Friday Feature -- Aimee Diane Designs

This week's featured Etsy artist is fellow SF Etsy member Aimee Diane Designs. I had the pleasure of meeting Aimee at our recent SF Etsy sampler, and it was fun to see her work in person. Her jewelry is beautiful, and as a box collector myself her teeny boxes caught my eye in particular. Isn't this matchbox lovely?

Enjoy the interview!

1. Please tell us about the items in your Etsy shop. What do you make? How did you learn your craft? What is involved in your creative process?

I primarily make jewelry now, but I also have a few decoupage matchboxes in my shop. I've always liked miniatures (my dad made me a dollhouse when I was a kid!) so I started out making little scenes in matchboxes with beads, sequins, milagros, pieces of postcards, etc.

I enjoyed working with beads, so I figured why not try making jewelry? I took lessons in local bead shops, at Michael's, and then made a connection with a silversmith who was willing to give me private lessons in her workshop. Now I've taken a few formal classes at the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts in San Francisco. I think I'm just in love with making jewelry. I love the creative process from beginning (idea) to middle (working with my hands) to end (holding the finished piece in my hands and/ or wearing it!).

2. Tell us two (or more) other interesting things about you.

I have a very supportive husband and a lively 2-year-old daughter.
I have a part time day job that has nothing to do with jewelry and I love it. I am a school psychologist for a local school district.
I love to bake desserts- cookies, brownies, pies, cakes, cupcakes, etc. I am a chocoholic so that usually makes its way into my baked creations. Someday I might have to become a pastry chef.


3. How did you get involved with Etsy?

A friend of mine from high school told me about it several years ago when she saw that I was making jewelry. Her shop is Marshmelonsquirter.

4. What is your biggest challenge related to your Etsy shop?

Figuring out all the business-related stuff (marketing, finances, etc) while still having time and energy for actually making jewelry.



5. What advice do you have for other folks selling or buying on Etsy?

I hope one day to be knowledgeable enough to give good advice to others about selling on Etsy. The only thing I have so far is- Don't Stop! Don't Give Up! Keep Trying! (and that's a song from a Yo Gabba Gabba episode that my daughter loves)

6. Give us some insight on how you personally, or your shop, gives back to your community.

I recently became involved with the organization Baking GALS. We bake and ship goodies to military men and women who are deployed in a war zone. I found out about it through an awesome friend of mine who finds time to work full time, finish her college degree, raise a toddler, and rescue pit bulls. I figure if she can also find time to bake for the troops on top of all that, I can too. Plus it's something my daughter and I can do together while doing something nice for someone else.

7. Where else can we find out more about you and/or your creations?
http://www.aimeedianedesigns.blogspot.com/
Facebook page- Aimee Diane Designs

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!