Monday, February 16, 2015

Happy 5 years!!!

Update -Benzie is now blogging over at Benzie Design - don't miss any of our new tutorials or news!

Banner made by Benzie customer Little Skunk Co.
It all started with a monster made with felt. A stuffed, red monster made for my son, it had a pocket on it that held a little love note from Mom. But something happened to that most loved critter... It started to pill and fuzz. A lot.

This failed craft started the journey to find a better felt -something that was made to last, crafted well but still affordable -and our shop Benzie Design was opened on Etsy in February of 2010.


We've been offering wool blend felt for 5 years and what a fun adventure it has been! We started out with 59 colors in just the 9x12" and 12x18" size but in just a few months we moved up to 70 colors. At this point I was processing all orders on the small cover of my ironing board! By the end of the year we found a demand for yardage and started offering all 70 colors by the yard -and I got a bigger work table too!


Around our 1 year anniversary we started offering 6x9" sheets -we were the first of felt internet shops to offer this size; we found that these sheets were perfect for sampling colors, small projects -and were a great fit for those using manual die cutters too! Our Etsy peers quickly followed suit and also offer this convenient size as well.


We coined the phrase "felt-fetti" in 2011 -bringing oversized felt confetti to party planners in our handmade shop and felt die cuts to crafters in our felt & supply shop. Our handmade shop also includes our "felt like a party" line of garlands and mobiles!


In 2013 we introduced DMC embroidery floss to coordinate with our felt colors -we find this to be immensely helpful and convenient to our stitchers and color enthusiasts -and as always a crafters favorite. We also started working with Lifestyle Crafts / We R Memory Keepers to bring you tutorials that combine Benzie's felt with fabulous scrapbooking supplies.

Over the past 5 years we developed our photography style -going from a rustic wood background to a crisp linen one. We continued to add more colors (to our current 90) and more color pallets and love discovering pattern designers to collaborate with. We continue to find more efficient ways to ship and organize our inventory -based on sales we have become Etsy's larges wool blend felt supplier. We have appeared on numerous blogs including Babble and Apartment Therapy along with appearances in HGTV magazine and Pregnancy & Newborn magazine. Benzie has grown along with my family -it started out with my husband and two small children and have now included our sweet foster child. Balancing family and business has been tricky -I first hired a mothers-helper and then moved on to hiring two employees to oversee packaging and orders. You may have said 'hi' when they answer your questions.


Just this past year we introduced felt pom poms in 4 different sizes and 34 colors. We also worked closely with a manufacture to introduce two new colors of wool blend felt -exclusive to Benzie. Meanwhile our handmade shop on Etsy grew to 400 sales and our supply shop just landmarked 20,000 sales!


These past 5 years have been a wonderful adventure for Benzie and we have some fun one year goals and some even bigger five year goals. I can't wait to introduce you to one of them this summer! Keep updated with our social media and shop outlets below -we want to get to know you more!

Follow us here:
Handmade shop: www.benzie.etsy.com
Felt & Supply shop: www.benziedesign.etsy.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/benziedesign
Instagram: www.instagram.com/benziedesign
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/benziedesign

We want to celebrate with you and are offering 10% off our Felt & Supply shop and 20% off our handmade shop using code HAPPY5, expires February 21. Also -comment below to win one of three $20 gift cards -let us know what products or services you would like to Benzie to offer and leave your email so we can get in contact with you if you are one of the winners! And thanks again to all you wonderful crafters out there -you have made my heart so very happy! -Giveaway is now closed & winners have been contacted, thank you!!!


43 comments:

  1. This is awesome, I love your shop and I love Felt! Congrats on 5 years! Jemison.meg@gmail.com

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  2. Happy Anniversary! I would love to see some felt egg shapes. mere@jklobo.com

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  3. Congratulations!!! Love the high quality pieces you offer! Maybe some heart felt puffs? Those seem versatile! Angeladtran@gmail.com

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  4. I love your felt color assortment. You have the best selection, great customer service, & fast shipping. I'm always looking for fun new colors go try. Congrats on 5 years!!

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  5. Congratulations on your first five and best wishes on the next! I am a new felt-crafter this year... but I have fallen hard (and am rooting for a snow day tomorrow to carve out a bonus day!)... I appreciate the incredible variety of colors you have in the shop as well as your tutorials for flower making- they are some of the very best I have found! I would love it if you could post some more... and maybe some more yellows in the Benzie rainbow of colors? (bmortland14@Hotmail.com) Happy anniversary!

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  6. Congratulations on five years! I love how you pair all the colors together and have hard to find colors! I'd love to try your products.
    Thelilfeltshoppe@gmail.com

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  7. Congratulations on your Anniversary and awesome milestone. I would like to see different felted shapes in your store. Thank you for this great giveaway.

