ABOUT ME:
Hi...My name is Liesa Gifford. I am 31 (and not scared to share with you my age). I am first and foremost a Mum. A mum of Cooper who is 3.5 turning 15 and our newest addition to our family is little Fletcher who was born in December.
I have a wonderful husband Mitchell. He is so very supportive of all of my ventures. He is a painter and decorator (so if you need any work done, give me a call) LOL. You may find on here, every now and then, a few pieces of restored antique/vintage furniture. This is from my very creative husband who has a passion for this type of thing. He knows the ins and outs of timber and paints/products to use, so the end result is always AWESOME...We are slowly filling our beautiful home with these pieces as there are some that we just can't give up...
I am going to be honest with you. I am not a hands on creative type. I am more of a creative business brain. I can put it all together as a business, but ask me to sew on a button or scrap a page and we will all be very saddend by these events :) I have always been around craft and handmade as my Mum and Grandma have always been into it, giving us beautiful treasures as gifts and filling their beautiful homes with handmade warmness. So, yes, I am passionate about Handmade, can I do it...NO....let me promote and sell it any day of the week...
We live in a lovely town in the Lockyer Valley, Queensland, Australia, called Laidley. Our town was devastated by the 2011 Floods, but we made it through unscathed....we love our little town. We have 3 chooks and getting sorted with a veggie garden...this is our dream, this is where we want to be for a very long time. We are settled here.
Thats enough about me.....
ABOUT HANDMADE HEAVEN:
Where do I start...Handmade Heaven came alive from The Handmade Expo. Now, The Handmade Expo is a large handmade, handbaked and handgrown market which myself, my Sister Micky and my Mum Miriam, started from scratch and organise every month. This market has been going for over 3 years and we average around the 100 stallholders every month. That is a whole other story..
So, basically, I was pondering the idea of creating a retail space - a physical shop for "handmadie's" to sell and promote their items. This concept was very new 2.5 years ago when I began. Sure, there are the Co-Ops that are around and have been around for many many years, but the difference with Handmade Heaven was that you would not need to "bank" hours and work in the shop to be able to be apart of it. You basically pay a small monthly fee to lease a space and pay a small commission on sales. You set up your space with your beautiful handmade items and I promote and sell on your behalf. A great concept that works very well....
Sadly, I am closing my retail space...as someone said to me "closing one baby to have another baby" and this is very true. I did not however, want to give up the awesomeness that Handmade Heaven has become...I did not want to close it down and walk away....
THEN CAME ALONG HANDMADE HEAVEN ONLINE. Why not? The trends of customer spending is very different these days. People are busy, life is busy, more and more sales are happening online. So, I am going to go with this trend. Have a family that I can raise at home and keep thousands of customers and "handmadies" happy by supplying awesome handmade product and promoting beautiful handmade businesses....
So, that is basically me in a nutshell, I could go on and on, but I am running out of space :)
I sincerely hope that you find something that you truly love in the "shop" and make a purchase and then tell all of your wonderful friends and family as word of mouth is totally amazing!
Kisses and Hugs
Liesa
xoxo
