Elizabeth's story:

I think I've always wanted to own my own business. My dad is an entrepreneur so I guess it runs in my blood. My brain is also a relentless idea generator and I’m a researcher and lifelong learner. I’m always trying out some new crafty skill, just for the love of it, or the heck of it, or to see if I can. In the fall of 2009 when I opened my first shop, I was also a dedicated stay-at-home-mom to two little girls, and looking for a way to generate some income without taking an outside job. So for all of these reasons, I just sort-of fell into selling on Etsy.

For a long time it was just a starry-eyed dream to become a successful seller but I didn't back up that desire with much business savvy or committed dedication. I sold all kinds of different things, finding it difficult to put down roots in any one niche and learning by trial and error how to sell on Etsy. I stocked my store with everything from cloth diaper cakes and upcycled sweater felt to plant dyed yarn and needle felted Easter bunnies. I learned a lot, especially from watching other successful shops.

Four years later, my husband lost his job and it became much more important for me to start bringing in some real income. Faced with the prospect of getting a job working for someone else out in the “real” world or getting serious about becoming that successful Etsy seller, I decided to get serious. Thus Felted Sky Studio was born in September of 2013.

Having realized that I needed a much larger volume of sales to reach my goals for income, I picked a niche and branched out into selling supplies (mostly wool) with the goal of also launching a line of needle felting kits. The kits would allow me to teach other people a new craft (something I love) and share my designs with a wider audience. I hired an awesome photographer friend to take my pictures, and got to work.

Felted Sky Studio grew, and catapulted me into a different niche that took up a lot of time for a few years: selling wool "fluff" and felted props to newborn photographers. That was done out of our sister shop OhSoFleeting.

Felted Sky is now back to getting all of my attention and is also employing my husband Joshua who is helping immensely with building the business. Since 2019 we've updated and expanded our product line, added many wholesale customers, and are continually working on back-end processes that help us to handle our ever growing inventory. We're excited that needle felting continues to grow as more people find this wonderful fiber art and we're proud to be part of that growth. Even though we're living through uncertain and challenging times, this business continues to be a bright spot in our lives.