How I Named My Shop

Naming your Etsy shop is no easy task.

It's gotta be catchy. It's gotta be on point with your product. It's gotta feel good when it rolls off of your tongue and falls out of your mouth. Okay so maybe that last part was just my OCD talking. 

I thought the name of my first Etsy shop was as cute as a button: Stacee's Paper Cuts. Cute, right? But that's because I was only doing papercrafts; decoupage and paper mosaic. But that was years ago, and that shop closed shortly after opening. My account remained lifeless for years. But I'm back!

Mama's Got A Brand New Bag

Now I do plastic canvas work, but not just plastic canvas work. I also decorate wine bottles and mason jars. I'm still doing paper mosaics and decoupage. I make wall hangings, tissue box covers, kitchen magnets, decorations for various holidays, and there's still more to come. I'm currently learning to make lovely lotus flowers out of plastic water bottles. And I have these cool nature photographs that I'd like to turn into gift tags.

I'm the kind of crafter who says,

"Hey! Did you see that YouTube video of that crafty lady making that cool and awesome thing out of those everyday items?! I'm going to try that! ... and I'm gonna make one of those! ... and I gotta learn to do that!" 

And if it all comes out right in the end, it goes into my shop.

I sat down to compose the perfect moniker. Something diverse. Something cohesive, but something that doesn't pin me down. Something completely random.

I had an instant attraction to the word 'random'. I pondered on Stacee's Handmade Randomness and Stacee's Random Crafting for a while, but another phrase had popped into my head, and seemed intent on applying for the position.

Random Whatnot

Now, that word and I have history, so I wasn't jumping on that band wagon quite so quickly. It's no big deal, really. Just a word that my OCD didn't appreciate. No rhyme, no reason. It just didn't feel right coming out my mouth or landing on my ears.

Unfortunately, it was my best friend's signature word. She said it all the time, and I could do nothing but cringe. Now here I was, with all of this whatnot rolling around in my head.  I struggled against it, until the night of "the incident".

I had been cleaning up the dinner dishes, and I referred to something that was clearly a "whatever", as a "whatnot".

It was obvious, at that point, that the word wasn't going to go away, and so I gave the name proper consideration. I rolled it around in my mouth and tasted it for a while. When applied to the varied assortment of items I intended to sell, it seemed highly appropriate. Stacee's Random Whatnot.

The rest, they say, is history.
Hmm. I wonder how you came up with your shop name?

Tell me the story of your Etsy shop name in the comments below.

Let Me Introduce Myself

It's Nice To Meet You

Howdy y'all, I'm Staceemaree. Actually, that's a creative spelling of my real name, but it suits me, and I like it, so I use it everywhere. I have a personal profile on all the major social networks. Although I often forget about my Instagram, and my Twitter is nothing more than a boring commentary on the television series' that I binge watch... over and over again. You may also find my feeds dotted with posts about anxiety and depression because, well... such is life.

For various reasons, it's always been very difficult for me to find work outside of the home, and living on one income in a tumultuous economy has always meant that if I wanted something frivolous or decorative, I had to learn to make it myself! This includes jewelry, artwork and wall decor, holiday decorations and gift items, place mats, pillows, curtains... yada yada yada. This led me to become quite crafty and imaginative.

When new medical conditions drastically changed the circumstances of our lifestyle, I struggled to find a way to bring in a little extra income. That's when I realized that if you can't find a job that's right for you, then you make the job that's right for you.

My nest is nearly empty now, and this, of course, leaves me with a lot more time to devote to my hobbies and creative endeavors. I maintain various blogs and Facebook pages about family life ... nature & photography ... genealogy & history ... and now... crafting.

I opened Stacee's Random Whatnot on Etsy a few years ago, during a difficult financial crisis. It surely wasn't a quick fix, but every day that I spend creating, networking, and marketing is a step closer to a successful home business.

If you have an Etsy shop too, I'd love for you to leave a comment here on this blog post with your shop link, and a little something about yourself!