Creative Babes, Vol. 6: Tanie Laramie
It’s time for another edition of Creative Babes. And this week we meet Tanie Laramie, the gal behind Unicorn Parade. Tanie is an etsy shop owner, blogger, photographer, and so much more. She makes these really cool custom banners with funny and interesting sayings on them, plus some plush decorations and other neat stuff. Read more about her in the interview below.
When and why did you first decide to open your shop?
I kind of opened the shop in degrees. I first started it in 2010, to sell prints of a picture my older daughter and I had drawn together (I put the money into her college fund). After the prints I sold paper pennant bunting, but it wasn’t until my friend Sarah suggested glittery banners spelling out words and messages that the shop really took off. For me it’s kind of an outlet & excuse for all my creative endeavours; the money I make selling things enables me to buy supplies to make more things, and also keeps my house from being totally overtaken by piles of craft projects.
How did you come up with the name Unicorn Parade?
Haha the truth is I don’t remember! Back when I was starting my blog I was struggling to come up with a name, and when I finally thought of something and went to register on wordpress.com I got an error message that there was already an account registered with my email address. This was Unicorn Parade; I’d registered it like six months earlier and never used it and forgotten about it. I figured WHAT THE HECK and went with it, and it became my shop name as well.
What is your favorite item to make for your shop?
I make a lot of the same banners over and over and it can get a little repetitive, so my favourite items to make are actually custom banners. I like to see what kind of weird jokes people want to hang up in their house and the different colour combinations the come up. I like when a banner has unique shapes that can be challenging to figure out the best way to make, and working with each customer to create something that makes them happy is immensely gratifying.
How do you come up with the inspiration for your products?
I’m inspired by music, books, and sometimes just colours; I’ll look at my stash of glitter and think about which ones would look good together. I’m also inspired by my mood. I came up with the “What Is The Point” banner, one of my best sellers, when I was in a terrible mood and was feeling creatively stifled, and I made it the multicoloured gradient because I thought the juxtaposition of the colourful glitter with the bleak message was funny (so funny that it actually cured by bad mood).
Do you have any creative hobbies aside from running your shop?
So many! I consider my blog & the photography I do for it to be creative. I also paint and draw, sew, do embroidery, shoe- and costume-making, etc etc. Most of my creative hobbies end up in the shop though, and I recently launched a secondary line of hand sewn/embroidered leather, suede and felt goods It’s called Little Mountain by Unicorn Parade and so far it includes little trees, clouds and mountains as well as little leather pouches and soon, baby shoes and boots.
What are your favorite pizza toppings?
Goat cheese & spinach!
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I’d like to thank Tanie for being part of this feature. For any other interested babes, you can email me at wattlebirddesigns at gmail dot com to be in a future creative babes post. And be sure to visit Tanie’s blog, shop, and other links below!
