Latest / The Hands That Make / S1 E1 : Sarah, Rowe’s Room ~ Craftsmanship, Priorities, and Turning a Hobby Into a Full-Time Job
Transcript
- Casey: Hi, and welcome to the Hands That Make, a podcast for conversations about making things, running businesses, and raising our kids all at the same time. I'm Casey, owner, designer, quilter, and the hands behind summer floral linen, a small quilting boutique specializing in heirloom quilts, patterns, and timeless fabric. I started my business in the early years of motherhood, and I've been so inspired by other moms running creative businesses in the margins of motherhood, and I love hearing what their motherhood, creativity, and business journeys have looked like for them. for our very first episode, I'm joined by Sarah of Rose Room. Sarah makes thoughtful, intentional, hand-embroidered keepsakes that preserve the precious moments of our lives from handwritten words and our children's names to hand embroidered. here for too Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I'm excited. Yeah. Whatever you want to talk about. Casey: Yeah, awesome. Well let's start with you. And so who are you? what makes you you where I guess let's start with you outside of business and then we'll get into your business. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Okay. okay, so I'm Sarah. honestly a lot of who I am outside of my business is a mom. I just transitioned to being a stay at home mom, so it really does feel like my whole personality right now. but outside of that, you know, I'm just I love just being creative and making things beautiful and like I'm always shopping for home decor. Or starting a project or keeping myself busy when I have no business being busy or busier. so that's really who I Casey: So so relatable. Sarah - Rowe's Room: my whole personality is truly just like being a mom and making my house beautiful. I'm such a homebody. I always I love hosting people. I love having people over all the time. my family, my sisters especially. So that's that's me. Casey: Yeah, I I feel like everything that I see that you're making is so beautiful and I love the hutch that you just got and I can't wait to see like how you style it. It's it's it's gorgeous. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Thank you. No. My whole personality right now. Like I I was actually like having a bad day and I was like, I don't wanna go anywhere, I don't wanna do anything. And then I was like, I should probably, you know, try to get out there. It's nice weather, it's gonna be winter in Canada soon and we're gonna have six months of snow, so I should enjoy the day. What would make me happy? Go in my favorite antique store and Yeah, apparently it had been out there the hatch that I got for a day, and I was like, Yeah, it's mine. I'm going home with it. Casey: Yeah, was meant to be. Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Casey: I love that. So yeah, what's your what's your business? What do you make? How long have you how long have you been doing Rose Room? Sarah - Rowe's Room: So my business is I make keepsakes. specifically with embroidery. Saying that I do embroidery just feels too simple, you know? I I really do try to bring the most sentimental parts of your life into something that can be made beautiful into your home. into like that's what my business is. I've been doing it for like unofficially for just over a year. And by unofficially I mean like I had no processes. I was just like posting on Facebook Marketplace. It was a hobby for about three months. it accidentally blew up. Like I didn't really intend for this to happen. so around January of twenty twenty six was when it was just like I either had to decide this was gonna be something I was gonna put a lot of energy into because it had the potential or I had to let it go for my corporate job. so a year later I decided to put all my energy into it and here we Casey: I love that. Sarah - Rowe's Room: are today. Casey: So what was that that point for you? what did that feel like? when you're like, okay, maybe this could be something. Maybe maybe I should give this a try. Sarah - Rowe's Room: It's so funny because the reason that I started doing it, I started doing it for Rowan's baby shower. I just wanted to bring something like personal. and the embroidery that I wanted was too expensive for me to afford, and so I was like, I think that I can just try to do this myself. so I did it myself and it took me three months to like figure it out, but I did it. and I had like these personalized keepsakes for everybody that attended the baby shower. And then I didn't touch embroidery for like another year. but going through postpartum and I'm in Canada, so I had an eighteen month MAT leave and it was like literally the best eighteen months of my entire life. And I was trying to think about You know, what are things that can keep my hands busy, can like keep my mind busy, can give me something to look forward to outside of just being a mom, and also give me like a few extra dollars because I've had no income for eighteen months. And so like that was like the original intention. So when I had posted it on Facebook Marketplace and I was getting like ten orders a day. I was expecting I remember telling my husband specifically we had this conversation. I was like, if I can do one a week, I was selling them for like forty dollars at the time. I was like, then like me and Rowan can go for like a special lunch once a week. Like, wouldn't that be so cool if I could sell one a week? and then I literally couldn't keep up from the very beginning. So the feeling was Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: very like I don't really know how to explain it. I was like, I felt amazing because I've always been a creative person. I've always had small hobbies and small businesses and they've never really blown up like this. And so it really validated that maybe I do have some sort of vision, maybe I do have some sort of skill and maybe like I do have something to offer people. And so that was really cool to experience, especially through motherhood when you're really questioning that. So Yeah, there was a lot of feelings around it. It's a lot more complex than just like, you know, I posted something and it did well. So yeah. Casey: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I feel like it having a similar moment of wait, maybe maybe I should just give it a try. And like it's I don't know, there's like it's like a looming excitement, but like there's so much unknown 'cause it could just at least for me it was like it could just be nothing and I could just move on with my life. But it's like but also maybe this could change my life. I don't know. