The Cloverfield

Good Afternoon! It's a beautiful day to walk in a field of clover. But as I don't have any beautiful patches of clover in my little yard, I'm going to hop on over to The Cloverfield. Thank you to my four lovely commenters for participating in my first give-away!!!

Our lucky winner is.....Joyce, from A Perfect Beginning!!! I used my random name selector (selected out of a hat by my oldest son-he's 3). Congratulations! You can email your contact info to me at ecardiff@msn.com, and the lovely Prosper Bracelet will be lovingly mailed to you.

Prosper Bracelet

I was able to do an email interview with Lesli, one of the partners of The Cloverfield. Leslie and Erin's shop can be found on Etsy at the following address link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/thecloverfield. When on Etsy, under sellers, type "thecloverfield" to get to their shop.

Emily - What led you to developing The Cloverfield?

Lesli - As stay-at-home moms, my sister and I were always searching for some sort of creative outlet; something to still feel like a person and not just "mom." We tried knitting, metalworking, scrapbooking, etc. Then I started making the hairpins, and suggested she make some as well, but she wanted to make jewelry instead, so that is how our shop came about. Etsy is a great website for handmade items so we opened The Cloverfield a couple months ago.

Poppies Hairpins

Emily - How did you choose the name The Cloverfield?
Lesli - We grew up on a farm surrounded by lots of nature. Our dad and grandfathers were farmers and we had corn, soybeans, pumpkins, and a field of alfalfa right next to the house. We both live in town now, but our days surrounded by the country inspire a lot of our work. Before we opened the shop, I had a set of hairpins that was mostly shades of green, and my mom suggested the name "cloverfield" for the set. A few weeks later, Erin and I decided that would actually be a great name for the shop instead!

Cabernet Hairpins

Emily - You are a stellar photographer! I've enjoyed the picture shoots you've done for me after the birth of each of my children. How do you go about photographing your products?

Lesli - To be honest, I'd rather photograph a child than a still object with no personality, but good photography is key in showcasing your objects. Some of the same rules still apply - get up close to your subject and have an interesting background! We've used scrapbook paper, nature, fabric, lids of boxes, anything we can find to make for a nice canvas. We try to take a variety of clear shots so that people really know what they are getting. Using the macro setting on the camera really helps as well because you can get very clear close-up shots.

Blue Iris Locket Necklace

Emily - I'd love to start an Etsy shop when I have more time to devote to it. You took the plunge! Are you satisfied with how it's going so far? How do you manage your time as far as creating your products?
Lesli - This was kind of an imipluse decision. We didn't put a ton of thought into it, but if we had, maybe we never would have done it! Neither of us expected to make a fortune of our little business, but it's more about sharing our work with the world and friends and having the reward of people liking it. Sales are steady, but a little slow, and that is to be expected when so manyu people are struggling right now. It's difficult to get any shop off the ground on Etsy, as there is so much competition. But overall I think we are doing great! We both have 16-month-olds, so having time to create new work is always a challenge. I tend to work for two days creating a bunch of stuff and then not do anything for a month. Erin does a lot of stuff made to order.

Lesli, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me about your store. And thanks to both Lesli and Erin for a job well done in creating your beautiful Etsy shop, The Cloverfield!

Good Luck to The Cloverfield, and if I may be so bold and cliche,

"Live long, and prosper."

Prosper Earrings