Featured Artisan -- Lisa of LMcreation

This week's featured artisan is Lisa of LMcreation. Lisa creates pretty little handmade pouches, wristlets, and bags that feature fabulous prints and fun color schemes.

Tell me a little bit about you and what you do.
My name is Lisa, my company is LMcreation and I make handmade handbags, purses, business card holders ... basically anything that I can sew. I'm a working mom with a full time day job, and I've been sewing since I was a little girl. I enjoyed crafts and learned to sew making dolls clothes! I've always enjoyed sewing as a hobby and even made some of my own clothes when I was a teenager.


What 3 words best describe your work?
Contemporay, Colorful, Functional, Fun (OK, that's four, I know I cheated!)

What drives you to create what you do?
I'm inspired by the many, many beautiful fabrics that are available these days. When I see the right fabric I just know that it's got to be made into a special bag or wristlet or whatever.


What makes your work unique?
I aim to make the best quality piece that I can in my own style and with fabrics that really appeal to me. When everything comes together in the right way it almost feels like I've made a fabric sculpture, not just a bag or purse.

What role does your work play in your life? What role would you like it to play?
Sewing and creating new things is a way for me to relax and express my artistic side. That's the most important role for my work and I don't want it to change. Even though I've been sewing ever since I was small, I didn't try to sell anything because I didn't really know what to do or have a way to find customers, or even think that people would buy my things. LMcreation came along much later. I think that discovering Etsy motivated me to start LMcreation. Finding a site just for handmade goods and that was friendlier than ebay meant I could set up an online business in a few hours, which was just fantastic. I thought about it for two or three months then started my store in January 2008. I really didn’t know anything about running a business, but luckily that didn’t stop me. I’m still learning a lot and hopefully getting better each month. My husband has been a great help here, and helps out with a lot of the “boring but important” bits like keeping track of the finances when I'm short on time.


How do you see your work and/or your business evolving in the next five years?
Now that I've established that I can generate steady business for LMcreation online, I've started to do craft shows as well. I've still got a lot to learn but if I can do eight or ten shows a year plus keep my online business going (plus be a mom and keep my regular job!!) then I'll be happy for now. I would love to make LMcreation my full time job one day, but that would need some careful planning.

Where can we find you on the web?
You can find me on Etsy www.LMcreation.etsy.com, on Twitter http://twitter.com/LMcreation and on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrew_lisa/


Are you an artist or craftsperson? Would you like to be featured here? I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment here with a link to your shop, and I'll be in touch about future opportunities.