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Right. And that's exactly what it was for me. I was like maybe maybe this is just something to keep my hands busy through motherhood, Casey: Yep. Sarah - Rowe's Room: you know? And that's enough for me, if that's what it was. But Casey: Yeah, definitely. Sarah - Rowe's Room: no, it turned into so much more and I'm so happy that it did. Casey: like quite literally life changing, which is I think it's so inspiring Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yep. Casey: and encouraging and I think there's I think there's so many other mothers experiencing such a same pull to creativity and question of maybe maybe I should just try something and I think it's really it's really amazing to see how that like journey has grown for you so quickly too. January twenty twenty six, we're not even the year's not even done yet. That's Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Casey: yeah, that's quite amazing. So Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah, it's it's interesting because in hindsight it made perfect sense. You know, like this is Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: something that I always should have been doing probably. and I just like hadn't really like found that pathway yet. So it's interesting that you say like so many mothers are like pulled to creativity and if you can really find a way to put like little pieces of your life together that already exist and already make sense, like that thing is out there for you. You know, like that's what I Casey: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I feel like maybe even at least for me, it takes a little bit to maybe find that thing. feeling just maybe like a creat a creative person, having so many outlets and so many things that you like to do, and then all of a sudden you find one that feels different. At least that's what quilting was for me. this feels different than the other the other hobbies that I've tried before. That I I can't really explain it. Sarah - Rowe's Room: No, I totally agree because like sometimes I would I'd have a hobby that I would like. But it would very quickly get old, I'd be like, Okay, no, like this is actually like taking too much of my energy and people have asked me so many times, because I've made hundreds and hundreds of these at this point. All my family and friends, every time they come into my house, I am embroidering. Like it's never not something like I'm doing. And they're like, Don't you get sick of it? Like, you know, you've put thousands of hours into this at this point. Are you sick of it? Casey: Huh. Sarah - Rowe's Room: And I like, It's so weird 'cause no. No. Like this is my calm Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: in my storm of my life. Like, I need this. And Yeah, it just I agree with you that it just has felt different and like nothing about it feels old. So Casey: Yeah, I love that. So I I feel like I've seen pictures where like you said you're you're always embroidering and you're always taking it with you. How do you take your embroidery on the go? Because I I want to have something that I can take with me, but I I can't take my sewing machine everywhere. I I really am inspired by knitters 'cause I feel like you can just take your knitting everywhere. And I've tried knitting, but knitting is not for me. So it's like how do you take your embroidery with you? I think that's something It's like everybody's trying to scroll less. Everybody's trying to be more present. And I really do feel Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yes. Casey: like doing something with my hands. Like I can be doing something with my hands and also be very present with what's around me. And I think that's really special about like making things with your hands too. But maybe just practically, how do you take your embroidery with you wherever you go? Sarah - Rowe's Room: So mine is very simple. like you said, you can't bring your sewing machine. I do everything by hand. and part of that is I just really enjoy the feeling of the finished product, something that was made by hand. And so like I'm I stick to that. But also like you said, the practicality, I can bring it anywhere. I can really do it. You know, me and Roan will go to the park multiple times a week and I'll I'll sit down on the grass, I'll like put a blanket down and he'll like run around and do his thing. And I can embroider for forty five minutes. And sometimes I'll do it in the car when my husband is driving. And I so I used to have like a bigger basket and it would have everything that I needed in it. But I've really like consolidated it down to this one little like whimsical basket that I carry around and all it has is my hoop, my thread and my scissors. Like it's it's very simple and I I keep it so that if something does get a little more complicated and I needed more things then like I'm not doing that on the road anyway. I'm just not gonna bring that stuff. If I can't continue a piece 'cause something got more complicated, I just put it down and I do whatever I'm doing. So I do kind of like have those rules and those boundaries. If I'm gonna take it on the go, it has to be something simple. As soon as it gets more complicated, it gets put down. So that's how I keep it like very portable. Casey: And that I feel like that's such a good boundary too, especially in motherhood, when you have Rowan running around and like you'd need to drop things, at the drop of a pin, like you need to just drop and go and grab him and and do things. Yeah, that's yeah, it's so nice. And I love that it's a basket too. Like it could be just like a plastic bin, it could be something super simple. But I I just love the basket because it's it just makes it nicer. It's more beautiful, it's more whimsical. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. It could be. It was. It's just it's whimsical. Like I'm just a girl that's, you know, trying to have a more whimsical life. So it's fun where I bring my little basket around and everyone's like, What is that? Embroidery. Like Casey: It's it's my it's my job. This is my work here. Yeah. Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yes, also that. It's literally my career at this point. So yeah. Casey: I do think there is so much value in that though. Just little things that you can just change a little bit to make it more beautiful. I think there's so much value in that and very underrated. