You can't kill the entrepreneurial spirit!
The spark which led to this Etsy shop began in 2007 when I opened a booth in a flea market in Jewett City, CT. There, I would sell esoteric trinkets from all over the world as well as whatever odd things I could pick up at auction or yardsales. A friend of mine suggested I start making steampunk jewelry to expand my wares for the flea market booth, and it was through that friend that I found Etsy, which I joined December 2007.
At first, I was determined to sell only steampunk jewelry and zines through my Etsy store and experimented with all kinds of different art to see what would stick. I stuck with the jewelry and branched out into selling craft supplies and then vintage, and my shop grew! I found an unexpected passion for beachcombing and buttons.
I took a hiatus from 2010-2014 to focus on my photography career, but now I'm back. I still work as a photographer and writer on a freelance basis around the Connecticut area.
In 2014, I returned to Etsy having now found the time to devote to it again, and with a new product, my jewel fridge magnets! I had originally started making them in 2009 but didn't list until that year. In 2015, I finally found a voice in my jewelry creations and launched my wrap bracelets. My wrap bracelets are not just plain old beads, they are a dazzling collection of semiprecious stone chips, new and vintage Czech glass beads of high quality, charms of all kinds and assembled in vibrant colors. However the buttons were taking over and the "craft room" gradually became the "button room."
It was becoming clear that my Etsy endeavors had outgrown my old branding and I rebranded the shop "Blithe Button" in May 2015. A lot of my jewelry involves buttons and I sell more buttons as a dealer than anything else, so it made sense to focus my branding around buttons. I joined the National Button Society, the Connecticut State Button Society, and the Nutmeg Button Club to really up my game and know exactly what all these buttons are that I see every day. I am one of the few Etsy button dealers who offers buttons in bulk by material and not just color. I have even discovered the only known examples of certain buttons! It is certainly exciting when you just don't know what you will turn over in a pile of old buttons!
When I had first joined Etsy, a lot of my friends were having babies, and I wanted to start a family but it just wasn't time. Still, I felt this undeniable urge to create SOMETHING, like I was exploding, so I poured that energy into my jewelry and shop at the time. Now I'm a mom to a little boy!
In my spare time (hahahaha! What's that?!) I am the president of the Sterling Historical Society in Connecticut and do genealogical and historical research.
