Daily Inspiration: Meet Crystal Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Smith

Hi Crystal, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I use to run a daycare and during nap time I had to be quiet. I had to find something to do to keep me away. I decided to teach myself how to crochet. I started by making toys for the daycare kids. People loved my critters so much they told me I should sell them. From there I decided to make a whole bunch and sign up for a craft show. I couldn’t keep them in-stock. I was selling them as fast as I could make them. My husband had a 3D printer and he tried to make a fidget toy and all our friends loved it. He figured he would join me for my next craft show. He printed 60 of them and sold out in 3 hours. From then on we knew we were on to something. My husband and I make a great team he has cool looking fun to play with toys and I have the cute and cuddly toys. I decided to expand into hats because I wanted ones that were warm and fun. Now you can get hats to match your critters. From there we decided to try our hand at a few others crafts like our tufted rugs that we decided to add to our booth. We started with a few shows here and there and have slowly expanded to shows all over Michigan and a website for people to always be able to shop with us.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a constant struggle but I would not trade it for the world. I have been self employed for 10 years, so I have been use to the not knowing what is coming next. This was the first time though that we did not have constant income or a fall back. Sometimes shows can be amazing and you realize you did not make enough product and the next one you have hardly any sales. There are many different factors that have to be taken into consideration like, the location, the advertising, the weather even. And then there is the factor of us, did we not have the product they were looking for, or did we run out of something that everyone was wanting. It can be a big struggle to figure out what people want before they even know what they want. We also struggle with getting supplies to be able to make our product. We have to order our supplies and sometimes they are out of stock or the shipping takes much longer that what we were told. We have to find ways to make it work so that we can still make product. When you are doing something that you love so much none of the struggles matter anymore, and the amazing support we get from our customers makes the road seam a little less bumpy.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I do amigurumi, that is crochet stuffed animals. I also do crochet hats. I specialize in making new and unique items. I started crochet not being able to read a pattern so if I wanted to be able to make something I had to figure it out on my own. I have spent more hours than I care to admit making something just to tear it all apart and start over, because it was not how I envisioned it. However it has been well worth all that hard work, because no matter if there is another crochet vendor there my product will be different than theirs. I am most known for my Dragon stuffed animals. They are cute, designed to sit on your shoulder, and can snuggle around you. I am also very well known for my hats because they are critter hats designed to look like critters. I still have not seen anything else like them. I am most proud of the fact that everything I make are my own designs. Not everyone can crochet something from thin air. I am so proud of making my own designs that I have actually started to sell them. My husband he 3D prints fidget critters. He specializes in Dragon fidgets. Everyone knows us as the dragon booth. We have many customers that come to see us on a weekly basis to see what is new and get something for their collection. He is most proud of his detail that goes into each piece. He does his very best to make sure the lines are not there so they don’t look 3D printed. He has so many customers and even other 3D printers ask him how his prints look so good. He has taken many hours learning his printers, trying different printers out. And even throwing tons of prints away trying to get the best quality he can. His moto is quality over quantity. It is a very competitive market in the 3D printing world so he has to stand out as much as he can. His quality definitely helps with that. We also have me paint the eyes by hand on all our fidget critters. This brings them to life, not just another piece of plastic. We also send an adoption card home with every fidget critter we sell. As children we loved naming everything we always got and we wanted to continue to do that. Children love it and adults enjoy it as it reminds them of their childhood. We are all just big kids at heart. But the biggest thing that sets us apart from everyone else is that we do this together. We get to hang out with our best friend all the time and do what we love, and it shows in how friendly we are with each customer that comes to our booth.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We are always looking for stores that want to carry our product in them. We encourage people that have ideas or what something specific to let us know, so we can try them and hopefully get new products out. We encourage people to find us on any of our social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok, and give us a follow. We appreciate when people share our posts. There are so many small businesses out there and support does not always have to be in the form of money. We appreciate the support of sharing our posts. You never know who on your friends list could be looking for what we offer. You can also find us on our website at craftsbycici.com we have an events tab that people can find out where we are going to be. You can even suggest events that you would like to see us at.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://craftsbycici.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/crafts_by_cici?igshid=MzNINGNkZWQ4Mg==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070375533979
• Other: https://patreon.com/CraftsByCici?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link