Hall of Fame {LouLouBell}

Hello everybody and Happy Labor Day! I hope you get to kick back and relax. Summer is fading, the weather is (a tiny bit) cooler, and fall is right around the corner. Don't you just love this time of year?

Meet Lyndsay, the busy mom behind the beautiful (and not to mention affordable) shop, LouLouBell.

Lyndsay sews up some of the cutest zipper pouches in unique, colorful fabrics. She works at an Ad Agency by day, but at night you can find her in her home studio creating new pieces.

Lyndsay reveals a bit about herself below. Discover where the name LouLouBell came from, check out her new line, and enter to win something fabulous.

What inspires you?
What doesn’t inspire me? I would pretty much call myself a craft addict and I seriously can lay in bed awake at night thinking about fabric and lace and my sewing machine – I know, I’m a complete geek! I make a weekly trip to my local craft store and I could walk around there for hours just feeling all the different textures and taking in the colors! I also love anything outdoors, so you’ll see a lot of the fabrics I use with flowers or leaves or trees…..

Where do you call home? Are you from there originally?
I am currently residing in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in a little Cape Cod surrounded by forest, but only 5 minutes from Crystal Crescent beach. My husband and I moved here together (our first home). I am originally from Cape Breton Island (also a large rock of forest, surrounded by ocean).
Name something unique to where you live.
Halifax is famous for the Alexander Keith’s Brewery, which was founded in 1820, it is one of the oldest breweries in all of North America, and the agency I work for is actually located in the Keith’s Brewery building, almost 200 years old, on the waterfront of downtown Halifax. And on Saturday’s the historical building is used for our local Farmer’s Market, where you can find everything from fresh flowers, to organic food, artwork and everything handmade! I love that I get to work in a place with such history and art.

Share an interesting fact about yourself.
I can say the alphabet backwards!

If you had to describe yourself in a word, what would that word be?
Busy
What made you decide to open up shop?
A lady I was working with mentioned that she had a friend selling things on Etsy, and at the time I was looking to really dive into my hobby (which was painting), I had been painting and my little apartment was quickly filling up with artwork, so I decided to try and sell them on Etsy, and I was shocked when people actually started buying my creations! (colorplay.etsy.com) The trouble is that I never seem to stick with anything terribly long, and my new found love became sewing, so that was when LouLouBell was born. (And of course now, although I love LouLouBell, I started working on another line that has a completely different feel, so I opened up yet another space for this at fussed.etsy.com – I’m having a lot of fun with this one right now, each little bag is like a mini-palette, I’m hoping it will have as much success as I’ve been blessed with at LouLouBell)

How did you come up with the name LouLouBell? Any special significance?
It was easy finding a name for my shop. I grew up watching my mom embroider and sew. I remember her lugging her heavy machine onto the kitchen table in the evenings. LouLouBell was her nickname for me when I was a girl, so it seemed fitting to use this name for my sewing shop!
Name your favorite thing about selling handmade.
I love that by selling handmade, I am selling my creation, something that I fabricated, from start to finish, I still get a quiet thrill every time I see a new sale in my shop, it’s a nice feeling when someone out there can appreciate that human hands made something useful, something they think is pretty enough to call their own. I love knowing that handmade items are truly one of a kind. In turn I also love buying handmade for all these same reasons. And I love knowing that I can support other mom-preneurs!

Do you have a day job or sell on Etsy full-time?
It’s my dream to sell on Etsy full-time someday, I’m working at that! But until then, I am the Executive Assistant to the Partners of a very busy advertising agency. I manage their administrative business and the office management. It’s really kind of a hectic day, and I’m surrounded all day by creative types. Although I love my job, it’s a lot of paper pushing, so it’s nice at the end of the day when I come home to have some time in my own creative outlet. Right now I’m on month 3 of my maternity leave with my first baby boy, but will be going back to work come next summer. Until then, it’s me and my sewing machine between Taylor’s naptimes.
Give us a little glimpse into what a typical day in your life looks like.
Well, it starts around 6 or 7 am, whenever my little one wakes up to eat. Then he goes back to sleep for a bit. I make some tea and toast and catch up on emails and read my favorite blogs (Sunshine Studio being one of them!). By the time I’m finished, the baby is up again! He eats and we go up to get cleaned up and dressed, then to the studio for a couple hours to package any orders and think up new creations, cut fabric patterns out for my next sewing session. Then it’s downstairs for baby’s bottle again (I know, it’s like everything I do is between nap time and bottle time!) Then I do some tidying up and prepare some supper, in the evening I browse around the internet for my next great fabric find or pretty sewing notions, then onto my blog (louloubellblog.blogspot.com) to write about it! Spend some time with my hubby in the evening and probably talk to him more about crafting than he cares to hear! But he’s a sweetheart and humors me! Then I get to be a little more productive during the wee hours of the night when Taylor is sleeping. He keeps me on my toes, so getting in sewing time can be a challenge!

Share with us a favorite Etsy purchase or shop.
I recently bought this darling vintage, miniature sewing machine from 2BlackCatsVintage and it’s spurred a new collection for me of miniature sewing machines, I have three now and I just love them sitting on the window sill in my kitchen!

List a few of your most favorite pastimes.
Rocking my 3 month old in my rocking chair.
Drinking tea with my husband in the evening.
Browsing my local fabric store.
Window shopping with my sister.
Sitting on a hot patio with a cold drink.

Read any good books lately?
Have any of you heard of a little book series called Twilight? Ha! I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of New Moon the movie!

What is your most prized possession?
My MacBook – my portable connection to the rest of this wonderful, crafty world!

What are three of your favorite foods?
Pizza with feta cheese.
Pineapple Chicken Stir Fry
Ice Cream – any flavor will do really!
What would you like to learn to do?
I would like buy and learn to use a Print Gocco. I’ve been eyeing one for about a year now but haven’t purchased one. I would love to get my hands on one and give it a try, think of all the neat little things you could make!

What are you listening to right now?
Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King, I am seriously loving every song on this album!

Name one place you must visit in your lifetime and why.
This is going to sound terribly corny, it’s no place exotic. It is the island of Newfoundland, literally, I could take a ferry and be there in less than 6 hours. I was born there and my parents moved over to Cape Breton when I was 6 weeks old. I’ve never returned and every year I say ‘this is the year – I’m going to Newfoundland’, and it’s 28 years later, I still haven’t made it there! Someday.

Lyndsay, thank you so very much for sharing with us! It was a pleasure getting to know you better. ♥

I hope that you have enjoyed learning about Lyndsay. You can also keep up with her by following her on twitter and her blog.

Psst! Lyndsay is also hosting a great giveaway over at her blog, so don't miss it!

Time for a Giveaway!

A lucky reader will get to choose any one item from Lyndsay's shop! Sweet!!

To enter, please visit LouLouBell and/or Fussed, then come back and leave a comment with your favorite item from either shop. Please be sure to include your name and email address or Etsy username.

*Important Note: This contest is open to residents of the US or Canada only!

For extra entries you can:
Tweet this giveaway: 2 additional entries
Follow my blog and/or Lyndsay's blog: 5 additional entries
Blog about this interview/contest: 7 additional entries
Purchase from LouLouBell or Fussed: 10 additional entries

(Please include this info, if applicable, with your comment for additional entries. You do not need to leave separate comments for additional entries. Important: Don't forget to include your name and contact info!)

Contest ends Sunday, September 13th at 11:59 pm EST. Winner will be chosen by traditional drawing and will be announced Monday, September 14th.

As an extra bonus, Lyndsay is offering my readers free shipping on orders of three or more items throughout the month of September! Just tell her you stopped by :)