The Prettiest Handmade Flowers

Every once in a while I get lucky and find a unique shop on Etsy. This shop always makes me think of warm summer days, birds chirping, bees buzzing, sitting on the deck with a cool drink, and basking in the sunshine. Why? Because this shop is filled with beautiful flowers!  I've actually ordered some, going to put magnets on the back so they can be on my fridge :)

Where are you from? Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Chantal, I'm French Canadian. My wonderful husband and I are living in the lovely little village of Rockwood (1 hour West of Toronto).

I'm a happy homemaker who absolutely love to cook and of course play with paper! I love red wine and chocolate, french baguette and cheese! I'm a coffee addict and every weekends I make a resolution to start exercising!!!

How did you decide on your shop name? Why did you start your business?

I always love dragonflies...So, I just came up with the name!!!

As a young girl, I grew-up in a very hospitable household and because of that through the years I had many "pen-pals" from around the globe! I guess my love for stationery came from there! (the internet didn't exist a the time!!!) I move from Quebec to Ontario in 1997 and I often communicated with my close friends and family by sending lovely cards...At the time my craft hobby was to do with dry flowers! Going to Micheal's for supplies I gradually went more and more to the scrapbooking section of the store! When my father passed away in 2005 from cancer I decided to make a scrapbook album in his honor. I started making my greeting cards with the extra supplies I had...My friends often comments on the cards and encourage me to do a little business out of it...After a couple of years of building-up self-confidence and a shared shop on i Craft.ca with my dearest friend (we call ourselves "The Crafty housewives"!) ....I decided to open my Dragonfly Expression Etsy shop this last spring! I enjoy this fabulous community sooooooooo much.... I wanted to add some supplies and embellishments in my shop... So, I started to make mini-paper flowers!...Within a couple of Months, I shipped my mini-cuties to Canada, Italy, Spain, Australia, England, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Scotland, Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, Poland and all over the States!!! My husband offer to quit is job to help me making flowers...I'm not quite there yet!!! LOL!!! I sell 5 mini-flowers for $1.50 - $2.00...Sorry Honey...you can't retire just yet!!!

What are 5 things you want people to think when they see your product?

* So cute!

* Lovely

* I need it for my craft project

* Unique

* Well made

What’s your supply addiction; is there a specific color or type of supply you just can’t pass up?

Well....I have to say Paper! No such thing as too much paper!!! I love ribbons and I'm a big fan of digital collage sheets!

What do you do when you’re not being an artist? What activities do you enjoy?

I love reading a good book! Right now I'm in the middle of the serie "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon! I do enjoy a good movie and I LOVE cooking while sipping a nice glass of Shiraz with Chopin or Ella Fitzgerald (depends my mood!) in the background! I have to admit too...being from Quebec...I'm a HUGE fan of Celine Dion!!!!

Which item in your shop did you enjoy making the most and why?

Oh! my!!! This is a very difficult question! At the moment I enjoy very much to make my latest collection of paper flower the "Lady Flora"!

If you could give a piece of advice to a new shop - what would it be?

Get yourself out there! Join a team, make treasuries and go crazy on tweeter and FB! Listing new items almost everyday helps to be within the first pages of search!

Are there other places on the net we can find you?

Blog: dragonflyexpression.blogspot.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/Dragonsflowers







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