A shop built off of a last minute present.
The day before my sister's tenth birthday, I had no present to give her. At this time, I was still in high school and I didn't have too many opportunities to go out and buy her a gift, plus, I wanted it to be special and unique. While in my neighborhood Rite-Aid (not the most inspiring place to find a gift, I know), a sign for $10 shoes caught my eye. Styled after the very popular, yet also very expensive TOMS shoe brand, these espadrille look-a-likes were full of potential in my eyes. Earlier that week, I had seen a few pictures of different hand-painted shoes on the internet and thought it was a creative and interesting idea.
I ended up buying the shoes to paint a pair of simple, but unique, My Little Pony themed shoes. What I thought was going to be a quick painting job, turned out to be a few hours, but I was very satisfied with the end result. My sister loved them, but I had no reason to make any more pairs, so my paints remained in their box. However, a few months later, I decided to make myself a pair of Lorax shoes, as I had always loved that particular Dr. Seuss story. While I was painting, my dad's friend dropped by and upon seeing my shoes, proceeded to tell me about a great site called Etsy. Always the entrepreneur of my family, I decided to check it out. I posted my very first listing in August of 2012, but it took until October for me to get any real interest. However, once I began getting more orders, I realized how much I loved being in charge of my own business and using my creativity and skillset to make a little extra money.
As the years have gone on, I have transitioned from painted shoes to other items, like custom shirts, stickers, and dance costumes and accessories. I would love to continue adding to the items and variety of my shop in the coming years! Anything is possible.
