Meet Your Makers: Deanna Marley of Marley Naturals

 Please introduce yourself and tell us about your handmade business:  My name is Deanna Marley.  I was raised from an early age here in the countryside of Western Pennsylvania.  I have always been a somewhat simple, natural person who also enjoys the luxuries of life.  Our biz started as a hobby making DIY natural household cleaners and then moving on to natural bath products. After watching a sister-in-law journey through breast cancer, my research for natural skin products really stepped up.  After all, it's not only what you eat but what you put on your skin that affects your overall health.  After researching countless ingredient labels and properties, it became apparent that cosmetic companies are making us unhealthy by adding (and even hiding) chemicals and toxins in their products. Mother earth offers us an abundance of low cost, healthy, natural ingredients and it is my desire to formulate them into luxurious, skin-beneficial products affordable for everyone. Now you will know EXACTLY what goes into the products your skin ingests.

How did you come up with your business name?  Using our family surname and then the word Naturals signifying from what (nature) and how (naturally) our products are made.

Where do you live?  Level Green, PA which is a small town way east of Pittsburgh.



Who's in your family?  My thoughtful and supportive husband Jack; ubersmart son Michael & his equally as smart wife Joanna with joyful granddaughters Cassidy Jane and Charlotte Quinn; beautiful hippie daughter Kayla; and free spirit, adventurous son Joseph and our two (tails never stop wagging) dogs Bentley and Rocco.

What inspires you?  Nature, my family, the weather, self-imposed challenges.

What is your favorite item you make for Boutique 208 and why?  I have two--The essential oil soaps because they are 100% natural, simple but unique and smell great and the facial products because they truly do work by helping women look and feel better.

What is your favorite item at Boutique 208 that's not one of your own and why? The handbags and messenger bags because a girl can never have enough bags and shoes!

What advice can you offer to someone who would like to start selling their handmade creations? Just do it! You have nothing to lose and everything to share with the rest of us!

Meet Your Makers: Pamela Grabowski of A PG Creation

 

 

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your handmade business:  I started knitting to relieve stress relief when I was working in public accounting. 

How did you come up with your business name?  In the firm, we signed our work with our initials. So "A PG  Creation" was born. Trying to come up with something creative and clever would have just added to the stress!

Where do you live?  Brookline
 

Who’s in your family? My husband Michael and our cat D'Argo

If you could sit down and talk to any person, living or dead, who would it be and why?  My husband.  He is my best friend.

What inspires you? Nature.  

 

 

What is your favorite item you make for Boutique 208 and why? Scarfs. Warm winter scarves and the fancy decorative any season scarfs. It is the item that lends itself to many variations of yarn and colors and styles.

What is your favorite item at Boutique 208 that’s not one of your own and why?  I can’t pick one. In fact, I have a list of items I want to buy for myself. Then there's the list of items I think would make good birthday, shower, wedding or anniversary gifts. If you would stop in when I was working at the Boutique, you would find me standing at the counter looking around the shop making a mental list of what I could buy for each birthday and special occasion. That’s how I occupy my time when there are no customers.

 

What advice can you offer to someone who would like to start selling their handmade creations? Take a chance. Try. Participate in craft shows, ask the local coffee shop if they will sell your creations and of course Boutique 208.