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.

Interested in Selling Your Items at Boutique 208?

Boutique 208 is an artist's co-op and requires all of our artists working together to ensure success for us all.

Have you always wanted to open your own store but didn’t know how you’d pay all the overhead costs, work all the hours, or even where to start? 

We offer artists the opportunity to work with other artists to allow each of them to have the benefits of having their own store, while sharing the cost of overhead and helping to cover the hours and other tasks needed . All legal and business filings have already been put in place and all accounting is provided as well, including sales tax payments. We began as a Pop Up Project on December 1, 2011 and since then, sales have continued to increase each month. We have since signed a lease and are continuing to plan long term for a successful future.

 As a co-op artist, you get all the benefits of owning your own store, while retaining a higher percentage of your profits than you would if you were doing it alone, not to mention the time savings you will experience by working together with other artists to cover the store hours.

At the boutique, you will have the opportunity to reach a wide audience of customers from our location in downtown Pittsburgh, in the heart of the Cultural District, right across from Heinz Hall.

All of our items are handmade by local artists so we are helping support our local economy. Our customers appreciate the fact that our items are all local and all handmade.

All artists are required to volunteer a minimum of 5 hours each month, covering shifts in the boutique.  In exchange, artists retain 70% of their sales, with the rest of each sale going toward paying our lease and other overhead costs.

All new artists are juried in to ensure we continue to provide a varied mix of high quality products.

We all work together to help each other sell our items and promote the store.

Here's what couple of our artists had to say recently about the benefits of being part of our co-op: "We have the opportunity to use the space for workshops (teaching classes), hosting events that we come up with (like trunk shows), and benefit from extra foot traffic generated by the events that the city plans (like Gallery Crawls).”

When you’re at the boutique, volunteering to cover hours, you give yourself the opportunity to build an actual clientele. (People enjoy knowing that they can come back to meet the artist of the items they've just purchased and you have the opportunity to generate custom orders).  You can take pride in having a storefront in downtown Pittsburgh, directly across from Heinz Hall and a number of our artists find that interacting with, and feeding off of other artists, is very inspiring and motivating.

·         We are closed Mondays and Tuesdays

·         Wednesday we are open 11:00am - 2:00pm (closed 2-4) & 4:00pm - 9:00pm

·         Thursday we are open 11:00am - 2:00pm (closed 2-4) & 4:00pm - 8:00pm

·         Friday we are open 11:00am - 2:00pm (closed 2-4) & 4:00pm - 8:00pm

·         Saturday 11:00am – 8:00pm

·         Sunday 11:00 am – 5:00pm

If you’re interested in joining us, please email us at boutique208@gmail.com. Send at least 5 pictures representative of your work and tell us a bit about you and your art.  We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Take a look at our Facebook page to see photos of the boutique: https://www.facebook.com/Boutique208

 

Handmade Arcade

Handmade Arcade, now in its ninth year, brings young, innovative crafters and progressive do-it-yourself designers to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on December 8, 2012 to sell, their handmade, locally produced, and offbeat wares at a bustling marketplace. 

 

This event provides craft artists working outside mainstream and fine arts sectors with a grassroots, high-visibility venue to sell wares, build community, network, and share their artistic practice.

 

With last year's event, Handmade Arcade found a new eco-friendly home at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center which allows them to continue their commitment to the environment through the convention center's green practices (www.greenfirst.us).  This new home also provides space for more vendors than ever before (150+), the addition of new areas to feature demonstration artists, DJs, and musicians.  The central downtown location is accessible via car, bus, T, bike, and foot and there is extensive on- and off-site parking.

Situated on-site, near the vendors, their welcoming Hands-on Handmade area features a variety of drop-in, short, and day-long interactive programs — including craft demonstrations, mini-tutorials, make-and-take activities, craft competitions, and art installations — all designed to bridge the gap between consumers and creators. 

 

Don't miss your chance to support local artists and purchase unique handmade holiday gifts for those on your list at this year's event.  Remember, you're not only supporting local artists, but your local economy as well.  According to The 3/50 Project, a national small business advocacy group, for every $100.00 that is spent at a small, local business, $68.00 will return to the community. (Info from "5 Benefits to Shopping on Small Business Saturday" FORBESWOMAN, November 11, 2011)

 

Several of our artist members at the boutique will be vending at this event, including:

 

Barker’s Herbs & Heirlooms
bel monili by l.marlane
Designs by Samantha
Everyday Balloons

juNxtaposition

Recycled Reads

Several of our consignment vendors will be there as well. 

Stay tuned to our Facebook page for your chance to win a pair of Early Birdie Passes. These passes are $15.00 each and are available for purchase online or at Wild Card in Lawrenceville. Each pass provides shoppers with the exclusive opportunity to shop one hour before the event opens to the public. Early Birdie shoppers will have first pick to purchase all the unique and one-of-a-kind items that crafters will be selling and be given a bag full of goodies and coupons. (Children 12 and under are admitted free with an adult.)

We hope to see you there!