The Story behind The Shop

When I think of school lunches my mind automatically thinks of brown paper bags and school lunch lines. Who likes having to cram a drink, a sandwich and a snack into a brown paper bag before running out to catch the bus. If you were lucky you could get a sandwich, a drink and a bag of chips, but knowing most of the time the chips would get put back for the skinnier, and much easier to fit, granola bar. Or even better, forgetting your lunch at home and having to buy a school lunch. Your standing in line trying to figure out what they are about to plop on a tray, hoping it would be something edible like pizza or tacos.

Its these very thoughts that led me to start creating reusable lunch bags. I can't help it if brown bags will never go away, but I can at least try to make them exciting. I know I would have never thought my Etsy shop would be as successful as it has been. When I opened my Etsy shop in my Senior year of high school (2009), reusable bags were just coming out. Most people had no idea what I was talking about or why they should spend money on it when they can get so many more Ziploc's for the same price. 

People just weren't getting it. I had to pretty much close my shop for a couple years, I only kept 2 or 3 items in my shop. I think I did this more because I just wasn't ready to give up on it. I didn't actually want to close my shop and admit defeat.

In the summer of 2011 I had realized more and more people were talking about ways to go green. That's when I realized it was time to get cracking and get my shop up and running again. The Green Haven got a total make over. I got new graphics for my shop, new business cards, address labels, stamps, everything and it all matched! I was ready to go. I spent most of the summer making items in as many different fabrics and styles as I could. Then slowly but surly I started to fill my shop up.

I waited, and waited, and waited. I kept making new things and listing them. I was getting discouraged, that's when I found Heartsy. It was a great way to get my shop out there and have people see it. Plus it would allow me to build up my feedback. It worked just how I had hoped, except my shop was once again empty! But now, I had steady traffic into my shop. It was all I could ask for.