How MairiMakes got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

In 2020, I found myself furloughed and playing a lot of Animal Crossing—too much, actually—so I decided to do something a bit more productive and make some artwork to go around the flat using some old watercolors and other art materials. I loved experimenting, but I found watercolor and ink really satisfying and something I could accomplish in a day. I started to share my work on Instagram and TikTok, and my pages started to grow in popularity, and then people started asking me for commissions and prints. And that's when I decided to open my Etsy store! I'm most well known for my pet portraits, but I really wanted to offer more affordable pieces like prints, cards, pins, and stickers too.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

I love my embellished art prints. I add a lot of metallics to my work, which are obviously missing when you create a scanned reproduction art print. So, for many of my pieces, I offer added embellishments, meaning they are hand finished and more special. My bumblebee print works particularly well with this, so it's no surprise that it's my best-selling piece!

Bumblebee Art Print | Gold, Embellished Prints, Sunflower, Yellow, Bee Gift, Bee Painting, Bumble bee, Animal Artwork, Watercolour,

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

I actually made quite a few sales on my first day, as I had built up a following before opening and there were a lot of anticipated buyers waiting for the day! I have an advantage as I work in marketing full time, and I definitely think it's important to do as much as you can across different platforms and not rely on Etsy to generate all your sales alone. Social media is a great tool for artists to show and tell the stories behind their work, and people really get invested in the person behind the listing.

Managing MairiMakes

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

I manage my store on my own from my little art studio and office at home. I'm lucky that I work remotely for my day job, so I spend the time I would have spent commuting on my art and orders. A secret to my art print fulfillment is adding new listings with a longer dispatch time and labeling them as pre-orders. Then I have time to get prints produced and shipped when someone orders to save on overordering.

The future of MairiMakes

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

Things got a bit crazy for me over the pandemic, and I had tons of orders, but they really have slowed down a lot now. I am trying to focus on creating art rather than sales and brightening people's days through social media. Hopefully, when the economy picks back up, so will my sales, but I am quite enjoying slowing down and spending more time painting at the moment.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Don't rely on Etsy to bring in all the organic traffic itself. Build an audience elsewhere using social media, email marketing, etc. to make a connection with your brand or artwork and then drive people to your store.

Alura Team
Alura Team

Alura is your all-in-one platform for selling on Etsy. With more $500.000+ gross sales over four years selling on Etsy, Alura is built by experienced sellers for sellers. Start with a free account and explore all the features you need to start, run, and grow your Etsy shop.