Featured Blogger Interview with Marichelle of HeartHandmadeblog.com
September 02, 2009 | By
Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another installment of our Featured Blogger Interview series here at HandmadeNews! This week, we have the blogger behind Heart Handmade, Marichelle. Heart Handmade is a ever growing site many of you should be familiar with, some of our readers might have even been lucky enough to be featured there. Since Marichelle was kind enough to take some time out of her day to talk to us, let’s have a look at what she has to say about herself and her blog.
For readers new to your blog, please tell us a little bit about yourself and HeartHandmade.
Hi everyone! My name is Marichelle and I'm the owner/editor of Heart Handmade and creator of 
Wunderlust. I started Heart Handmade less than three years ago - 2 yrs and 7 months to be exact. I had just recently quit the corporate world to "find" myself. I was convinced that one day I would open up my own gift shop - while researching vendors/products for my future shop I discovered the wonderful world of independent design. I've always been good with my hands so I think it was only natural for me to find inspiration in the works that I discovered and I began sewing and opened up my own Etsy shop shortly after. For some reason or another I decided to put off the shop and began crafting more and more. I then found myself with a whole new challenge - convincing others to like and buy the things I was creating. After several frustrating months of contacting a long list of bloggers and other media outlets, hardly any sales other than to my very supportive friends & family - I decided to create an outlet for people just like me. I figured there was still room for one more blog in the independent/handmade market. So that's how it all began.
How long has it taken you to establish yourself in the blogosphere?
I'm still working on that!! Although I think I was very lucky because my blog was well received from the start - thanks to a few blogging stars like Erin of Design for Mankind and Ez of Creature Comforts who kindly mentioned Heart Handmade on their blogs. The mentions definitely got me off to a good start!
How much time do you devote to your blog (promoting, writing, interviewing, etc) every week?
Oh wow... it's definitely a full-time job. It's the first and last thing I tend to EVERYDAY. More than 40 hours a week, EASILY. I spend most of my time sourcing new products/artists to feature and responding to emails! Put it this way, one post can take anywhere up to three hours to put together.
Heart Handmade has grown a lot in the last two years and seven months, do you have any new plans or developments in mind you plan to add in the future?
So many dreams/plans so little time and manpower! I was working on a redesign earlier this year and planned to release the new version this summer - I was nearly done and ready to show it off, but decided last minute that my heart wasn't set on it. It was "bigger" but not necessarily better so I pulled the plug and decided to keep it simple. Instead I gave the site a minor facelift - a little Botox I guess you could say! I've received some really great feedback from readers - so I think I definitely made the right decision. As far as future developments, I really want to figure out how I can start "making" more. I miss crafting.
One of my favorite columns on your blog is your “Other Half” feature, in which you interview an artisan’s spouse. How did you come up with the idea for this segment and your other weekly columns?
The Other Half was inspired by two guys... first one being my boyfriend. I wouldn't be able to do what I love without his support. Poor thing has to listen to all my cooing and ooing. It's actually really cute because he's sort of "in the know" now and often surprises me when he knows what I'm talking about – offering, "oh yeah I saw it on Holly's blog yesterday," sort of comments. It's pretty funny. He's my biggest cheerleader. The second guy who inspired the series was Evan of Yellow Owl Workshop (husband of Christine). He sends out the best update emails (on Christine's behalf), it's so obvious that he's Christine's #1 fan and I knew he would make the perfect other half to help launch my new series.
Is there any advice you can offer artisans struggling in the current economy?
I think the best thing to do is to take a step back and examine your product offering. I have plenty of 
items on my wish list... do I necessarily buy them all? No. Not because I don't love them to pieces, I just can't afford some of them. So I think it's important as an artist to be mindful of your fans, not just during economical hardships but in general - is there a way for you to share your aesthetics/style with a fan who may not necessarily have $20 to drop on an item? I think it's worth examining your price points and figuring out how you can offer something that still stays true to you as an artist, still profitable and offers your customers something of value that doesn't make them feel guilty after clicking on the checkout button.
What’s a fun fact most readers don’t know about you?
My mother hates the fact that she paid good money for me to take private voice lessons back in high school but I refuse to sing in public!
What are your goals for Heart Handmade, and how close would you say you are to reaching those goals?
Blogging is an ongoing challenge for me - to be completely honest, sometimes it's frustrating as heck and sometimes I love it and can't imagine doing anything else. Other than the obvious goals of increasing readership and ads so I can continue to justify the amount of work that actually goes into it every day, I don't really run it like a business anymore. I don't actively promote my site (other than twittering about new posts) nor do I actively promote ad space other than a small sign on my site. The site grew quite organically, and for that I'm definitely lucky.
Last but not least, why do you believe that supporting handmade and indie is important?
I've been lucky enough to meet a handful of artists and bloggers along the way, some that I'm actually friends with now. Supporting handmade and indie is no longer an idealistic cause. It's more personal now, it's more like supporting my friends & family.
Thank you Marichelle for talking with us today! If you enjoyed reading her interview and learning about be blog, you’ll love Heart Handmade! Go check it out when you can, and stay tuned for next week’s installment of the Featured Blogger Interview!
Sara Moore is the Head of the Content Department on ArtFire.com.
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