Hello! We hope everyone is having a great week and hanging in there with the hustle and bustle of the upcoming fall season. We, that is Laura Kuhlmann and Amber Jordan, have some very exciting news to share with all of you. We have been given the fantastic opportunity to be Co-Editors of the Handmade Spark blog.

You may have already noticed a flurry of new blog posts on here from the two of us. We have been part of the Handmade Spark writing team since the beginning, and we have also been contributing to Amber’s blog, Flight Path Studio, which will now be folded into Handmade Spark.

Handmade Spark currently has over 400 sellers with their own mini-sites, 16,000 product pages, 500 subscribers to our blog, almost 6,000 Twitter followers, and over 3,000 Facebook fans. We have big ideas for the Handmade Spark blog. With the contributions of our talented team of writers and reader interaction, we plan to make it the best resource for handmade sellers out there. And with the recently lowered price of the Handmade Spark subscription, we are able to offer a great value for Etsy sellers to promote their shops, benefiting from the top-of -the-line search engine optimization (SEO) in place.

Laura owns Pet Scribbles LLC, selling her handmade pet-centric and vintage-themed greeting cards to independent gift shops and pet boutiques across the US as well as direct to consumers via her Etsy shop.

Amber owns Mommy The Marketer Media and Flight Path Studio Consulting. The mission of MTM Media is simple, Amber’s goal is to inspire, guide and motivate handmade sellers to success. Tate Skye Designs is Amber’s photography creative outlet.

Flight Path Studio Consulting is excited to be an additional resource for Handmade Spark sellers to help you navigate your way to success, and will be offering a variety of consulting services – including the popular Etsy, Artfire or Website Reviews, Branding Navigation Sessions or custom packages tailored to your individual handmade small business needs. Stay tuned for more details and special offers for Handmade Spark sellers soon.

We have both worked in the corporate world – what seems like ages ago – and the two companies that we worked for actually worked together on a project. Although we didn’t know each other during that time, it seemed almost funny to us when our paths did cross as writers here on Handmade Spark. We are small business owners. We are artists. We are mommies. (Amber to her children; Laura to her cats.) We are friends. We are in the trenches right along with you.

You can read more about us on our Mini-Sites by clicking here:   PetScribbles and TateSkyeDesigns

We are also very pleased to more formally introduce you to the man behind the curtain, so to speak, the brains behind what is Handmade Spark: Kael Goodman.

Kael runs BlankSlate, a software company whose technology makes Handmade Spark possible.

What does that even mean? What it means is that Handmade Spark was conceived, designed, and developed by BlankSlate, using their amazingly talented team of engineers. They have a proven track record of conceptualizing ideas, and then designing and implementing platforms so that those ideas come to life. BlankSlate’s offices are in the same Brooklyn neighborhood as Etsy’s offices. And BlankSlate’s team, in addition to building the running platform for Handmade Spark, also have a true appreciation for the handmade community – that we are a big niche community. A great way of looking at us. Our community is composed of a countless number of tiny niches, from jewelry to fiber arts, from pottery to woodworking, and everything in between. Upcycled, recycled, supplies and vintage. Yet we are all part of the same handmade aesthetic. We all want to live a more meaningful life through our creations. It is a mindset that not everyone outside of the handmade community gets. But the team at BlankSlate does.

Kael has never stepped into the spotlight on Handmade Spark, but without his vision, let alone his company’s infrastructure, Handmade Spark wouldn’t exist. And we are very grateful for his input, advice, and guidance. We are looking forward to working with such a dynamic team.

Handmade Spark is your one-stop destination to promote your shop with SEO-driven Mini-Sites, Product Pages, Social Marketing, and SEO; to find answers in our blog to questions about how to set up and run a successful handmade business; and to get one-on-one consulting help for your business when you need it.

We are thrilled to join the Handmade Spark team and look forward to the “sparks” ahead!

We can be reached at: support@handmadespark.com or through our contact form.