Are you a list person? If you are or if you would like to be (New Year’s resolution, maybe?) you need to check out Mary Kate’s Etsy shop! She has everything you need to give yourself that little extra nudge to Get Some Things Done!
Q. Hello Mary Kate! Could you tell us a little about yourself?
Hi Jessica! I’m an artist, illustrator and hand lettering enthusiast living and working in Portland, OR. I graduated from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA where I studied graphic design and illustration. I worked as a graphic designer for a while after I graduated college but found my passion was in creating things and illustration. About 3 years later, I decided to pursue my career as a freelancer and move to Portland. When I’m not making Mini Goals Chalkboards, looking at funny pics of cats on the internet, illustrating, painting, drawing or playing with my cat Peppy Mew Mew, I love vintage shops for looking great finds, biking around the city, picnics, parks and browsing some of the amazing shops here.
I especially love her After Coffee chalkboard!
Q. Your illustrations are lovely! How did you decide to combine them with chalkboards? They’re brilliant!
Thank you! I was inspired for this idea when I shared a loft with my roommates. We would use a big, old chalkboard to keep track of our daily to-do’s, sort out our bills and keep a list for the grocery store. It was helpful for us and I would draw fancy lettering for our lists and I found that blending creativity and practicality worked out well keeping us motivated to get stuff done. Soon, I began to hand paint and design small-scale slate chalkboards, combining the idea of making achievable goals through out the day with my love of hand lettering and voila, Mini Goals Chalkboards.I started by giving them to my friends as gifts. After all my family and friends had one of their own, I kept getting new ideas for designs so I decided to share them with everyone and started my Etsy shop.
Q. What’s your favorite item to make?
A brand new idea! It feels really great to have an idea you are psyched about and time to work on it! I feel like I work double-time on something new and it’s such a great feeling. But I also love to make my Mini Goals Chalkboards. I literally have a blank slate to work on, almost every time I make a Mini Goals Chalkboard for the shop, it is a brand new design. So, it keeps each Mini Goals Chalkboard fresh and new!
Q. What’s a normal day like for you?
I’m up around 9:00 (I’m so not a morning person!) and coffee is my first task of the day. While the coffee is brewing I’m checking email and updating items in my Etsy shop. I browse the internet for inspiring design, funny pictures of cats, and check my favorite blogs. Then I pack orders for the mailman who arrives in the afternoon. I almost never have to go to the post office anymore and it’s been one of my favorite changes to my business schedule! And if I don’t have orders to pack, I work on custom orders, sketching, working on new illustrations.
Right now, since the shop isn’t as busy, I’m planning my 2011. I’m setting goals, redesigning my website a bit and thinking about new product ideas and promotions. I’m currently working on a new app called Mini Goals App, for your mac desktop with a couple of great app developers in Portland. It will be released in a couple months! During this gray Portland weather I find myself cooped up a bit more than usual but I like to break up my day with bike rides, picnics and parks.
Q. What inspires you most of all?
I guess I would have to say where I live. I moved to Portland, OR from Philadelphia, PA just about a year ago and I’ve been so motivated and inspired everyday since living here. Not only are there many talented artists but it is a beautiful city, to boot! But I think inspiration can pop out of anywhere, I just go about my day doing things I love and when an idea comes to mind I just hope I have a sketchbook handy (and I normally do)!
You can keep up with Mary Kate on: her blog, flicker and twitter.
Tags: etsy, handmade, interview, mary kate
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