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: And you learn as you go, 'cause yeah. Like I said, it used to be a big basket that I would bring around and it was like very not practical, so yeah. Casey: Were there any so being a creative person prob that probably started when you were really young. Were there any influential makers in your life? Did you grow up around women who were also creating? I guess women and men, Sarah - Rowe's Room: My mom. Yeah. Casey: I don't need to exclude here. Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: True, but it was my mom. It was a woman. Yeah, so my mom is also a very sentimental person and she I feel like she was honestly like Martha Stewart's number one original fan. Like I I would give her that pin if I could, you know. Even if it's like not. she was always decorating the house. holidays were always very special. I'm a Christmas person specifically because of my mom and how special and magical she made everything. I remember as early as like maybe my tenth birthday, we went to the craft store, we got all these buckets and like little tin buckets and we painted them and put all the names of all the people that were attending my birthday party and did like all these little crafts inside of them. And like I s that's a core memory for me. making those party favors with my mom for my friends and we did that for every single birthday ever. So I feel like making things with your hand, being like your hands, being creative, making something beautiful that maybe some people would be like you know, most people don't have the time for that or the money for that and they like don't want to put in that extra effort. My mom always put in that extra effort and so that just translated over to me. Which is funny because my sisters aren't as much like that as I am. Like I'm really the only sibling out of the four of us that got that. But it's such a core memory for me. And it's written through a lot of my branding that like my mom's cedar chest with all of her memories, it's a core memory for me. It's the reason that I do a lot of this business and it's the reason that I'm so sentimental. So my mom definitely shaped everything that I really am in a creative sense and I still work with her every single holiday on I was just texting her fifteen minutes before this. We're trying to figure out our Thanksgiving centerpiece right now 'cause she also is like a trained floral designer and so she's gonna be doing the centerpieces and we're always trying to curate something together. Yeah. Casey: Yeah. That's such a beautiful thing to share with your mom. And what a full circle moment too, that core memory that you had with your mom. So then like your Sarah - Rowe's Room: Mm-hmm. Casey: baby shower kind of being such a pivotal moment for your embroidery journey. That you could not have written it better. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Exactly. Exactly. Everybody gets something personalized. Like it it was like raised into me and yeah, it's funny that you make the connection between like the tenth birthday party and the baby shower 'cause that's where it came from. So Casey: Yeah. Seriously. Yeah. And too, maybe even just on the the receiving side of that. Like what a special thing to come to somebody's tenth birthday party and Sarah - Rowe's Room: Mm-hmm. Casey: be so intentionally like hey, I wanted you here 'cause you're my friend and I care about you and I made this beautiful thing for you. Man It's just so so I don't know, that's so special. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I try to do for everybody, you know, I just I want them to feel special and welcome and like they were thought of and you know, I like to receive those things as well. So Yeah. Casey: Yeah, yeah. And too, I think too, thinking about your business and like how intentional you are that everything is hand embroidered. That's such a you could get a an embroidery machine and like do everything on a machine, but you're intentionally choosing to do it by hand. And I think that's just like another layer of artistry and intention and beauty that like you're on purpose maintaining in your business. I also just think that's really special. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I do appreciate that because there's there's been a lot of suggestion from people to get a machine, just in terms of scaling my business quicker and being able to Casey: Yeah, right. Sarah - Rowe's Room: put orders out and keeping up with competitors that are using machines and I'm just I refuse. I I I I don't know what it is that's like built into me where I'm like I'm doing this by hand and if I have to keep it small so that I keep the quality that I want, the business is gonna grow. As fast as it needs to with that consideration in mind. Casey: Yeah, definitely. And yeah, I think people would I feel like maybe even now more so, like in the age of AI where human made is becoming I feel like something made and touched and created by human hands is gonna become only more valuable and so to have even if it's smaller scale than if you had fifty embroidery machines it could take orders all day long twenty four seven Sarah - Rowe's Room: Right. Casey: and just keep pumping them out, like it would be so much it would feel more different to just have something that was made Sarah - Rowe's Room: I think so. I do think it feels different. Like I I'm doing work for people, you know, their parents have passed away. Or, you know, people like very close to them have passed, or they're celebrating a memory that happened every single year. something was written in a card for them every single year for their whole entire life. Like that has so much meaning to it. These are the memories that people will hold onto for their whole entire lives. And so to me, tracing that exact handwriting slowly with my hands, the way that that person wrote it slowly with their hands, it really just feels like that person was writing it out and here it is now in its art form. So to me it's it's very connected. Casey: I just feel like there's so much weight in that too. I know there's a lot of like baby heirlooms that you do, like babies names and babies footprints, but I feel like I forget that you often also do just writing from anybody and like yeah, somebody that is no longer with their family, like having that piece of handwriting turned into a piece of art that was made by an intentional artist. Man, that I feel like there's just so much weight to that and yeah, I guess I don't know if I words Sarah - Rowe's Room: It really is like that for me. It's like really that serious for me. Some people like you don't see it that way, but it it it's deep and it's heavy and you know, these are when