These three sisters are working together to create! Enjoying their time together eating snacks and just creating hand creations. They each have their own specialties as well! Let's dive into this week's feature @minervitas_crafts
Starting off with their introductions as to who they are "Karla Santana, Jessica Santana, Jennifer Santana" as they continue with what they have been doing most recently "during the most strict part of the lock down, we started meeting every Friday afternoon to work on our crafty projects, listen to some tunes and have some snacks. This tradition has continued since." Well at least they are having fun because it certainly sounds like a good time! From sharing their recent activity to mentioning their favorite local business/artists "Karla: Hell’n Heels-> an amazing heel dance group led by a great choreographer. Jessa: Labyrinth BCA-> a super cute coffee shop. Jennifer: B’s in the pot -> boba drinks shop."
How did three sisters come together to create Minervita's Crafts? As they begin to share their story "A good friend of ours was having a birthday during strict part of the lockdown and because we could not celebrate with her, we decided to put our crafty talents together to create a gift box for her. This unique gift, which was Harry Potter themed, included delicious pastries, handmade jewelry, a customized gift box decorated with hand drawn illustrations from the movie charters, a Harry Potter knitted doll and various other gifts. We thought this would be a cute service to offer for people who want to gift personalized and unique gifts." Handmade gifts and pastries surely hit different! In the end its the thought that counts that's interesting how these three sisters came together and put to use their specialties
What exactly are these specialties these three sisters have as they explain "The three of us have our own specialty. Karla likes to crochet amigurumis (crocheted dolls), and make jewelry. Jessica likes to bake French pastries, build terrariums, curate loose leaf blends and crochet hats for cats. Jennifer is the drawing artists; she is the one that created our logo and she also does commissioned drawings.
When working on a gift box with multiple components and where we have freedom to add whatever gifts we want, we like to get together and discuss the main theme of the box and then decide what each person can contribute to the box." Woah woah CROCHET HATS FOR CATS!? That's just wild. I like that they are able to work together and create for others. It seems to work out perfectly!
With them having different specialties how do they agree on a creation or what to work on? As they explain "In our business we often have to work on separate orders for individual components and this process does not involve us working together much. But when we work on a gift box project in which the three of us have to contribute something, the first thing we do is get together to brainstorm what we will do for this project. We have to think about how intricate we want the project to be, sometimes we make projects that are big, for which we make multiple craft items for, and other boxes are small and we each just add one item to it. The next step is to think of the person the gift box is for and try to think of a theme that this person is into. We like to think about what this person likes about said theme and then agree on items we can make to add to the gift box." It sounds pretty organized when they come together for projects. With so much work going into these boxes makes me wonder on the time that it may takes on these projects to which they responded with "to finish a gift box, it depends on the size and difficulty of the project, but we usually take no more than a week." Putting everything they got into it they finish pretty quick. It may sound quick within one week, but I'm sure a lot of thought, love, and care goes into these gift boxes for their customers.
They take orders through their Instagram account at the moment, but how would they like to grow their shop? "We have currently just been taking local orders but once our brand is better established and we have more time, we’d love to open an Etsy shop and create a website for people to directly make orders there." The Idea of growth is always welcomed! Take the step to expand yourself and share your specialties outside of the local scene as well! I'm sure many others would be interested as well.
With each sister having their own specialties is their anything they would like to experiment with or try something new? "Karla would like to offer customized embroidery art and work on more unique amigurumi designs. Jessica would like to offer miniature clay pots and string art. Jenny would like to do stickers and key chains based off of her original designs." Every idea is welcomed! Being able to try something new should not scare us or doubt us. If we are capable of doing something already then why can't we tweak it just a bit and see where it can lead us. I'd say go for it!
With the ideas of trying something new along with their current specialties brings the thought if they were taught as they were growing up but to my surprise "We are all self-taught. Our parents are very artistic (our dad is a 3D animator and our mom has always been very into crafts including painting) and always encouraged us to work on various different crafts. The three of us grew up to like specific kinds of crafts but we always are encouraging of each other talents." Wow now that's certainly something. Being positively enforced to be creative is good to hear. Being able to create with your hands is certainly amazing. With the amount of people who create and being able to look back and think "I did this" is just cool. I'm glad to see "always encouraged us to work on various crafts" which is just leads to trying anything. From trying customized embroidery, miniature clay pots, and key chains based off original designs.
From everything they have made do they have a favorite piece created "Karla: I am very proud of the Bernie Sanders chibi amigurumi I made back in January. It is the most popular item I sell and I had a blast coming up with the pattern for it. Jessa: I loved all the work I put into the Harry Potter gift box, for which I baked pastries and curated a tea blend for the occasion. Jenny: I like the Howl’s Moving Castle drawing I did."
What are your thoughts on the local scene from its businesses/art in the valley,
"We are very lucky to live in a time where it is very easy to share your art! Social media has allowed us to find out about numerous artists in the valley for various disciplines. It has also allowed us to share our love for art in our own way with the people who enjoy our content. We are rich with talent in the Rio Grande Valley."
They also share one final thought,
"We’d just like to promote being supportive of the arts in the valley! Go check out art events and follow pages of artists you enjoy! Also, in times like this we highly recommend people to take up a hobby. Crafting does wonders for releasing stress and it can be very entertaining."
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