wacotrib.com:
Kristiana Reinhart’s kitchen table is piled high with folded fabric. A tower of textiles in bright colors and modern designs leans toward her sewing machine, where it will eventually become stylish baby bibs, changing pads or dish towels.
“Thank God we have a dining room because we don’t eat here anymore,” said Reinhart, 34. The breakfast nook in Reinhart’s house is now home to krispy banana kids, boutique apparel and accessories for baby – minus the boutique. Reinhart, like a handful of other local crafters and thousands of crafters worldwide, sells her homemade goods on Etsy.com.
Fiercely popular with fans, yet completely unknown to many, Etsy.com, a Web site for selling anything homemade or vintage, still enjoys a certain “best-kept secret” quality. You can buy handmade jewelry from Ireland, while a peddler in Idaho hawks her original aprons to the world. But even better than that, Etsy offers a shop local feature allowing another way for shoppers to find and support local artisans.
“Just being on Etsy, I get so much more traffic than I could get on my Web site,” said Reinhart, who devotes about 30 hours a week to krispy banana kids!, especially this time of year. She began selling Jan. 1. “I love Etsy so much, I could kick myself for not selling on it earlier.”
Logo from Krispy Banana Kids!