Interview

I'm turning in my profile for our Etsy Texas Crafters Membership booklet today. It's going to be a CD of profiles of all the members and we'll use it as a promotional tool. Here are the questions and what I wrote:

Etsy User Name: Scribbles

Tell us a bit about yourself (name, location, affiliations, achievements/awards, and any personal stuff you want to share).

My name is Mandi Flint and I'm a right handed Leo born in the year of the boar. I'm a hippie-liberal type from Austin, who went to school at Texas A&M for a history degree, then moved to Dallas. I'm an artist, peace activist, feminist, and I have a bead addiction. I've been beading since I was 10 when my grandma gave me her loom. I had my first jewelry show at age 12, nearly sold out, and made $78. I thought I was rich! Lately I've experimenting with other ways to use beads besides jewelry. I love writing, so I was already a fan of the G2 Pilot Pens for the fun colors and the smooth gel ink. The only problem was they looked so ordinary. I combined the pens with my passion for beading and BANG, Scribble Scrabble Beaded Pens was born.

Are you an Etsy Buyer, Seller, or Both? both

What is the first thing you can remember making by hand? How and why did you make it?

That’s a hard one, so I’m glad it’s the first thing you remember making. My grandma taught me to sew at a very early age. She got me a book that had several sewing projects in it. I think the first was a bag to keep all my sewing supplies in. She allowed me to choose any fabric from her large and deliciously colorful stash. I chose a green fabric that had big pink hibiscuses on it. I think I still have it somewhere!

Why do you create?

I create because it’s a meditative freedom. My mind and creativity are free to go anywhere they want without hindrance. Whatever I’m feeling goes into what I’m making, and I love that I can just lose myself in it.

What inspires you? Where do your ideas come from?

I’m deeply inspired by other artists and the stories behind their work. I’m also inspired by nature, color, feelings, even books.

What are your favorite materials?

Beads; with the definition of beads being anything that has a hole through it :)

What is your favorite color?

Purple

What are your most and least two favorite films? My favorite is a toss up between Boondock Saints and Pulp Fiction. My least favorite film has to be What Dreams May Come just because I don’t like the way it affected me.

What are you reading right now?

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things. It’s really changing how I look at things and what I choose to buy. It gives the word consumer a whole new meaning.

What is your favorite item you have purchased on Etsy?

I’m going to go with my red velvet cupcake pin cushion! My beading needles just weren’t happy with the boring old tomato pin cushion.

Now I have to choose which photos I'd like included!