Feature Friday: Honeysuckle Rose Creations

Honeysuckle Rose Creations makes cute jewelry out of up-cycled items. I recently interviewed her to learn more about her work and inspirations:

An Interview with Honeysuckle Rose Creations

Is there a story behind your business name?I grew up in Kansas City, which is known for three things: fountains, barbecue, and jazz. My dad introduced me to jazz music as a kid and it was always my favorite genre of music. When I had to pick a name for my company, I wanted something that reflected my upbringing, but still had a fun and feminine sound to it (at the time, I was selling more contemporary jewelry, and had not moved into geek-themed quite yet). So I decided to honor my love of jazz music and my life in KC by choosing one of my favorite jazz songs of all time: Honeysuckle Rose by Django Reinhardt.What are your current short-term and/or long-term goals?Short-term, I really want to turn HRC into an actual business. Bookkeeping and financials have never been my greatest strength, and so often I just want to close the Excel spreadsheets and go back to doing more creative work. But I know that it's two sides of a coin, and if I want to keep doing this full-time, I have to treat it like an actual business. I'm grateful my fiancee is good w/ financials though, he's helped me out a lot as far as getting organized and figuring out profit vs. sales.Long-term, I want to hit the biggest conventions in the country and really make a name for myself. When I got started out, the only conventions I could do were local or where I had family/friends who agreed to put me up. Even now, majority of my shows I can only do if I travel with or split hotel costs with someone else. Thankfully, I have started networking with other artists to create a sort-of "travel union", where we discuss which shows we want to do, and which ones we can partner-up on. However, living in the Midwest makes travel hard for some of the bigger shows on the coasts (like San Diego and New York). But it's my dream to get out there and sell my jewelry with the "big dogs", so to speak.Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/HoneysuckleRoseC