Hello and welcome! My name is Heather, and I'm also known as Mango, and ParanormalMango (on YouTube).
Non crafting about me: I am a 33 year old with a 5 year old hyper daughter. Happily married for 7 years, and we've got one cat, and one hedgehog! A 4 year old calico named Tortellini Alfraidy Cat, and a 1 year old hedgehog named Mata Hari. You can see these gals in action on Tiktok under the name: tortieandmata. My favorite colors are purple and green. My favorite food is potato anything. I am 4th generation in the US, my family migrated from Hungary.
A little about me: I have worked at 3 different retail craft stores for 4 different companies. In 2011 I worked seasonal at Jo-Ann Fabrics but they could not keep seasonal hires after Christmas. In 2016, I got hired in as a key carrier (assistant manager) at Pat Catan's; a Midwest small craft chain that owned the craft brand name Darice. Shortly after that, Michael's bought the craft chain out and by 2019 they closed all 36 stores, leaving thousands of Pat Catan's employees jobless. Needless to say, I do not shop at Michaels. In April of 2019, I left Pat Catan's and the stressful manager job behind (including the horrible boss that ran the store I'd worked at) and joined the team at Hobby Lobby. I worked at Hob Lob as a part time associate until Thanksgiving of 2023. I tried for nearly 5 years to get the lead framer position, but right before I went on leave in January 2023 for surgery, I discovered (wasn't told, I had to corner the manager) that the lead framer position had been given to one of my coworkers; one who'd never framed a thing in her life, and the real kicker? She couldn't read a measuring tape! Even after 10 months, it still stung like you wouldn't believe. Unfortuntely, I cannot survive on just my small business alone at this point; and despite all this, honestly, it was still somehow the best retail job I've had. I had other jobs before and between the craft jobs; Kmart, Sleeping Tiger Imports, Big Lots. However, I grew tired of being told to "improve my performance" without being told what needed to be fixed; even when I flat out asked the manager what needed to be improved, he never had a straight answer. After black friday weekend of 2023, I left retail behind me and began a whole new work adventure. I now currently work as an educational assistant at a local elementary school and I no longer wake up wishing I were sick just so I didn't have to go to work. Plus now I can have whatever color hair I want!
When did I start crafting? I honestly couldn't tell you for sure! I've had craft supplies for as far back as I can remember! I remember at age 3, I had beads and sequins from my Grandma.
When did I start creating to sell? I started selling my creations when I was 16, under the name MangoZone through storenvy. After a short while I closed shop since it didn't really draw any attention back then. I never stopped creating though! I kept at it, mostly commissions either in person or through PayPal.
Rebranding to LCS: During the 2020 lockdown, I got bored and had realized that my craft room was over flowing with supplies and creations. I decided to give Etsy a go again. I officially opened shop May 17th 2020 and within a half hour, my first sale was to none other than MrCreepyPasta!
What forms of payment do you take? The easier question is which ones don't I accept? Pretty much, PayPal is the only one I don't accept on my website. They unfortunately showed their true colors the week of Christmas 2022 when they attempted to double charge me for a payment I'd done through them with a fellow small business. It was not my friend who'd done it, but Paypal themselves. They attempted 3 times to take the money that had already been added to my account for the payment, costing me $90 in bank overdraft fees with less than 7 days before Christmas! Their customer service people kept me on hold for over 30 minutes, only to hang up on me and not help with the issue. I had to go to my bank and pay for a stop payment to block PayPal from attempting to further take my money. So, unfortunately, I won't be accepting payments through them ever again. After over 16 years using PayPal, I shut my account down that Christmas and never looked back!
I digress. The forms of payments accepted through my website are: credit and debit cards (run through the company Stripe; which I've never had an issue with to date, and I've had and account with them since way back in my Storenvy days! Big Cartel also has a form of after pay where you make 4 intrest free payments bi-weekly. Although, I cannot remember which service they use as there's three or four of them out there these days! I can say that I have a regular customer who uses them with every purchase she makes and she's never had an issue with them. I do also have a tiktok storefront, which accepts apple pay. Username: LittleCraftiesStore.
Where do you get your pony beads from? I buy almost all of my beads from beadtin! A small business based out of Florida that makes most of their beads here in the US! I highly recommend them as a source for your pony beads and many specialty beads! Of the dozens upon dozens of orders I've placed with them, I only ever had 2 issues and they very quickly (within 24 hours) resolved the issue with zero hassle!
Why would you tell people where you get your beads from? Because it benefits me in the long run. The more people who know about beadtin, and the more people who choose to buy from them supports them and keeps them in business. Them being in business keeps me in business! They make most of their beads here in the US, and they're technically still a small business as they only have the one warehouse. Plus, they take great care of their employees from what I've seen! So, in the end; go buy your loose beads from beadtin if you need lots of the same color beads! With over 150 colors to choose from in hundreds of shapes and sizes, it's hard not to find what you need on their site! Plus, they're a small business here in the US!
Why Big Cartel? Short answer: I grew tired of the ever increasing fees on etsy. My friend Lavendar Sprinkles suggest BC and so here I am! Big Cartel was also my choice after I discovered that the way they have their sale hosting set up, they take care of the sales tax portion of running a small business. They auto calculate it for me and remit it to the IRS so I don't have to figure it out later on. Plus, the read out at the end of the year for doing my taxes is super easy to understand and find the numbers that I need. I had browsed many different host sites, but the others didn't have the tax help that Big Cartel has.
Do you take custom requests? Yes, within reason and my ability! Feel free to contact me and we can discuss your request! My momma, who makes the crochet stuff, also takes custom requests on her crochet work. Again, within reason and her ability. The same can be said for my husband and his woodworking! He can also take requests, as long as its within his ability to woodburn and stain. Please, when considering a custom request, please use the contact form to send us a message about it before placing an order! We want to be sure we can create what you want before you purchase.