Casey: It is. Sarah - Rowe's Room: you think about your own family and the people who you've lost and the people who you've gained and like all of the best and worst memories of your life, you know, like it's that serious. So I I do try Casey: It is and Sarah - Rowe's Room: to handle with care. Casey: Yeah, and it means yeah, it means so much to people and yeah. I so we can keep going. But so back to like motherhood and business. What does what's your day to day look like? What like having a young a young one at home? What are your rhythms? What works, what doesn't work? Sarah - Rowe's Room: my gosh, we could definitely take up the rest of the time on that because Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: what does and doesn't work changes on a daily basis, I swear. But so my day-to-day is a little bit different these last couple of weeks because I did just transition into stay-at-home mom life about three weeks ago. and so I am learning it. Previously I was working a corporate job, I was working in nine to five, my husband also is working a nine to five. And we were he's like knocking at the door right now. we had a lot of flexibility because we worked from home. And so oftentimes if I was working, my husband was with my son, and vice versa. Now my husband's taking on a new corporate job, which is a lot more intense and takes up a lot more of his time. And so I am with Rowan from like as soon as we wake up until dinner time. and then we kind of share duties then. And The rhythm is a work in progress right now. So what we tend to do, so Rowan is two and three months, so he's very, very busy. he's learning like a new ten words every day. He just he's talking, he's running, he's jumping, he wants to be outside, he wants to be busy. So we will spend our morning kinda more quiet. We read books. I'll have him play independently and I'll clean. I'll make him breakfast. I'll clean up while he plays independently. we'll read some books. We'll go out in our backyard maybe and we keep it pretty low key until his first nap. He's well, his only nap, but he's only on one nap right now, so then Today he only napped for thirty seven minutes. So also adjusting to the fact that he's taking shorter and shorter naps and I I might lose that time that I'm used to. Which is again why it's it's such a I'm learning every single day. So he naps and then make lunch, he'll play independently while I clean up and then we get out the house. And then we're gone for a few hours because like he needs to get his energy out and I always need to find something to do with him. I'm lucky right now that it's nice outside, but I'm gonna have to start getting creative with maybe putting him in activities. During the afternoons, I don't know, 'cause I have to keep him busy. and then it's home for dinner. My husband does cook. I am very lucky in that way that I don't have to cook dinner. so once he finishes his job he he gets to dinner and usually we'll do our like twenty minutes of screen time, at that point. So Ron will sit and he will watch his low stimulation show and I'll I'll get to some embroidery at that point while my husband cooks. And then we have family as a dinner, or my gosh, then we have dinner as a family. And and then we get out of the house again, one more time, just to get all of his energy out and then he goes to bed. So it's like a very I try to balance his independent time because I think it's very important for him to be bored sometimes or to learn to do it on his own or you know to discover those things and then most of our time outside of that is spent just like sheer getting energy out and being busy. So yeah, that's pretty much my flow right now. Casey: Yeah. Do you feel like a lot of your other embroidery work does that get done after bedtime or Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yes. Yes. So I work it's so funny, I was telling my husband recently, Rowan went to bed and I like, Isn't it funny that most parents I think I said some parents and he corrected me and said most. He said some parents their kid goes to bed right now and then they just get to do whatever they want. Like they just relax and chill and I have five more hours of work to do now. Casey: Yeah, seriously. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I'm I'm going Casey: Like, Sarah - Rowe's Room: to be up doing packing and shipping and embroidering and washing and like whatever it may be because I still do about ninety percent of the work and I'm lucky my husband helps me. He does some of the like back end admin with me, but yep. all evening I work. I work from about eight PM to midnight every night. Seven days a week. Casey: Yeah. Yep. That sounds about right. I feel like Sarah - Rowe's Room: I should find more of a balance. I should give myself at least a day off, but I can't right now. Casey: Yeah, yeah. Probably a season of scaling and a season of growth and yeah, I feel like I have this thought in my mind of when this can be my full time job, I'm gonna I won't I won't have to work so much in the evenings. That's like that is that is absolutely not gonna be true. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Well, definitely not. While like you said, in a season of growth and scaling, it's like almost it demands more from you. It's it's so interesting because I quit my job so I'd have more time with my son, but right now I don't have more time with my son and it it it's been I've gone back and forth on this so many times where I'm like, is this worth it? And it is worth it. It's just a season of, you know, it's like short term pain for long term gain right now. So it's a lot. It's there's a lot more that goes into it than anybody would ever imagine. Casey: Yeah, definitely. And Yeah, I I feel like sometimes the question comes up of how do you do it all? And Sarah - Rowe's Room: One. Casey: I feel like at least for me the answer is I never do it all. I'm Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Casey: I like one thousand percent could not be doing anything that I do without my husband also doing everything beside me and I feel like that is Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yep. Casey: also such like a key factor of like yeah, your husband coming immediately coming home from work and making dinner, makes such a difference and h Sarah - Rowe's Room: A huge difference. Casey: to have him fully supporting everything that you're doing with the same vision and the same yeah. It's that I feel like that is, yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Mhm. I couldn't do it without Yeah, no, I really could not do it without him. And I think that like