how do you do? {Nicole of Lillyella}

Ooh, am I tickled to present today's guest! Nicole, of Lillyella, has granted us some of her precious time to give us a little glimpse of life behind the scenes. Not familiar with Nicole yet? Check out her beautiful shop, Lillyella, on etsy, and her fantastic blog. You'll keep coming back for more. I know I do!

Hi Nicole! Thanks so much for joining us today. Please tell us a little bit about how you got started: Did you have any formal training? What made you start your craft? Can you remember the first piece of jewelry you made?

I've been making jewelry for as long as I can remember, from the time I was old enough to walk myself to the local craft store. Over the years I've been more or less into it depending on my life, finding new interests and crafts to keep me busy, but jewelry was the one thing I always stuck with. I was never a girly-girl per say, hardly wore makeup or did my hair or dressed up as a child and through high school, and never wore much jewelry either. So I find it odd that it was my passion. I am quite different now, as far as wearing it goes, though I'm still a bit of a tom boy :)

After spending 10 years in my chosen career as a graphic designer, I finally decided to make the plunge and work for myself. After discovering Etsy right around the same time, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to indulge in my passion and make a little extra money to support myself. Much to my surprise, my sales took off and selling my jewelry on Etsy became my full time job just a few months later.

What material or equipment would you be lost without?

brass and pliers!

Night owl or early bird? At what time of the day (or night) are you most creative?

These days, both! I'd say I'm a true night owl at heart, I've never been one for sleeping and I really hate mornings, but I still usually get up around 7am and go to bed well past midnight. Though one of my main goals right now is to change that schedule and *try* to get more sleep! I'm not sure my creativity correlates to my schedule, but I can say Im most productive late at night when the world is sleeping. Probably because there are less distractions!

I'm a bit of a foodie and I love to cook. Care to share a recipe?

me, too! hmm... I have so many favorites. I recently posted this one of my blog but it is so perfect for this time of year and I think it's one of the most impressive things I've made to date (I usually stick with E-A-S-Y!), so I have to share these Pumpkin Cream Cheese Truffles.

What's your favorite season of the year and what do you love about it?

I love fall! I'm not a fan of the heat, so hot, humid, summers in Cleveland really make me ornery. And I mean ornery. A cool, crisp 60° really suits my fancy. I also love fall fashion! Boots, scarves, jackets, sweaters etc. Plus my birthday is in the fall and my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving! I really look forward to Christmas, too. I always make my gifts and it's so much fun, I get so excited to hand them out I can hardly contain myself.

Do you enjoy reading? What literary character do you most identify with?

Not at all! Oddly enough. I just can't do it, even if I want to. I try on occasion, but always fail. I get through a paragraph and then realize I have no idea what i just read past the first sentence. I think my mind wanders too fast, I can't focus long enough.

Do you buy handmade? If so, what are the top three items on your wish list right now?

Of course! As often as I can, or my bank account allows. Wow, top three wish list - that is hard!

Well, I've wanted these canary earrings by Joanna Rutter since day one of finding Etsy.
I also love everything from Treehouse 28. My favorite piece is this ruffled top.

Last, I'll have to say a set of prints from Sharon Montrose, though it would be so hard to choose less than 10! Some favorites are:
goat
porcupine
baby deer
silkie chicken

I'd love to hear a little about you as a child. When you were younger, who/what did you dream of being?

I have to say I was pretty much exactly the same as I am now! I always loved art, creating, especially making jewelry. Out of all the crafts I dabbled in, jewelry stuck with me through the years. I knew I would have a career in the arts and had wanted to be a graphic designer since the time I was old enough to really know what a career was. I went on to spend 10 years doing that. Though i will tell you, there was a time when it seemed too simple to me, my career choice. Like I wasn't exploring other interests that maybe I was destined for. So, two other career paths I considered were archaeology and genetic engineering! Quite a stretch, huh? I'm happy with the path I chose, though I still feel I would have been successful and loved the others as well, they still interest me greatly.

What do you love to do when your not working on your business?

I barely know what it's like to not work on my business these days, but I do *have* to do something different occasionally just for my sanity. I love to take photos, particularly of fungi (kinda weird, I know). I also have many other crafts I dabble in such as ceramics, wood working, sewing, etc, and I love finding new projects or trying something different. I really enjoy baking, though I don't do it as often as I would like because I don't want to eat all the stuff I make! Well, I really want to, but shouldn't, is more like it. My new found obsession is canning! Jams, jellies, sauces, syrups… I'm even considering a possible second shop. And if we go outside of my crafting world, I love to go shooting - no animals, I promise! Just paper targets and clay pigeons :)

I've noticed that many creative-types love learning new skills. Is there a new craft would you love to learn?

I really want to learn more about working with metal, in many different ways. I'd like to utilize it for jewelry making but would also love to learn to blacksmithing and welding so I could make really cool giant sculptures, gates etc.

When you head out the door, what do you take with you? Name five things in your handbag. And what sort of bag do you carry?

1. chapstick
2. chapstick
3. eye drops
4. cell phone
5. camera

I'm *slightly* obsessed with chapstick (I only have a mental breakdown if I don't have it with me. Like I said, slightly) and I try to take a camera everywhere. I'm also obsessed with pouches, and that is what I usually carry. Cute, compact and the smaller the better! Clutches, wristlest, coin purses, no big bags for me. My favorites are all from Etsy, of course, byDrikaB, Made by Hank, Get Ready Set Go and John Met Betty.

I know you're in the process of building a new studio. What will it be like?

Big and over engineered! Like everything my husband is involved in. His motto is, "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing", which I guess is better than underdoing! I originally was going to use the second story for my jewelry studio but have since decided with the amount of time I put into my business, it would be easier for me to stay in the house, so the upstairs will now be for storage while the downstairs will be the workshop where we keep all our wood working tools, glass tools, kilns, pottery wheels etc. I'm very excited to finally have a proper space for using all those things! So many ideas and so many possibilities :)
One section of the building is also going to be a 2 story rock climbing wall, which is another favorite activity of mine.


Thanks so much for letting us get to know you a little better, Nicole! It was such fun reading more about the beautiful women behind Lillyella.

And now, for a special treat! Nicole has generously offered one lucky winner any item in her etsy shop (excluding one-of-a-kind pieces)! Interested (of course you are!)? Just leave a note in the comments below and indicate your favorite piece from Nicole's shop. Be sure to leave your name and email address or etsy username as well.

Good luck! The concert begins today and will end at 11:59 pm est on Monday, 17 November.