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Brittercup Designs |
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| Designer's Name: Michelle Lash | |
| Location: North Lawrence, OH | |
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Your popular "Britty Kitties" series has been very successful and features a one of kind look that's
definitely a Brittercup trademark. Can you tell us how these designs came to be?
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Many of your designs feature animals, so you must be an animal lover! Do you have any pets at home
and have you had any interesting pets in the past?
I love animals! I spend most of my grade school age and teenage years living on a farm in Nebraska. We raised all sorts of animals like, pigs, cows, bunnies, ducks, geese, chickens and sheep. Of course there were always dogs and lots of barn cats running around. It was so much fun incubating duck and goose eggs, and watching them hatch. I remember one stray goose egg we incubated. After it hatched, I kept it as my pet. That goose followed me everywhere around the farm. I even constructed a leash for it so I could take him to local softball games. I am such a dweeb! LOL! I was always trying to save wild animals that were hurt or strayed. Unfortunately most of them never survived. I could never understand why. Though, wild animals are just that and need their natural environment to survive, hurt or strayed. I no longer live on a farm, but do have two cats. My family and I live in a wide open space with woods all around us (uh, yes, we do have a house on that open space!) Hehe. We have lots of wildlife here. I just love watching the deer, fox, bunnies, squirrels, and all the different types of birds.
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Do you feel it’s important for a designer to stay on top of trends and what stitchers want or should a designer just publish what makes her/him happy? Or is there a
happy medium?
As a designer and business owner, I feel it is a must to spend time on research. Finding out what appeals to the majority of the population and staying on top of trends is a must. But, trends can change at any time. One MUST create a style like no others. If the public likes your style, then you should take off on it. But at the same time, knowing that it could not last long (always have a backup plan!). If it doesn’t, then time to come up with something else. That is all part of being a ‘designer’. NEVER be afraid to be a ‘trend setter’. Remember, customers are always looking for something ‘different’. Though, knowing when it is time for change is an important key. Marketing your product also plays a big part. But all in all, it is the end customer that ultimately decides whether your designs are successful or not. I love being in this industry, but at the same time, a LOT of work!
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New From Brittercup Designs... Britty Kittes VI The latest in the popular Britty Kitties series, is "Britty Kitties VI". This leaflet includes four cross-stitch designs plus a punchneedle pattern! Attach to a pre-finish pillow, or frame for year 'round feline decor! Suggested retail price is $7.50. |
Do you think an industry wide, organized effort to recruit and teach new stitchers should be something that’s a priority in the next few years, or do you feel shop owners, designers, and distributors are doing enough on their own? Today’s world seems to be about ‘instant gratification’. Let’s face it. Stitching is not instant. I feel people need to start ‘relaxing’ more instead of constantly being on the go. More families than ever have to work to provide for themselves. More extra curricular activities are available to kids of which they just ‘have’ to be in. By the end of the day, parents are too tired to do anything and kids are off doing their own thing. When I talk to people about stitching, I cannot even count how many times I hear, “by the end of the day, I’m too tired to do anything” and the most popular, “I don’t have time for that.” We are in an electronic world of cell phones, IPods and the Internet. They will never go away. Our industry needs to work together to utilize these tools to educate and keep cross stitch constantly in the eyes of the public. Teaching is needed as well. Many schools set up extra curricular classes at the end of the day and during summer for kids to learn other activities and skills. Colleges have these as well. What a great way to get the younger crowd started in cross stitch!
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Would you tell us a little about your family? I am married with 2 children, Brittany and Brian. My husband, Jeffry, is Director of Academic Computing at a college and tournament fishes on the Great Lakes in his spare time.
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Outside of being a wife, a mother, and cross-stitch designer, do you have time to pursue other interests or hobbies? If so, what do you enjoy? I enjoy the outdoors and love to go camping, boating, biking and doing yard work. It is great exercise. I enjoy this as much as I can for it seems here in Northern Ohio, nice warm weather doesn’t last long. I hate going out in the cold and do not like reading. I am a visual person and if the book doesn’t have pictures, I don’t want anything to do with it. LOL! So, I do most of my designing during the winter months.
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What’s your professional area of expertise outside of creating cross-stitch designs? I do have a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics, so you could say I am good at Math. I love Algebra. I have also worked with computers for many years now. I remember the old DOS and when local BBS boards were being created. With my knowledge of math, art and computers, this allows me to work on everything that is needed to run Brittercup Designs. Web designing, photography, modifying photographs, designing leaflet/catalog/ advertisement layouts, and preparing all files for our BW and 4-color commercial print runs. These are just some of the things I do. I am a nerd and proud of it! LOL!
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What do you feel are some advantages for stitchers in purchasing their supplies from an independently owned needleart shop as opposed to a large chain store? LOTS! Independent Needleart shops are more educated on our industry so they can and are able to answer all of their customers’ questions, carry more of a variety of supplies that are wonderful to stitch with , hold stitching retreats, run special events like fun nights, have classes for different levels and types of stitching, hold trunk shows where customers can see lots of models from their favorite designer and other designers they may not know about, special order supplies and provide that personal touch with their customers. One just cannot get all this from a large chain store.
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What makes you break out into hysterical, side splitting laughter? Doesn’t take much to get me laughing. I like funny stories and teasing our cats with a laser pen! At one time, we had a neighbor that ran to our house screaming hysterically about a coyote in her back yard. Come to find out, it was just a family of fox! I swore one day I was going to get a coyote call, wait until night time and use it close to her house. I never did, but thinking about doing that still cracks me up!!
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Do you have a favorite recipe from the Lash kitchen you could share with our readers?
Yes I do. Take a bowl and fill it up with your favorite kind of breakfast cereal (cinnamon toast crunch preferred) and top it off with milk! And some soft batch chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Yum Yum!! I do not cook much. My husband loves to cook so he does most of it. Heck, I recently turned hard boiled eggs into charcoal! Took all day to air out the house. LOL! ;)
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