Maybe me and my husband weren't always on the same page with everything, but we've done a lot of work together, had a lot of conversations to get on the same page and to like really push towards our same goals together. So we're just like partners right now in like every sense of the word and we just support each other through everything. So yeah, I don't do it all. I have my husband. Okay. Casey: Yes, yes, I am. And I too I I like the analogy of like everybody's juggling balls and there's some that are plastic and some that are glass and remembering which ones are that are glass and like obviously that's our kids for sure, are the ones that we're never gonna drop. but yeah, there's a lot of other stuff that Sarah - Rowe's Room: Right. Casey: gets dropped often, like laundry and dishes and and like other stuff. It's just like it's just is what it is because we have this is this is the season that we're gonna push hard to get Sarah - Rowe's Room: Exactly. Casey: Yeah, to like make these dreams a reality and to to make yeah, I don't know, setting ourselves up for the next stage and for the future and it's chaos and it's nuts. But it's gonna be worth it, which is don't know. Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah, no, I'm tired. Like it's a lot. things do get dropped. I feel like with me, it's funny 'cause dishes and laundry are always done in my house. Like that's just like the things that I personally prioritize, but then there's other things that are getting dropped, you know, like maybe I'm making less time for friends and like I don't really Casey: Hm. Sarah - Rowe's Room: have as much time there. there's always something. It depends on what you prioritize and where you put your energy. There's always something. Casey: Yeah. I'm trying Sarah - Rowe's Room: But yeah. Casey: to think of what other questions I could ask about how are you running a business as a mom? 'Cause yeah, I feel like in in my mind I have all these ideas of like, I should I should do this, I should expand in this way, I should open a storefront, I should do this. Like I and it's like Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Casey: Opening a storefront is probably not the best option for me right now because the goal the end goal for me is to have more time with my kids. And a store is not gonna give me more time with my kids. Yeah, yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Then you're like out of the house for sure, right? So Casey: I'm guaranteeing myself less time at home. I'm guaranteeing myself less flexibility, but Sarah - Rowe's Room: That is the hard part because I I have a million ideas a day and I want to execute on all of them, but Immediately and I have before and you know, this is like I said, this is not my first business. This is my most successful business, but I've been doing creative businesses like this since I was nineteen years old. and I've learned a lot from those businesses and I've learned when to invest money and when not to invest money. There's been times that I've lost a lot of money on something that I was like, This is just like such a good idea and I I have to run with it right now, but maybe it didn't actually really make sense with my life at the time. So I feel like there's always so much going on behind the scenes that you don't know and you don't see. Like people might see my Instagram, they might see my growth in a year and be like, that's amazing that she did that so quickly. But technically I've been doing this for 11 years. You know? I've been learning it for that long. Casey: Yeah, yeah. Even figuring it out and like yeah, finding what's gonna stick and yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: So it has helped me to slow down where I need to slow down and speed up where I need to speed up. And so as much as I have all of these ideas, I'm definitely not going with all of them all at once, all the time, like maybe I used to. So two things come to mind. I so I'm in therapy, so this would be advice that has come from my therapist. and I recommend therapy to everybody. Even every single time that I feel like I'm okay, like it's nice to have an impartial person who just kinda like helps and gets it. So I am I'm fortunate to have like my my husband's benefits that pay for it as well, but so I know it's not necessarily acceptable to everybody. but she's just reminded me that can't no single person can do it all and no single person is expected to do it all and to like ask for help and to lean on people and not always try to control the situation and so that's been something that I've been like practicing a lot and really just surrendering to certain situations. it helps your mental health significantly and especially with a two year old, there's a lot of surrendering that has to happen and there's a lot of pivoting and I just have to be okay with that and I'm I'm being becoming more okay with that. So surrendering really does help you just get through the day sometimes and it not be like a catastrophe. Because usually it's not actually a catastrophe, it's just like in your mind. You know, less like type A individuals who are very driven, it can be hard not to be in control all the time. So that's been something that's been really, really helpful for me. And then from a business standpoint, I have a really close friend in the business who I actually reached out to her. She was a very big account. I admired her so much. I reached out to her for advice and it turned into a friendship, which I never would have expected. But I'm so glad that I reached out to her. And I remember I was having a hard time kind of through the spring and summer of this year, where I wanted to really A bunch of different things and I had a bunch of different ideas and I was showing all of them to her and she was like, You really just need a hero product. And you need to focus all your energy into that. Because if you split yourself into ten different areas, like some are gonna do okay, some aren't, and then you're like split across everything. If handwriting is a thing that does really well for you, then that is what you need to push towards. And I did. And so then I started designing like how do I do handwriting that looks a little bit different, but it's still handwriting. and it has worked phenomenally for me. So I think that that's like a really big piece of business advice is Don't get too excited and caught up in trying to scale and have year one hundred ideas come to life overnight. Y you should really just focus on your like hero products and see how far you can get that. So yeah, those are two things. Casey: Yeah. No, I feel like that's such good advice and like something that my scattered brain needs to hear is you don't need to do it all. