A Shop Philosophy That's Good For Everyone

I really need a better title to introduce today’s featured artist, but I am so impressed with her shop philosophy that I am inclined to start there. Today I want to introduce you to Michelle Powell, owner of kutnkudlyskreations and designer for Divine Digital. I first discovered Michelle through Sherah of Skrapper Digitals (you might remember reading about her a few weeks back), who was the first designer Michelle signed up. Visiting kutnkudlyskreations made me curious about Michelle, so I contacted her and she graciously agreed to answer my questions.

Michelle, her husband, two border collies, and one cat reside in southeastern Idaho out on fourteen acres of beautiful property. On the personal level, Michelle is mother to two grown children and grandma to a beautiful one-year-old grand-daughter. She loves the outdoors, enjoying camping, hunting, and fishing, and relaxing with her husband in the hot tub. When she’s indoors, you might find Michelle dancing, or singing karaoke. At all times you’ll find her quick with a joke and comfortable with acting silly. Michelle enjoys making others laugh and likes to spread her "weird" sense of humor everywhere she goes. She even admitted to making up crazy lyrics to popular songs, something I mentioned my husband does all the time and which has begun to rub off on me.



She has always been crafty. Michelle always loved creating gifts for family and, although she took basic art classes in school, she has pretty much taught herself how to create what she wants. She enjoys creating flower gardens, making cards, and hybrid scrapping. It was in 2006 that she discovered digital scrapping. Michele wanted to scrap photos taken on her honeymoon cruise, but there weren’t any scrap booking stores out in the country where she is. She went on-line to look for supplies and found some digital sites. She was instantly hooked on digital scrapping. About a month later, she’d decided that she could create some of the digital products she was seeing for herself. She did and one thing followed another quickly. As a scrap booker, Michelle advises scrap bookers to remember that "these are your memories, your stories, your lives, Do what you want with your layouts so that YOU are happy with them when they are done."


But Michelle is not only a hybrid scrapper; she is a work-at-home-wife who runs her own business. Michelle began her digital design experience with Paintshop Pro then "forced" herself to learn Photoshop CS 2.which she has been using exclusively since. She was at a loss to describe her style but I quickly discovered the reason why. She likes to design according to her mood or need at the time. Sometimes that calls for a grungy look, at others for clean neat lines, sometimes for something cute, and others for a more elegant look. In short, she has an eclectic style in her designs and a wonderfully customer oriented business philosophy.



Prior to opening her digital design site, Michelle used to make and sell gift baskets. Around the time that her domain name was coming up for renewal, she had decided she no longer wanted to make gift baskets; what she wanted to do was design for digital scrap bookers A friend suggested she create a site geared to novice designers and those designers who preferred a site free of many of the requirements imposed by larger sites, and so kutnkudlyskreations was transformed into a digital scrap booking site.



When the shop opened, Michelle was unable to sell her own designs because of her previous commitment to Divine Digital; that has changed now and her designs are beginning to appear in the shop. She opened with Sherah (Skrapper Digitals as her first designer. Afridigidiva followed, then TwistedWolf, and Fayth Scraps.. The color scheme of the shop is in her favorite color - purple.



Here are two of Michelle's designs. They are wraps for pillar candles. What a cute idea!



http://kutnkudlyskreations.com/shop/images/michellepowell_angelkandlewrap_prev_03.jpg

http://kutnkudlyskreations.com/shop/images/michellepowell_angelkandlewrapII_prev01600.jpg

Two major things set kutnkudlyskreations apart from other sites. The first is Michelle’s dedication to excellent customer service. She believes the visitor to her shop should find everything running smoothly, and that they should get "good value for their hard-earned dollar." Customers are treated with respect and she really cares about their experience. If there is a problem, she wants to know about it and won’t rest until the problem is resolved. She reminds consumers: make yourself heard when you are unhappy with a purchase. She recommends contacting the designer and letting her know what displeased you (send a copy to the store owner too). After all, the designer might not be aware of a mistake, or that something wasn’t quite as it should be unless you tell her. This helps everyone. You allow the designer to recognize and correct the problem and you save the next buyer disappointment. You also avoid that feeling of resentment that comes from being dissatisfied with a product. If the designer corrects the problem, you’ll be happier and you’ll continue to look at her designs.

The second thing that sets Michelle’s site apart is that it is a site developed with the novice designer in mind. Michelle remembers when she first started trying to sell her designs that many designers were reluctant to share information. It was as if by telling her how to do something, they were afraid they were developing competition for themselves. Having run into a little of this hoarding behavior myself, I understand where Michelle is coming from and agree with her assessment: if your designs are good, helping someone else isn’t going to hurt you. With this in mind, Michelle offers low commission fees, low set-up fees, no requirement to be exclusive to the site, and no obligation to remain at the store for any specified length of time. She describes her shop as a "learning" site and is prepared to mentor the designers who sign with her. Since she works from home, she is able to provide very quick response time. When asked what she finds most difficult about designing, Michelle listed naming kits and creating the previews. We had a nice discussion about our views on the cluttered appearance that results when trying to cram all papers and elements of a large kit into one preview. Michelle’s best solution is an animated preview; it allows buyers to see everything in the kit and more clearly than jamming everything together.

The kit shown here is by TwistedWolf, one of Michelle's designers.
http://kutnkudlyskreations.com/shop/images/twistedrosepppreviewb.jpg

And here is a kit from FaythScraps:
http://kutnkudlyskreations.com/shop/images/Fayth_RefrigeratorArt_prev1600-01.jpg

If you are looking for a place to sell your designs, talk to Michelle. She recommends contacting site owners and asking, if they have time, to look at your designs and give you a honest critque. Michelle, for one, will do this for you. But, she reminds, there is "more to digital designing as a business than just creating some pretties, zipping them up and putting them in a store." She suggests you do some research and learn about developing a Terms Of Use document, how to package your designs, how to create those all important previews which are the consumers first view of your product. Research various stores. Ask about their business philosophy, their commission fees, the requirements for designers (what else must you do besides design? And how many products must you supply per month?), advertising/marketing. Can you agree to the terms and still have fun doing it? If so, Michelle says "Find your niche, come up with something original and go for it!"

Additionally, Michelle would like you to know that kutnkuddleyskreations offers beautiful, hardbound custom scrapbooks. If you need scrap booking lessons, look no further; Michelle has teamed up with Christy Haig to offer classes which can be purchased on her site. She can also provide an inexpensive advertising venue. For a site just in it’s infancy, kutnkudlyskreations has a lot to offer. Be sure you check it out and please tell Michelle where you heard about her.

And here is the link to Michelle's freebie: www.kutnkudlyskreations.com/freebies/michellepowell_purpleecstasy_mini.zip

If you download, please leave her some love.