Handmade Shop of the Week: Jenco13

Jennifer Kuebrich, of Jenco13, loves to crochet. Her shop featuring adorable coffee cozies and scarves opened January 19, 2008  but didn’t start selling till 2009. Who knew you could save the earth one cup cozie at a time?

Why did you decide to open your handmade shop? 
I opened up my shop because while my husband served in Iraq I made too many scarves. I didn’t know what to do with them until one of my mom’s friends told me about etsy. I spent a year research etsy and figuring out how to put my shop together. Now I have a new reason to keep doing the art I love so much!

Has your inventory changed much since you first opened?
Yes it has—orginally I only had scarves. Since then I have done baby sweaters, baby blankets, shawls and cup cozies. The cup cozies seem to be really popular from my shop.

Who are the majority of your customers? How did they find you?
Most of my customers come from the United States. I have made a couple of international sales this year as well.

First off I have to thank the Etsy Twitter Team (ETT)and MaryMary from Etsy. The ETT is a team on Etsy and they have been a huge support and helped me with advertisements and setting goals for my shop. My first sale came from and ETT member! MaryMary helps customers on etsy find weekend deals through her picks. She had picked up my sale twice this last year. This helped bring in most of my sales.

What inspires you to create? 
Many things inspire me to create. My mom is a graphic artist and painter. She has taught me a lot about putting colors together and always tells me never to give up. My husband, Joe always tells me if things look right from a different point of view and is very supportive of what I do. The two of us have traveled the country so the colors on our road trips are also big inspirations. I love to sight see while he drives!!

I also find inspiration from my Dad who owns his own construction company. Dad’s final product always inspires me to try different things that I think I can’t do. Its amazing how all three of these people help me to create my items!

What is your favorite item in your shop currently? Your most popular item? 
Hmmm. This is a tough one cause I love them all!! I really do like my shawl though—the colors are really amazing and it was created on one of my road trips across the east coast.

My most popular item is the cup cozy—did you know by using one of the cup cozies you can help the plant out? If you drink one cup of coffee a day in a take through and use one of the cardboard sleaves take a moment to think about this—one person+one cup of coffee a day = 6 pounds of cardboard sleaves in the landfills each year!

What has been your greatest resource to make your shop successful? 
Twitter—hands down! The people who are on the Etsy Twitter Team help me promote my sales/items after I post a tweet. This reaches not only my following but also their following. I have met so many amazing people on twitter.

Any changes coming to your shop in the future? 
Yes there are—but you’ll have to come back to find out what I have up my sleave for 2010! Hint—theres a new go green line coming out and one other line ;)

Also I love to get custom orders so if you don’t see what you want please convo me and I would be happy to help out!

How else can we find you online? Any team affiliations?
Several ways:
Shop: www.jenco13.etsy.com A gift for everyone!
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jenco13
Blog: http://jenco13.blogspot.com
FB: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jenco13/116522301149?ref=mf

I am also the Team leader of the Etsy Twitter Team so please come check out our blog where we show case over 200 member’s work.
http://etsytwitter.blogspot.com/

LETS DO A GIVEAWAY!

Jenco13 is giving away one of her adorable cup cozies. Contest ends May 9th, 2010

Each action gets you the number of points indicated:
Follow this blog-1 point
Follow Jen’s blog-1 point
Follow Jen on FB-2 points
Tweet about Jen’s giveaway by using @jenco13 and receive 3 points
(must use @jenco13 in order to receive all points)
Follow Jen on twitter – 1 point (please DM her to get point-mention this article)
Buy something from Jen’s store- 5 points

Interested in being featured? Email me for more information.