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yes. Yes. Mine did you. And actually it's not like you don't need to do it all. You shouldn't do it all. Like it's actually Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: not beneficial to your business whatsoever. Casey: Yep, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's such good advice. so I guess just like some quick rapid fire closing questions. Are there any current personal works and projects that you're working on, excited about? Like anything. It could be embroidery, it could be home stuff, anything on your list? Sarah - Rowe's Room: I mean right now I'm I'm just working on my hutch that I just got. I'm trying to decorate that. That's that's Casey: Yes. It's so beautiful. Sarah - Rowe's Room: going to be like my whole focus, especially 'cause I'm hosting Thanksgiving. I'm like, how do I get you know, something ready for people to be here in Canadian Thanksgiving so it's in a week. Yeah, so I'm that's like my biggest work in progress right now. But other than that, I do have a couple of like manufactured products that I'm working on in the background. And it's probably gonna take me like many months to figure it out 'cause that is a whole different world and it's very complicated. but I I am trying to I'm trying to solve a problem that I know mothers have because I'm having it. So Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: and that's really where I like I you said rapid fire, but like my gosh, I'm such a yapper. But yeah, no, Casey: no, yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I'm I'm trying to build s some like manufactured products right now in my business and I'm trying to decorate my hatch. Casey: That's really cool. Sarah - Rowe's Room: So that's it. Casey: That's that's really cool and really exciting on so many fronts. And yeah. I I like the the thought of this is a problem that I'm having, so somebody else is probably having this problem too. And I feel like that's Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yes. Casey: the whole reason that I even wanted to pull these conversations together it started when you shared that you were working a full-time job and I was like Sarah - Rowe's Room: Mm-hmm. Casey: I am not the only one working a full time job and also working just from yeah, ten to midnight every single night. I was Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Casey: like, I'm not the only one and I was like, wait a second, probably probably everybody is doing that. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I think that me moving into being a stay-at-home mom, s I'm not like stay-at-home mom, I'm a business owner, so like I still have that to worry about. But I feel like I've now moved into a minority. I think the majority of moms who are doing work like this are also working a corporate job and like doing trying to do it all. I I think that more more moms are doing it than we expect. And social media is a highlight reel, so you don't necessarily see that on socials Casey: Yeah, yes. Sarah - Rowe's Room: where they're really trying to do the most. Casey: Yeah. And yeah. It it's such like I feel like it's such a funny thing that like I ha I had no desire to do this before I was a mom. Like why did this come like why Sarah - Rowe's Room: Right. Casey: did this like f like this poll of like I want to make something that's my own come after I had kids? I was working a full time job. I have two kids at home. It's probably the most chaotic season of my life. So I might as well start a business right now. I have no idea, but I feel like we are not the Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Casey: only ones. I I Sarah - Rowe's Room: No, definitely not. I I read I like to read a lot of kinda like s self help books or like non fiction books and through motherhood I've read a lot of research around motherhood and this process of like matrescence. I don't know if you know what that is, but it's like when you move from childhood to adolescence, it's there's a significant change happening in your brain. You become a different person. Like when you're an adolescent, you're you're never that that kid that's maybe so imaginative anymore. You know, like you think about the world differently and the same thing happens when you become a mom and I remember when I was my god, cor corporate girly to the max. All I wanted was to be in my career and be great at what I did and make a ton of money and you know, be so successful in that sense to the point that I told my husband before we were thinking about having kids, I was like, You can take the parental leave. Like, I'm gonna get right back to work. Which is like Casey: Then you become a mom and you're like, What was I thinking? Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: laugh at that girl. No, I laugh at that girl because I'm like, you have no idea the change that you're gonna go through and how you're gonna see the world completely different and how matrescence is going to fill you up. more than anything has ever filled you up and it it's gonna change everything. And so like as much as it's a little bit delusional how, you know, in Matrescence we're like, we also want to start a business that's, you know, during the most chaotic time of my life, I think that we're the most capable to do it during this time of our life because like I don't know, becoming a mother just like opens up so many possibilities within women, I feel like. So Casey: Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Mm hmm. No, I think that's so true. as an artist, what has been inspiring you lately? I know you said you have a million ideas. where do your ideas come from? What inspires you? What yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: So a lot of it really does come from like, I wanna say, interior design and like home decor. I'll I'll see maybe something that's getting a little bit trendy or you're seeing it a lot more, in one space and I'll try to translate that into my space every single time. And so like it's it's usually something that you haven't seen before, in like a keepsake space or in an artistic space. Like you see it all the time with like stationery or with weddings or something like that. And I I always try to translate something trendy. that's not in my vertical over to mine. So that's where a lot of my inspiration comes from is, you know, just other artists creating beautiful things in different areas and wondering like how can I do that for myself that like actually feels uniquely mine and like it'll, you know, create something beautiful in in the embroidery and keep take space. So Casey: Yeah. No, and I love that. And I do really feel like every new keepsake offering that you're you're ha you're offering through your business it does feel like it's a a piece of art. it doesn't feel like it's something that was thrown together. Like it feels so elegant and refined and yeah, no, I I can see where that comes from. