wood, and old jeans. The jean blankets was a nice way to paint on something new, and also sew, for a change from the wood shop. My days are pretty full, but usually on the weekend I’ll manage to find a little time to craft.

• Where do your ideas come from?

Most of my ideas come from books, magazines, craft shows, internet or just some cool surface I find to paint. Sometimes while at a craft show or looking on the internet, I’ll see something that can be adapted to wood, cloth or canvas and try it out.

• How did you get into your craft?

I was a stay-at-home mom and when our youngest son was about 2 years old I saw an ad in the local paper for beginner folkart painting classes. My husband was very supportive, thought it was a good way to get out of the house one evening a week and talk to adults. He didn’t know it would become an addiction. I think he’s sorry now. (LOL)

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I guess you could say my “day job” is driving a school bus. I started driving about 13 years ago, when the oldest started school. It’s a great job!! Days off when the boys had days off, summer holidays, 2 weeks at Christmas etc. The perfect job for a mom.

• How do you promote your work?

I have 2 blogs where I post about my crafts, but also do 2 features/wk on Esty shops and giveaways, plus Etsy. The forums on Etsy have been a great way to promote my shop. The blogs are fun too, it’s a blast doing features on other shops, “meeting” new people and seeing their shops and blogs.

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