eet Jahje. A wife, mother of two, and the woman behind the super creative baby mobiles at Baby Jives Co. We fell in love with her whimsical mobiles the moment we discovered her well-designed Etsy site last spring. We asked her to share her experience starting an Etsy shop and juggling motherhood with business ownership.
When did you open your shop and what inspired you to take those first steps? I opened my shop Baby Jives Co. in August 2010. After searching for a unique mobile when I was pregnant with my first child and not finding anything that really fit my needs I decided to make one myself using fabric that I had leftover from quilts I had made years ago. I loved the results and many of my friends were having babies at the same time and kept asking me to make them a mobile as well. I thought, “hmm this may be a business� so I registered my shop name
SUMMER 2012
with Etsy shortly before my son was born in January 2009 but it took me almost a year and a half to get things ready (and to get my son sleeping so I could actually work).
Where does your design inspiration come from? I find that I am most inspired by my interactions with my kids and seeing the magic of the world through their eyes. One of my recent designs was inspired by my son's favorite book Toy Boat which I have read about 100 times. After you read a book that many times you almost have it memorized so I