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Appreciate that. Yeah, because like my gold frames for example, gold's having its moment for the last couple of years, you know, and It's everywhere and people are doing gallery walls and you know, it it just looks phenomenal. And there was absolutely nobody putting embroidery into a gold frame before I was doing it. Like I'm telling you, there wasn't. I looked for it. That's why I created it. Because I was like, how do I merge these worlds? And it looks kinda like that, like something that like you're seeing everywhere that's really beautiful. How do I translate it into my world? And that's where a lot of my inspiration comes from. Casey: Yeah, that's really that's really cool. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Mm. Casey: as a mom, you have an hour to yourself. What are you gonna find yourself doing that's not that is just for you, it's not for your business, it's not cleaning your house. Maybe I guess maybe I shouldn't exclude that 'cause sometimes that can be that can be rewarding, but Sarah - Rowe's Room: It's true. So, I mean, for my house, I try to like do it through my day and through my routine. I've I've seen it so many times moms say like don't clean the house when they're napping. Like when they're napping, like you take your hour. You can clean the kitchen when they're awake, right? So honestly, like this is so I don't even know the word for it, but like I love reality TV. I love reality TV. It is my guilty pleasure. I'm gonna do anything for an hour. I'm going to watch some sort of trash reality TV and it's just going to like fill me up and I'm probably still gonna do embroidery while doing it just because Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I I definitely have undiagnosed ADHD. Like if I'm not busy with my hands, I will be scrolling through my phone while watching a show, which is like terrible for my brain. So I technically always have to be working when I'm doing something for myself. But no, I'm watching reality TV. I love it. I've watched everything that you can watch. That's reality TV. So Casey: I love that. What's your go to? Sarah - Rowe's Room: Go to. I mean like my favorite is probably like Love Island. I'm a sucker for Love Island or like the Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Real Housewives series. but they're not always on like throughout the whole year. So I kinda have to like pick what's on. So yeah no, I I love Bravo through and through. Vanderpump rules, that's my thing. So Casey: No, that's incredible. The I I was not like a a reality TV watcher until probably like after college. And then just like on a whim, my sister and I decided we were gonna watch The Bachelor together. And like she Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Casey: we don't live in the same area, so we were FaceTiming each other while we were like simultaneously watching it. And that changed my life. I am I just I love I love the drama. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Right? Casey: It is just so entertaining. It's like I know that there's probably Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Casey: so much of this that is just fake, but it's just I love calling my Sarah - Rowe's Room: But it's good. It's And like taking it apart and talking Casey: sister and watching the bachelor together. It's just it's unmatched for me. Sarah - Rowe's Room: about it as if you're it's like this parasocial thing where you're like, Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: my god, we said this and this is what I thought of it. And like I Casey: Ha. Sarah - Rowe's Room: have two sisters and we always have like viewing nights of whatever we're watching at that time of year. And it's like sisterhood for us. So Casey: It is. It's unmatched. It's so fun. And yeah, it's like knowing that it's silly, but it's also I this is so entertaining and I love every second of this. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I love it. Casey: Yeah, that's awesome. I guess closing question, where can people find you? Social media, your website, anything else? Sarah - Rowe's Room: yeah. So I am on Instagram at Roseroom R O W E and my website is the same, roseroom dot com. So that's where Casey: Which hard launch tomorrow your new website. That is exciting. That's a big that's a big thing. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yes, it is finally ready. I I reached out to my brand designer in February. and then we started my project in May. So it's October and it's finally ready and I get to show the world. So Yeah. Casey: So exciting. And who okay, you sent you sent me who you worked through, but what who did you who's your brand designer again? Sarah - Rowe's Room: So her name is Savannah and she works with her husband Dylan at Thoroughfare Design. they are powerhouses. They're incredible. They're like the most organized, professional people that also design the most phenomenal brands ever. So shout out to Savannah and Dylan. Casey: Mm-mm. Did they also just redesign new grain? Was that them or was that somebody else? Sojourn in Soul. Right? Yes. I do too. I'm she's phenomenal. I actually I'm hoping to have her on and incredible. Yes, yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: No, that was not New Green. I forget how to say Sophie. Yes, who I also love everything that she does and we follow each other. Yes. Big supporter. She's like hand drawn everything, right? And that's that's our vibe. That's our whole vibe is like Sony V like did the thing and Savannah does the same. She draws everything. So Casey: It's yeah, I I I Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Casey: just love I love artistry and I love what people can do with their hands and man, it's so it's incredible. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah, anyone who's like keeping it alive in the age of AI, like lots of respect to those people. Casey: Yes. Yeah, if I see it another Yeah, i I don't know. It's just every time I see a like it's something that's supposed to be artistic and it's AI, it's just like Sarah - Rowe's Room: It's not a high yeah. Casey: no. