March's Featured Maker

March's Featured Maker

We made it to March and Spring is in the air! We are working hard at curating our Spring/Summer collection and are so excited to share everything with you very soon. Stay tuned for the Spring/Summer launch. This is the second in Salt and Branch's series of "Featured Maker" posts.  Today we are doing a Q & A with Stacey Haynes from Anchored Soul Designs. We sell only a handful of her signs like these gorgeous Beach House signs. Take a few minutes to get to know more about Stacey and her business. 

Q &A

1) Tell us about what you do (name, type of business).

Hey! I’m Stacey Haynes, and I’m the owner and designer behind Anchored Soul Designs. I make hand painted signs on reclaimed wood with a coastal farmhouse style! I live in a “beach house” in Nashville, TN with my husband Ray and our two girls, until we can actually live by the sea. :)

2) How long have you been making your products and how did you get started?

I started 9 years ago making beach signs just for myself and my best friend. We both live hours from the beach, but have always made it a point to take beach trips together. We had a hard time finding the right look for the beach signs we wanted for our homes ones that didn’t look cheaply made and exact copies of the same everywhere we went. After making several for the two of us, I began posting them online, and it just went from there! People began asking me to make other things, and I began selling at markets and in shops.

3) What is your favorite part of the creative process? Least favorite?

My favorite part of creating is the dreaming- taking trips to get inspired, actually sketching out and writing out ideas, and first painting them. My least favorite part is shipping out what I create! I try to hand that off as much as possible!

4) From where do you draw your inspiration to create your products?

Of course from the beach, but also from textures and colors in nature. I often am inspired anywhere I go, whether it’s seeing ocean waves or sitting in church singing a hymn. With the craziness of everyday life, I crave simplicity and therefore I find myself seeking out simple but meaningful designs and things to add to my own home and my products.

5) What values does your business embody?

I value home as a place of peace and rest for my family, and I try to convey that in my business as well. Words can have such meaning and emotion behind them. Even a word like beach or home, brings up peaceful and cozy feelings, that can soothe the soul. My business is also a complete family adventure. Keeping my family involved in all aspects is so important to me, so that my kids see it is possible to do anything! All of us in my immediate family are involved (the kids will help paint and carry signs up and down the stairs!), and often our extended family pitches in. My faith is also extremely important to me, and in my business. I love adding scripture verses or small words around my home, and to my product lines. Community and surrounding myself with like minded creatives who hold the same values is also so important to me.

6) Is your business a full time or part time venture? Do you have plans to grow/expand?

It’s completely full time (and then some!!) for myself, and part time for my husband. We definitely have plans to grow much further, and hopefully bring more people along with us! We are looking into expanding into other product lines that stay in the same theme of beach, family and home.

7) There are many challenges that come along with running a small business. What is your biggest challenge and what is your biggest reward or success?

My biggest challenge is knowing when to stop and rest. While I love creating a place of rest in my own home and in others, I love to work and love what I do, so I have to remind myself to slow down. But at the same time the reward is the freedom that having your own business gives you. I can rearrange my schedule to take the day off with a sick kid or to go on a field trip, or to travel at any time myself as well. I think my biggest success thus far has been standing back up after failures. I’ve not been afraid to try new things, even when those things don’t always work. Some big projects I’ve taken on looked like utter failures at first, but I’m just now seeing the benefits of putting myself and my business out there. You can’t succeed if you don’t try, and I’m not afraid of trying!

8) How do you spend your time when you aren’t creating?

I feel like I’m always doing something creative! Even if it’s just painting my own furniture, cooking or doing crafts with my kids. We love traveling to the beach, and if we were closer, that’s where I’d spend all my time not creating! We spend a lot of time as a family playing games, and even though it’s not the ocean we do LOVE Nashville and love exploring our city.

9) Salt and Branch sells only a few of your products. Where can people go to find more of your products?

We love more than anything when customers support the small shops carrying our products like Salt and Branch! You can also find us online at anchoredsouldesigns.com, on Instagram @anchoredsoulsigns and on Facebook as “Anchored Soul Designs”

10) Is there anything I didn’t ask that you would like readers to know?

I absolutely love connecting with shop owners, makers, and my customers. It’s those relationships that make everything we do worthwhile. When we all support each other, share each other, and build each other up we all succeed more. I’ve loved watching Salt and Branch grow because the more our shop owners succeed, the more we do. The more people we reach with our signs. To me, our signs are not just home decor. Every single one is different and unique because of the nature of old wood that we use, just like each and every customer is different and unique. If the words that I paint can help make your world a little brighter, a little more beautiful and meaningful, then they have served their purpose, and I am living out my purpose. Even in a crazy world, a kind word, a painted sentiment, can make a difference whether it is painted on a sign or spoken from our hearts out loud. And I will attempt to both speak and paint beautiful things as long as I can!

      

     

Thank you Stacey! We appreciate your kind words and support. Sign up for our monthly newsletter and receive 15% of the Anchored Soul Design signs that we sell. We also send out special sale discount codes to newsletter subscribers. We'd love to read your comments about this blog series below. If you enjoy the blog please share on social media and tag @saltandbranch!

Go check out the rest of Anchored Soul Designs' signs at anchoredsouldesigns.com

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