7 questions • Caroline of NewHopeBeading

7 Questions with Caroline of NewHopeBeading on Etsy

1. Where do you live? I live in Hunterdon County, NJ. It is actually very rural out here…. well at least to me as I grew up 5 miles from NYC. I LOVE where we live. It is only one hour to Manhattan in one direction and an hour and a half to Philly in the other direction, yet my town looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Our biggest problem is how to keep the deer, fox, bunny, and groundhogs out of our vegetable garden. I like to call where we live “pretend country” because for a City girl like me that is ideal… I need my City fix but I LOVE raising the kids here.

2. What are you obsessed with lately? Ah well I’d say PMC… can you tell? I am totally and hopelessly obsessed with precious metal clay.  I now see everything as something I could potentially stamp in silver.  I have been heard saying on many occasions, “Hmmm wonder if I could stamp that?” Same thing with phrase. My husband will say something and I will say,”Wonder if that will fit on a dogtag?”

I think I like precious metal clay so much because it makes me feel like Midas when I fire what looks like a simple piece of clay and it turns to pure silver…. except, as my 9 year old will point out to me, Midas was gold LOL (hey close enough little dude).

3. Coffee, tea or both? Coffee. They say the human body is over 60% water but it is a medical anomaly that my body is, in fact, over 60% coffee. Without a steady stream of caffeine I will wither way.

4. What is your favorite thing about being on Etsy? I have met sooo many amazing people and friends. I am constantly blown away by the talent from all over the globe. I love, too, that I get paid to do what I love. My Etsy shop allows me to work to pay for my daughter’s epilepsy meds (only a small potion of which are covered by insurance) yet still be home and close at hand should the school ever call me with an emergency … which, knock wood, they have not since she has been on meds.

Care to share a photo of you when you were little? Yes! This is my 4th grade picture… isn’t that collar groovy?

 

5. And what is your least favorite thing about being on Etsy? Left to my druthers I would just create and create and create and would not worry about marketing at all.

6. What are you afraid of? I am most afraid that my daughter will get injured again if she has a bad seizure. She was injured when she had her first seizure 3 years ago (she hit her head on the desk at school). We have been lucky in that her epilepsy has been well controlled by meds since. In fact so well controlled that she will be spending sometime in the hospital in August as they think she may have outgrown her seizures. While this makes me very happy on one level, the thought of her coming off meds terrifies me on another. BTW if you visit my shop in August and find it closed for a few days you’ll know I will be with her at the hospital, please visit back the following week :)

7. Who are you in love with? My kids and my husband… who I think is taking this picture and I, as always, am being camera shy. This picture is a few years old but I choose it because it also shows the old red mill on the Main street in our town.