Member Monday: Meet Mrs HippySticks!

 

Name:  Jennifer Traynor

 

Alias: Mrs. HippySticks

 

Find her here: Etsy Shop, Facebook

 

Things that make her smile: Cornfields, rain, summer breezes, campfires, sprouting seedlings

 

 

 

A little about Jennifer at home

My name is Jennifer. I live in a tiny little town in the frozen tundra of Maine with Mr. HippySticks, our three children, a dog, a cat and some tropical fish. I am an engineer in mind, body and spirit. One may not see art in metal or machines but I would differ. Regardless of artistic medium, creativity is a beautiful process to work through. A two member engineering house became unsustainable as our family grew and I got the lucky straw on that one.

From my intense desire to create and make something of nothing and my absolute love of a blank canvas, I have unabashedly embraced knitting, gardening and homeschooling. In a family of 5, it gets complicated but it's a good thing I have a knack for work flow management. There is more than one excel spreadsheet involved in running our household.

How HippySticks was born on Etsy

My shop may seem eclectic but I don't focus on any one product at a time as I expand my knitting horizons. I think after the 25th hat I knit for my family, it seemed that it might be a good idea to indulge my knitting and also get to share it with a larger ETSY "family". I had an overwhelming outpouring of support from friends and family to get involved with ETSY. When it was time to settle on a shop name, I spent a lot of time thinking of who I am, what I do, what inspires me and where my passions lie. A friend of mine would joke frequently about me knitting in seemingly inappropriate places like at the movie theater or the beach and he would call me the hippy chick with her bag of knits so I think HippySticks is an accurate description for me and my shop.


I am passionate about natural and organic fibers and cannot seem to pass up a chance to add to my ever growing stash. I love interacting with the local farmers from whom I purchase my wool. Just as I believe in “Know your farmer, Know your food” I can go visit the sheep, and learn how the wool is processed and dyed.

Advice for budding shop owners

All through college my grandfather, also a design engineer, repeatedly told me that engineers need tool boxes too. With every success and every failure he would say, and that is one more tool in your tool box. Same thing with networking and collecting business contacts, in the tool box he would say.  So for new shop owners I wouldn’t stress enough how important it is to stock your tool box.  I think one of the best things to do is join a great team. They personalize what might seem like a mammoth anonymous virtual undertaking. The right team can uplift your spirits, spark your creativity, applaud your success and help keep you motivated.

Future of Hippysticks

My shop is still in it’s infancy. HippySticks opened the last week of November and I remember being floored getting orders shortly there-after. That was a HUGE thing for me and me very fragile ego. As I look forward to the future, I am hoping to continue pushing my comfort zone. I have always found it difficult to “sell myself”. I have some fun things in the works going forward for partnership promotions this summer that I am really looking forward to.

In the mind of Mrs HippySticks

When I'm not creating, I think about creating! It’s a multi-partitioned jumble in my head. I can be knitting 4 projects at once and my head is already spooling eight more that are screaming at me to get made.  I am an all in kind of gal. Everything gets made with all of me all the time. It doesn’t matter if it’s dinner or knits or garden or what. My family raised me with a tremendous work ethic and a drive and focus to never attempt anything that you would not see through 100%. The motto I focus on with my children is to always give people more than they expect and leave things better than you found them.

"Knit"spiration

My “knit”spiration as I call it comes from my life and all the chaos that comes with from having a very full house. As I’ve watched our youngest son transition from baby to toddler I have had the pleasure of seeing how he likes to manipulate objects and what attracts him to certain things over others. I am chomping at the bit to start introducing felted manipulative toys and felted open ended playmates over the course of this year. It also comes from my desire to be sustainable. When I make something, I want it to be the type of thing that gets handed down through generations.

Favorite creations

  

My “favorite” listing is the one I am most proud of.  It is the item that really sparked me into delving into felted manipulatives and fidgit toys. I am passionate about creating non plastic alternatives,eco-friendly treasures, for the littles in our lives. The stacking teething ring was a fun thing to create for my son and to then be able to perfect to make it available on ETSY. I learned so much about the felting process through that project. I am very grateful when I get a thank you from a customer for providing plastic-free alternatives for toddlers.

I hope you enjoyed learning about Mrs HippySticks as much as I did! I just adore her amazing shop and spirit, don't forget to stop by next Monday for a peek at another awesome Hippie Peacenik Member!

Happy Monday, and remember to smile! 

Xo,

Lulu Divine of Divine Lulu Creations