So What's Up With All the Pink?

Any one who knows me from the past is probably in shock when they see my shop, blog, Facebook pages, Twitter, etc. How did a heavy metal loving, slasher flick watching, black clothes wearing former "goth" girl (though they didn't use that word back in my high school days...) end up surrounded by so much PINK?!?!

I discovered Etsy near the end of 2005 when I was researching how to set up a website to sell my jewelry online. It was the perfect solution for me and I decided that if I was going to make the leap to online selling it was long past time to rebrand my business. Living with three daughters naturally there are a lot of books lying around full of princesses and fairies. My oldest daughter, Audrey, had a fairytale puzzle book with a story in it that had always fascinated me. It was called "The Royal Jeweler"--the story of a jewel beetle who created beautiful jewelry until a farmer's plow destroyed his home and workshop. The queen of the fairies found out about his situation and set him up in a safe new place with all the supplies he could ever need because she loved his work so much. (Couldn't we ALL use a benefactor like that?) The more I thought about that story, the more the idea formed for the new look for my own line. One night the line "fairytale jewels for the everyday princess" popped into my head, and though I didn't fully understand it's meaning at the time, it stuck.

If you've ever visited my shop, you've surely seen my various mentions of Audrey's own Etsy shop where we sell her fantasy artwork http://auddities.etsy.com Her favorite thing to draw has always been fairies, so there was no way I could follow through on the whole fairytale concept without her assistance. I gave her some ideas of the look I wanted, and a few days later "Jewelfairy" was born. She has become my "corporate spokesfairy" and a stylized version of her magic star wand is my logo. If you're going to go fairytale, then you may as well go all the way, so pink, pink and more pink it was. Though the whole pink/fairy/princess thing is the complete opposite of my personal taste I couldn't possibly love my branding concept any more. Like with most things, I have a tendancy to take it to the extreme--pink tissue paper and ribbons on the boxes, princess stickers in all my packages, I even redid my entire craft show booth in fuschia, black and silver. No one can ever say I don't follow through when I put my mind to it...