Hi, my name is Geraldine Handa. I’m a mom and have been married to my loving husband for 15 years. I work a part time job. I was born in the Philippines and came here to the United States twenty years ago on a petition by my Mom and Dad. I am now a US citizen, and am living in San Clemente, CA with my husband, two children, and two pet parakeets. I work on my Etsy projects during my lunch hour and at night when my kids are asleep. This is the one of the ways I can relax and provide myself with good stress relief!

During my days off, when my kids are at school, I can work at home on customer orders and check my Etsy shop. All my items are hand made by me from my own designs. I have copyrights on all my patterns.

On the weekends, my husband, kids, and myself, like to stay home and relax from the previous week. Sometimes our weekends are taken up by Cub Scout outings, or Indian Princess father and daughter outings. We enjoy also watching movies and visit the two Grandmas as often as possible. I learned to play the piano when I was a girl in the Philippines and like to play when I get a chance to relax.

When I’m at home I keep myself busy with cleaning, gardening, or going to the store. One of my hobbies is photography. We purchased some studio lights and created a photography studio in our living room. I always photograph my new creations and post them to my Etsy shop.

Well, I have never been an artist, but I have always been a creative person. When I was in the third grade, I lived with my sister. When she went to college, she hired a nanny, who taught me how to crochet. When I got married, I made all the wedding favors for the reception guests. Later on I learned how to knit in a class taken at my local yarn shop. From that point on, I learned a lot of ideas and techniques to create my many designs. A couple of years ago, I came across Etsy. After a couple of months, I opened my own shop and tried to sell my apple jacket design. I was surprised at the response! Eventually I created my most successful design, the Monster Shark Cozy for water bottles and Monster Shark Sleeve for coffee cups.

Every morning before I’m ready to go to work (regular work) I turn on my computer and check my email and see if I have incoming orders. I work from my regular job from 7:00 till 2:30 and pick up my kids from school. After homework and dinner, I begin working on my orders and begin experimenting with new designs. I have a lot of ideas in my mind and make many prototypes. Some I sell on Etsy, others I give away as gifts! I spend a lot of time at the local yarn shops and Michaels, looking for the right yarn to make my projects.

My most cherished project is my Monster Shark. A couple of years ago, my husband and I had to make a large paper-mâché shark head for the Cub Scouts. It was about 45” tall with just the head. We painted it blue and it turned out great! After a couple of days later, I was taking pictures of the shark and my daughter wanted to get a picture of herself in the shark’s head. It was big enough to go over my daughter, and her face was right in the shark’s mouth. I looked at the picture and was thinking, “The monster shark is eating my daughter!” That’s when the idea to make the Monster Shark Sleeves first popped into my head. Now I have the Monster Shark water bottle holder and Monster Shark baby bottle holder.

To read a little more about the story behind HandaMade, please feel free to stop by and read my interview,
https://blog.etsy.com/en/2009/featured-seller-handamade/