Last weekend I started an Etsy shop – Just A Fangirl, Inc. – after buying a Cricut cutting tool the weekend before. I had been looking at Cricuts since the lockdown happened last year.
But I kept putting it off because I knew if I started going back to the office to work, I wouldn’t have time to devote to it.
And then I found that I wouldn’t be going back to the office at all – I would be working from home full-time. So I went for it.
We’ve had the shops on TeeSpring and Redbubble for nearly a year, but I always felt weird about it. I remember way back in the day one time I had a shop for my site and was made fun of it because it. HA! Now everybody has a store.
I didn’t like that I didn’t get to see in person what people were getting when our site’s name was on it. It’s not very personable. I wanted the stuff I did to be more personable. I wanted the person who bought something to get a hand-written note from me, thanking them.
Plus, I really wanted to get back to being hands-on creative. I used to love doing crafts and such when I was a teenager and then computers took over. So I bought a Cricut and played around at first to see if opening at Etsy shop was something I wanted to do.
And it was. Not only could I make vinyl stickers, I could cut out stickers perfectly that I’ve drawn on my iPad, printed on my inkjet printer and then cut perfectly on the Cricut.
Another reason I wanted a Cricut? I’ve been slowly spiraling down into that dark tunnel of depression again. I got Maddie, my new kitten, and I love her and she makes me happy, but until this pandemic is fully over, I just feel like I can’t live my life
And I DO NOT want to get like I was in 2001-2003. I don’t want to be in that place again.
I take my second COVID vaccine this coming Saturday, but even then, when will we get our lives back? When are we going to be able to go on real trips and concerts, etc. Who. Fucking Knows.
So I got a Cricut because I need to keep myself busy when I’m not working or doing something else that needs my attention. The updates here have been slow coming since the boys are doing nothing basically.
When I’m busy, making people happy, I don’t have time to think about things that I shouldn’t be thinking of like past things, past failures, past everything. Because when I start thinking about that, or thinking about the future which is SO uncertain right now, the panic attacks start.
So, thanks COVID for inspiring me for starting my own Etsy shop. Thanks to Britt and Kelsey for inspiring me. Thank you to Danielle for all of your videos discussing Etsy that really made me look into it.
And thanks to TikTok for inspiring me by teaching me how to use it.
So if you have anything you’d like to see in the shop, maybe even some BSB Fangirls merch, let me know on Twitter or send in a message on Etsy. I may start doing some custom work.
But that’s why I started an Etsy shop, so I could feel like myself again.