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah, like I'll use AI here and there for like I might need to like edit my grammar on you know, I just went through this whole website Casey: yeah, no. Sarah - Rowe's Room: project and it definitely helps me in that way and like maybe really quickly I'll make a mock up, but outside of that, I don't really see its usefulness. Like I would really rather I don't know, I feel like we're losing so much beauty in the world. I everyone's seen this on social media where it's like two hundred years ago, look at what they were making. And now look at what we're making, like our homes and our art and it's all just Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: like soulless and Casey: Yeah. Yeah, I do feel like it has its time and place. But yeah, art is not the time or place ever. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. That's a whole other thing. Like this, for example, this was hand painted by my great grandma like sixty years ago. Like this she was a very artistic person as well. All the women in my family, like I guess I should have mentioned her as well as, you know, an inspiration. But Yeah, she learned this beautiful skill and she spent hours and hours and hours doing it and you know, now I have art for and generations. Hopefully my kids have it too. So that's what it's all about. Casey: Yes, yeah. No, I love that. And I love seeing art artistry and like creative passions. I love looking back and like seeing how that can be traced back. yeah, through families for generations. It's yeah, it's it's really cool. Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Hopefully, you know, you and I are just keeping a little bit of that alive. Casey: Yeah. I know I was I was thinking, something I really want to know is like what other like what what was the craft as a kid that like hooked you in, that like rewired your brain and like what crafts do I need to introduce to my daughter so that she's like she could be I she's already so insanely creative and her imagination just blows me out of the water. But I want to give her opportunities to make with her hands and like right Now she's got these little sewing kits and she loves doing beads and bracelets and I love it. This there's like a a whole mess over here and there's lots of beads which she keeps really Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah, that brings me back back. Yeah. Casey: organized and then my son dumps them out and Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. my god. I don't know if there was ever just one. it's so funny. I was that kid who every single one of my friends growing up was athletic. Every single one. And I would always like go and try out for the sports teams with them because I didn't want to be alone on recess. And I was the only one that didn't make the sports team every time. just not athletic. It is what it is. It's open. So I always Casey: Yeah, you're like, this is not my thing. Sarah - Rowe's Room: had to find something else to do. And it was it was never one individual thing. I was always being creative in so many ways. And like you mentioning what your daughter's doing right now. my god, I went through like I was making my own bracelets. My mom would bring me to like specialty bead stores and I would spend like an hour in there just like picking out all the special beads and I'd make them for my friends, you know, to wear during their volleyball game because I couldn't play volleyball Casey: I love it. Sarah - Rowe's Room: with them, but you know, I could make them something special and through high school Casey: Yes. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I I was on any sports teams, but I was the yearbook editor and I was the newspaper editor and I was like always designing things on a computer and then I got older and I would make wooden signs and like paint on them and I got married and I hosted and like I did like event design and I don't know. It's like looked like so many different things through the eras but like as a kid it was it it it was whatever related to being a kid, like you said, like using beads and painting and colouring and That and my god, I would always get a new magazine. That was like my treat. Like we'd go grocery shopping and like my mom would let me get a magazine and you know, there's like like posters I could put up in my room and like be creative in that way. So Yeah. It's always different, but Casey: Yeah. We didn't often get magazines from the grocery store, It was always like like I felt like my world was just opened up every time I got to pick a magazine and take it home. It was like, my goodness, am I an adult woman right now? I seriously Sarah - Rowe's Room: Bring magazines back. Like that's what you have to do. I'm the coolest person in the world. Casey: seriously? She yeah, she'd be over. But she does get the highlights, kids magazines, and loves them. That's like when it comes to the mail, it's like such a big event. It's like there's a new magazine in the mail and I love that for her. It's it's so fun. Yeah. Yes, I subscribe to that. I do get their monthly papers. It is y yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Have you heard of I think it's like the Latura post? They do a they do a post one. Yeah. So a little bit of whimsy and s they do one for kids, so Casey: Yes. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Thanks so much for taking the time. I I loved hearing more about Sarah - Rowe's Room: Yeah. Casey: your journey in creativity and in motherhood and business. And I personally am on the edge of my seat to watch where Rose Room continues to go 'cause it is it's so exciting and beautiful and encouraging and I think I think yeah, the sky's the limit for your business and it's it's really fun to watch. Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I hope so. It's been a busy year. It's been intense. But Casey: Yeah. Sarah - Rowe's Room: I'm ready for whatever comes next. Like I feel like I've survived so much in my first year that like I'm ready. And I just so appreciate support from people like you and, you know, so many of my my return customers and people who have been here from day one. Like it feels surreal, but I'm doing the thing and I'm gonna keep doing it. So thank you. Casey: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for listening to the handset make. If you enjoyed today's episode, follow along, leave a rating or review, and send it to a fellow mom or maker who might love it as well. You can find me on Instagram at summerflora.co and you can shop quilt patterns fabric and notions anytime at Summerfloralinen dot com. See you in the next one.