Slippin' Southern Finds Success at Three Months

We hit a milestone the other day with our new Etsy shop, Slippin' Southern. We have now sold more items than we have listed in our shop. And that's quite an accomplishment if you have ever been in retail. It's tough to come up with an idea and sell it to another person. It's even tougher to keep coming up with new ideas and continue selling them to others. But we've managed to get this bird off the ground and we are lifting off with 39 sales since we opened in mid January of this year!

The name Slippin' Southern comes from a conversation that my wife and I had when we first moved down to North Carolina. I grew up in the south. Over the years as a professional artist and art director I've tried to sound professional and tame my southern accent and phrases as much as possible to sound intelligent and be persuasive to others. But once we got settled here before I knew it I was "fixen" to go to the store and asking if Y'all know where something was all over again. So as my wife says "I'm "Slippin' Southern."

The initial concept of our shop is to create signs that were based on sayings that folks in the South say in their daily conversations. Examples include affectionate names like "Shug" and "Darlin" as well as names things you say to the one you love like "Luv-Ya". Of course we've received requests for several custom signs which we are very happy to do. Food is another category that is unique to the region. Grits, collards and shrimp are also staples on the Southern table.

Just a few of our Southern expressions in wood!

In addition to words we thought some shapes would be fun eye candy for the shop too like our Trophy Buck, Blue Marlins, Flying Pigs, Rabbits, Horses and Labrador Retrievers. These are great Folk Art style silhouettes we would hang in our house.

Another popular item has been our wooden letters and ampersands. Who doesn't love to see the first letter of their last name enlarged and on the mantle, bookshelf or over their bed? It's like having a modern day family crest for your castle. And ampersands, I believe, say to the world, hey, I read, I'm smart and I've made it.

My latest wooden letter was created just this week. It's from a typeface I created called Deep Fried Doughnuts. It is based on vintage advertising sign-age from Krisy Kreme Doughnuts which have always been very popular in the South. I offer two sizes of wooden letters that customers can order from this face. They are available in all of our 16 colors.

Our studio is inside the front parlor of our historic farm house in Snow Hill, North Carolina which we purchased a year and half ago. We also have two other shops which also offer our unique brand creativity and style, Middleburg and The Barn Of Middleburg. Both are at Etsy.com.

Of course we've got big plans coming soon so stay tuned. And Thanks to all our Southern friends near and far...we'll keep bringing those soft notes of the the South to you.

www.SlippinSouthern.com