Port Williams, N.S. woman turns doodling into fulfilling career
The “Makers” feature is a weekly look at Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs who are tapping into the creative marketplace. If you know of a local, creative business owner that should be featured email: Jennifer.little@ saltwire.com. To read more “Makers” features, visit: saltwire.com.
LAURA CHURCHILL DUKE FOR THE
SALTWIRE NETWORK
Cheryl Clark has always been a creative person and has found a way to bring forth this creativity into her life.
When this Port Williams, N.S. woman was a child, the No. 1 item on her Christmas list was always markers and paper. Not much has changed, she says, noting that her love of stationery is still with her today.
In fact, knowing how much she loved stationery, Clark says her sister once bribed her to run away in exchange for a notebook.
And yes, she fell for it.
In high school, Clark's binders were always full of doodles, highlighters and coloured pens. Once, she even had a teacher ask her if he could keep her notes at the end of the year because they were neater and more organized than his own.
As she got older, Clark tried it all — from painting and cross-stitching, to knitting, sewing, and scrapbooking. In the end, doodling and drawing remained her favourites.
It's no wonder then that four-and-a-half years ago, Clark intentionally set out to start her own business, Cheryl Clark Designs.
Her primary focus is creating a range of stationery products that feature her own handlettering and illustrations. This includes products like stickers, greeting cards, postcards, bookmarks, notebooks and more.
Before this, even when
Clark had other jobs, she was always creating and taking
online classes. She realized that what really appealed to her was having an online store and that's when she decided to open an Etsy shop.
“I think Etsy is great for anyone starting out because they already have a large customer base,” says Clark.
To learn more about the creative items she was hoping to sell, Clark said she turned to YouTube, Google, Instagram and taking online courses.
“I honestly used the internet for everything — from what printers to buy, what cutting machines worked best and even how to successfully set up my Etsy shop,” she says.
In the beginning, Clark says there was a steep learning curve when it came to taking her hand-drawn designs and getting them into a digital format that could be easily
used on stationery products. She says she learned the hard way first, with scanning and using Photoshop.
The biggest game changer for her business was investing in an iPad Pro and Apple pencil.
“They have really made the process so much easier.”
Even with the new equipment, Clark still takes courses and watches other creators because there is always something new to learn.
For example, Clark has joined several hand-lettering challenges on Instagram. For one particular challenge, they had to hand-letter a quote from a book each day and post it to their Instagram accounts.
The author of the book, Rachel Hollis — a New York Times bestseller — shared one of Clark's designs on her Instagram feed. As a result, Clark's account “kind of went crazy with new followers and likes,” she says.
With the permission of her company, Clark turned some of Hollis' quote designs into stickers and they were one of the things that helped her Etsy shop gain some traction.
Thanks to Instagram, Clark says she has also been able to partner with some other amazing people. For example, she designed stickers for a sock company in Texas and created enamel pins for another shop in New Jersey.
Creating is what Clark loves the best.
Creating is so much fun for her and says it's like the expression “time flies when you are having fun.”
Sometimes, she says she really can't believe where the hours go. Most days it doesn't really feel like a job.
The best part of the process for Clark is when she gets to see her design on a finished product. She also really enjoys preparing and packaging orders for her customers.
“My shop gets a lot of positive reviews for the packaging and how I personalize my orders,” says Clark.
“Happy customers are very important to me.”
Out of everything Clark makes and sells, she says stickers are by far the best-selling items in her shop. She prints and cuts her own paper stickers and sticker sheets. She also sells waterproof vinyl stickers.
When deciding what to create next, Clark says she normally lets the seasons and holidays dictate the products. Sometimes, she says she creates whatever she feels like doodling at the time and other times it is customers who make suggestions of things that they would like to see in her shop.
“I get inspiration from many different places including other artists, Pinterest, nature or even just from things I love — like coffee,” she says.
In the future, Clark plans to continue with her Etsy shop. She is continually working towards streamlining the processes and introducing new products. She would also love to try painting a mural and has a blank wall in her studio where she may try her first one.
Clark is a full-time maker, but when she's not creating, she enjoys spending time with her family, watching her kids play sports, going for walks, reading and most recently, bird watching.
Even when she's not creating, she says she is still dreaming up her next big project.
To view or purchase anything from Cheryl Clark designs, visit her Esty shop at cherylclarkdesigns.etsy.com. She also has a membership service where you can join and receive stationery items once a month at patreon.com/cherylclarkdesigns.
Clark also posts updates of what she is working on and shares behind the scenes looks at her creative process on Instagram @cherylclarkdesigns.