This week we’d like to introduce you to Darlene who creates some awesomely cute amigurumi.
She lives in Calgary, Canada near the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Her grandmother taught her to crochet when she was a young girl and as you will see she has quite a talent for it.
We are pleased that Darlene has chosen Zibbet to operate her shop, Crochet Puffy Love.
Please enjoy the interview, leave Darlene a comment, and then use the Share tool so others can read it, too.
I’m originally from Nova Scotia, on Canada’s beautiful eastern shores. In 1986, my husband and I followed the call of the west. We sold our house and packed our few belongings in a U-Haul, loaded our children in our good old station wagon and headed west. Our daughter Linda was 6, Andrew was 18 months and baby Steven was 6 weeks old. It was a very interesting and challenging adventure. We landed in Calgary, Alberta and still call this home, although I admit to the occasional pang of homesickness for the east coast.My husband and best friend Kerry and I have been married for over 30 years and he is my greatest fan and supporter. Along with our grown children who all live here in Calgary, we share our home with two cute little puppies, Pedro and Chica. We are in the process of starting up a doggie daycare and boarding center.I just found out I’m going to be a mother-in-law to a beautiful young lady named Tina and I’m thrilled that she’s going to become a member of the family. 
We have a beautiful waterfall and pond in our back yard. I enjoy sitting out there, listening to the water and watching the birds drink and bathe in it. It’s also a great place to read or crochet. I love that crocheting is so mobile. I can do it almost anywhere. I’ve taken it along on our annual mother/daughter camping trip, enjoying it while sitting around a cozy campfire. Since opening my Zibbet store, I’ve become more of a computer surfer. I’ve set up a blog and a twitter account, as well as a facebook page for my store. I’ve been slowly learning the ins and outs of these sites. I enjoy puzzles, crosswords, and suduko. I never get tired of visiting the beautiful Rocky Mountains, which are a scenic 2 hour drive from our Calgary home. Working in my flower gardens is a peaceful way to spend time. I do wish, though, that our summers would last longer and we’d have more of a growing season. Calgary has been subjected to freak snowstorms in every month of the year at one time or another!
I’ve always been crafty and need something to keep my hands busy. I took up crocheting after many years absence after I became ill and housebound. It was great therapy and I enjoyed it. Once I discovered amigurumi, I was hooked (pun intended) and I haven’t looked back since. I look up to my husband, he’s my best friend and my sounding board. I can ask him about anything and get strong, encouraging advice. I also admire people who follow their dreams, who stand up to their beliefs, and try to make the world a better place by their presence. My husband and my family are my great passions.
The supportiveness of everyone. It’s a great community and such an encouraging and supportive site. I love the ease of setting up and maintaining items in my store. And any time I have questions, there’s always someone more than willing to help. At this point, I’m still learning all that I can do in Zibbet and find it so helpful. I’m really quite satisfied with the way it is currently. That’s not to say that I won’t appreciate some of the new changes that are coming, just that I’m not aware yet of what would be an improvement. I think that’s one of the things I really like about Zibbet, they’re working to make it better and provide us with services even before some of us realize that we could use these things. I took the internet plunge and set up a blog and a facebook account. I also use twitter but mostly promote other’s work. I still have a hard time ‘blowing my own horn’. Just recently my sister-in-law offered to sell some of my work in her brick and mortar store. I’m really excited about that. 
She lives in Prince George, BC Canada, and her store is called ‘Around the Corner’. See, there I am, promoting someone else, lol. I also contribute samples and coupons to the Sample ZBox shop. It’s a great promotion deal and Becky does a great job with it. Everyone should check it out.I’ve been absent from the site for a while due to some health issues and I’m trying to get back into promoting my shop better. It’s hard – I’d rather crochet than promote, but I know that my work won’t sell itself – I have to make sure people find my shop.Upgrade your account to premium if you can – it’s a really great deal and the benefits are great – you can list as many items as you want, you can post more photos, and gift categories, and many other great features.
Another important thing is to make your store professional, use good quality photos. Treat your shop the same as you would a brick and mortar shop.Be a part of the community, use the forums to promote and share with others, ask questions, and just be involved.Rich and famous and queen of the world. Well, along with that, I’d like to have my days filled with custom crochet orders, keeping me busy with my yarn. I’ve also started designing my own patterns. I’d love to publish a book of my own patterns someday. That would be great. Tags: Crochet Puffy Love, Featured Zibbeters
