Meet Blair Christianson | Artist & Small Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Blair Christianson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Blair, what’s the most important thing you’ve done for your children?
I would have to say that working as hard as I have to turn my little side hobby into a full-time business, has likely had the biggest impact on my children. And this is because I am able to be there for them at all times because of having the ability to work from home and set my own schedule. When we first had them, my husband made peanuts at his job (he now makes 3x as much) and my income was essential. I barely even took a week break from making orders when I had my twins, and I was on a daily mission to turn my business into a success. At that time it was an ego thing I think, but as I look back on it, it was a blessing for my children. It was because I worked so hard at home that they had their mother with them through all of their early development. If it weren’t for my Etsy shop becoming a full time income, I certainly would have had to work outside of the home and my children would have spent a lot of time in the care of others. And that is not a bad thing, but it has just always been a goal of mine to be that Mom who is able to be there for absolutely everything, the mom who does car line drop off, room mom at school, cooks dinner every night and so on. My own drive to essentially be June Cleaver but also bring in an income to contribute financially, benefited my children most. I’m a huge believer that a present and active mom and dad are the most important things in a child’s life. And this is all not to say that it’s been a hundred percent sunshine and rainbows. Often my boys think that all I want to do is work because they see me in my office at home having to get work done a lot of times when they want me to be doing something else. They don’t say this about my husband because with children it is very much out of sight out of mind. So although I’m actually physically here more than him, they don’t recognize that he works as much because they don’t actually see him working instead of playing with them, he’s just not there at that moment. I also never get to leave my work at the office, I take every part of my work so seriously and it can be more stressful and overwhelming than I ever thought before I was in it. But at the end of the day, all of the hard parts are so worth the benefit of being able to be around at all times for my kids.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
It feels crazy to even say this but I have now had my Etsy shop for 9 years! I think the word that would most describe my work in this last 9 years, would be “evolve.” I have changed up my vision multiple times, and to be totally honest, I am currently on the precipice of another evolution! When I first started my shop, it was more for a creative outlet. I’ve ALWAYS been a creative person and my career as an executive assistant at that time just was leaving me extremely unfulfilled. So I started making cute and fun hand lettered prints of song lyrics and quotes and other little things. My initial pictures were horrible, taken at night propped up on my bed, lol they could not have been worse! But I kept trying to learn how to improve and of course initially realized how important photos are and how much better I needed to do in that area. So I started selling a few things here and there but it was never enough to be a full time income. A nice side income though. Then when I got married, I made my own flower crown for the wedding, and that inspired a vision in me to start making boho-themed items in my shop like flower crowns and dreamcatchers! I watched YouTube videos to learn how to do an authentic dreamcatcher web and decided to add florals to them to make them more my style. Everyone does that now but back then, I think I was in the first wave of creators adding florals to dreamcatchers. It was the dreamcatchers that really took off and started bringing in a lot more sales than I was used to. Once I had my twins and couldn’t go back to work out of the home full time due to daycare cost, I used the time at home with my babies to make so many more items and build up my shop inventory. Business just got bigger and bigger! A few years into doing the dreamcatchers and flower crowns, I was asked one day if I could make some bouquets for a wedding. I was nervous but I did it and from there came my next wave. I started making pretty unique boho bouquets and taking fun photo shoots with them, and once my bouquets were seen more, I began getting the requests for full wedding package items like boutonnieres, bridesmaid bouquets, arbor arrangements and more, and that led to what has become my biggest revenue maker to date, which is fully custom wedding packages. And since the wedding items have gotten so much bigger, a lot of my other items have taken a dive in sales. It’s really interesting to see how the trends fall and what people are and aren’t buying more of at certain times.

My love of floral design is definitely something that I want to continue to incorporate into my work forever, but as I said I am currently at a new crossroads, like I’ve been before when I’ve gone from hand lettering to dreamcatchers to bouquets. I am currently 8 months pregnant and will be taking some time off when my baby arrives, I see this as the blessing I’ve been looking for, because I’ve felt in limbo for over a year now. I’m so happy that my business has done so well, but I’m losing the love for what I do by just doing wedding packages constantly, not to mention that I’m just truly burnt out from the overwhelming business that came from covid and lockdown related issues. After designing my daughter’s nursery, it has occurred to me that I feel a true calling from interior design. I get such a rush from making that vision come to life! So right now, my plan for when I come back from maternity leave, is to dive into some interior design work as well as having more ready-to-ship items in my shop. I absolutely LOVE creating one of a kind bouquets and wall decor and wedding arrangements, but its all of the custom/made to order business that is killing my creativity. I want to create what comes out of me, make it available to those who love it and go from there. I want to only make what lights my fire again. This isn’t to say that I wont do any wedding packages any more but I’m definitely restructuring and aiming for that to be a much smaller part of my business from here on out. I am SO excited to venture into new territory and feel that daily spark of creativity again! I think it only makes sense to let go of what you can tell is draining you and cling to what feels like a lifesaver, and that is what I plan to do with this shop shake-up! I think buyers are going to be so excited with items that I have on my to do list!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well this is a tough one since I dont get out as much as some people with two 7-year olds at home LOL! But our little town of Acworth does certainly have some gems, our personal favorite being Lake Allatoona! We are jet ski people and have always spent a lot of time at the lake riding jet skis and stand up paddleboarding! Aside from lake fun, there are some great restaurants downtown, namely Henry’s and 1885!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to dedicate my shoutout to my husband, Dustin.

Before we were even married, I cried to my husband one night about how I was so un-fulfilled in my career at that time being an executive assistant. I felt something inside of me just dying to get out but I didn’t know how to go about it. He is the most laid back person on earth and he pretty much calmly told me to just start at whatever I wanted to do. From there I started my Etsy shop making hand lettered quotes/prints/cards. I didn’t have a sale for 3 months LOL! And when I did start making sales, it was maybe 3 a month at first. But I kept making improvements and getting better. I would also do artist markets, where my husband would set up my stand for me when he could certainly be doing something more fun. Fast forward to me making my own flower crown for our wedding which inspired me to change up my shop and start making a line of boho-themed items, flower crowns, dreamcatchers, etc, and once again he was on board and supportive of whatever I wanted to do. When I was pregnant with our twins we knew I couldnt go back to work full time because of how much daycare would cost, and he never made me feel stressed about money and was so supportive of my efforts to turn my Etsy shop into a career. From selling 3 hand lettered prints a month to doing 6-figure sales years, he has been by my side and supported anything I wanted. I know my life would not be what it is without his support and I want him to know how thankful I am and how much I love him for that!

Website: www.etsy.com/shop/blairbaileydesign

Instagram: @blairbaileydesign

Image Credits
Blair Christianson