Feature Artist

Here is another fun Etsy Seller for all of you to learn about. StaceyJean.com. Be sure to stop by her shop when you get a moment...you'll find the cutest items there.

Why did you start making sock monkeys?

I actually hadn't planned to make them the way I am now. The very first one I made was intended just to see what all the "fuss" was about these little guys. After that, it just kind of evolved. I put one on etsy and it sold within an hour. Next thing I knew, I was modifying them into my own styles, and using fuzzy socks and creating a sort of monkey empire.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Everywhere. I've been crafting since I was really little. My mom was always sewing and making stuff. Crafting is something that goes a long way back in my family. Because I was kind of born into it, I learned young how to take something I see and use it as inspiration. For the monkeys, socks just kind of speak to me. I'll see a pair of socks, and they will just beg to become a monkey or a cow, bear, or other animals I'm working on. I don't even wear socks. I live in Southern Cali, so I live in flip flops year around. I don't think I look at socks the way most people see them.

What other kind of art/craft do you do?

I've had my hand in everything. I own a lot of beads, beading, sewing and polymer clay are three things that I do more than anything else. But I try to keep my skills versatile by learning new crafts. I took up resin casting recently. I have a lot of ideas for it, it's a skill. My degree is in Media Design. Design is something that plays into so many aspects of art and crafting. I would say the reason I do most all of the things I do comes down to design. I just love to think up designs and then make them real.

Who if anyone has been instrumental in helping you hone your craft?

My mom. Definitely. She taught me to sew really young. I really didn't get good at it until a few years ago, but I think all the seeds that she planted when I was a child really just started to bloom as a teenager. She's always encouraged me and believed in me. She was always giving me some new art project at Christmas, too. I think I've done almost every Roseart kit known to children of the 90s. At the end of the day, I think that the best thing to have, are people that believe in you. I can attribute a lot of my success to my family and friends, for truly believing in me.