There’s two of us, and yes, we really are sisters. It’s not just a gimmick for the shop name, but we do keep a running tally at craft shows as to just how many people ask us if we’re sisters.
We’ve been together since the beginning when we grew up in small-town Ohio. Now, I’m not talking super tiny – there was more than one stop light. But you can make the drive through the full downtown area in under a minute and thirty seconds unless you happen to hit one of the two red lights there or you stop at the ice cream shop (you should, it’s fantastic). And before you ask, yes there are corn fields and yes, we’ve run through them.
But back to the sisters … there’s two of us, Stefanie and Amanda. I’m Stefanie, the voice behind the content here on the blog and our social media accounts. I’m older by just over three years and I’m also three inches taller (trust me, that’s a big deal in our family of chronically short women). Amanda is the younger (shorter) sister. It was her initial artwork that led to the inspiration for and the creation of our shop in the first place. Of course, they always say not to go into business with family. Or do they say it’s best to go into business with family? I’m not totally sure, but I know that it’s been working out great for us so far!
We started our shop in 2019, but it was in the works long before that. Our mom instilled in us a love of art from the very beginning. We were those kids that were constantly winning coloring contests at the local convenience store and our gifts at holidays almost always included new art supplies or craft kits. High school electives? Those were art classes, of course.
The Sister Sister Shop is rooted in our desire to stay connected. Once we grew up, we both moved to big cities and now live three states away from each other. Sure, cell phones and video calls make it easy to talk to each other, we get it. But it wasn’t enough to bridge the 500 mile gap to our liking.
This whole thing started with a Christmas gift. Amanda got bit by the creative bug one holiday season and she crafted two signs. This was on the heels of her crafting an American flag out of palett strips (when she was asked about what inspired that one, she said “Well, someone wanted one and I said I thought I could do it, so I figured it out.”) The two signs she created for Christmas were for me and my daughter – one was an inspirational quote and the other was the growth chart that we’d eventually list in our shop.
After that Christmas, we realized that while we both loved our day jobs, we also still held onto that passion for creating things. We opened our Etsy shop two months later when we figured out that the business was a way for us to stay connected through something that we both love no matter what directions our lives take us.
We’re inspired to create things that we’d like to see in our own homes or to give as gifts to family and friends. We like to think about what would bring joy to those close to us. And yes, we’re two sisters running what some people would call a hobby. We aren’t pumping out signs from a warehouse and we aren’t swimming in orders. The cutting and sanding happens in our garages. Painting happens between our day-to-day activities, our trips to the gym or the grocery store, or caring for our families. Our goal is to continue to grow and share our creations with people both near and far. We want to send a positive message with each piece we create so that you can bring joy into your home décor just as we do with ours. Our business is rooted in love and we want to share that with you!