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  8. My kids love your felt!!!
    Nasven777@gmail.com

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  9. Love your story and your shop! I love seeing more talented bloggers and designers make curated/themed collections! elonie.sheen@gmail(dot)com

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  10. Love your story and your shop! I love seeing more talented bloggers and designers make curated/themed collections! elonie.sheen@gmail(dot)com

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  11. Love your shop and garlands! More garlands in different varieties would be great :) angiesears@hotmail.com

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  12. Congratulations on 5 years!! Love your felt so much! I craft with your 9x12 sheets, so it's hard to think of other pre-made items I'd like. But new feltfetti shapes are always fun! jennshioya(at)gmail(dot)com

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  13. Congrats on the anniversary! I just found you recently and love your stuff! I would like to see the felt hexagons in more sizes. jessica(dot)schunke(at)gmail(dot)com.

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  14. Five years in business IS something to celebrate! (We're celebrating 10 yrs on our computer biz in June.) New to your store this year and love your felt. I would love to see some tear drop shapes in various sizes to pair with circles in my designs. And some simple flowers. Again, well done! denise(at)dothelp(dot)net.

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  15. Congrats on five years! I love using your felt.

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  16. Congratulations on 5 years! I love all the ideas and tutorials you provide. Now if I could just find the time to try them all! Thanks for the opportunity to enter the giveaway. cabjuhasz(at)gmail(dot)com

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  17. I just received my first Benzie order - LOVE...
    I would love to see printed Letters - or customized words in color of choice. augustdaughter@hotmail.com

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  18. I've been looking for little felt envelopes or a pouch for a tooth fairy. That would be fun to see in your handmade shop!
    caseyk@sbcglobal.net

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    1. Hey there -did you know we have a tutorial for that: http://benziedesign.blogspot.com/2010/05/tooth-fairy-pockets-and-printable.html -have fun!

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  19. Happy Anniversary! I'd love to see glitter felt or metallics. onesweetstitch@hotmail.com

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  20. Love the felt I get from your shop! I would love to see some pattern or glitter/metallic felts. phendrick@stny.rr.com

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  21. I love your products! Have you ever thought about carrying matching zippers? vicki.designer@gmail.com

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  22. That's so great! I love that you offer yardage. Congrats and here's to another 5 years!

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  23. I'm planning a strawberry theme birthday party for my daughter so I'd vote for strawberry shapes. :)

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  24. I love your heartfetti and pom poms! So much fun!

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  25. Congrats! I love the curated bundles, and precut hexagons and diamonds are very useful...maybe in the colors of the featured bundles?

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    1. Congratulations!! You're a winner of Benzie's $20 store credit -I'll be in contact with you shortly!!

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  26. Commented before but not sure if it went through as I don't see it- not trying to enter twice. I love your felt and can't wait for my next order to arrive! I would love to see zippers in matching colors. Congratulations on five years and here's to many more!! dinosaur9489@aim.com

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    1. Hi there! You're a winner of $20 store credit to Benzie! I'll be in contact with you shortly!!

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  27. How about die cut letters and numbers? Happy anniversary! April(dot)weds(dot)paul(at)gmail(dot)com

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  28. Happy Anniversary to you! I have to be honest...I've never sewn anything using felt, but I would love to try! The colors you offer are beautiful. I did just order a doll pattern for my daughter and it suggests felt for her hair, so we'll have to give it a go! Thanks for the chance to win. ashleymwren@yahoo.com

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  29. I would love to be able to buy gold metallic felt from you! Your shop is amazing ❤️ Congrats!! Bobanaboutique@gmail.com

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  30. Metallic Felt! Thanks! schyler.haubrock@gmail.com

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  31. Love your stuff!! I'd love to be able to buy pre-cut letters out of the felt! klvanhorn@sbcglobal.net

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    Replies
    1. Congratulations! You've won the $20 store credit to Benzie! I'll be in contact with you shortly!!

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  32. Congrats on five years! To think I only found your shop this afternoon when I was trying to figure out why the felt I was attempting to craft with jammed up my punches. Part of the answer is that I had cheap felt, so I'll be visiting your store soon to remedy that. Your color collections are so much more sophisticated than what I found in local stores anyway. I'm mainly interested in making floral inspired accessories, so I'd love if you sold fold-over elastic and coordinating ribbons that could be used to make matching bows and ribbon flowers. Intricate die-cut shapes (like flourishes, swirls, or even clockwork gears for the steampunk crowd) would be handy, too, since most shops only carry basic, solid shapes. I look forward to buying from you! s(dot)naomi(dot)valera(at)gmail.com

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  33. it would be cool if you had a way to offer felting wool for folks who like to make their own felt shapes with felting needles! I'm just starting to get into that and I have found etsy is the place to begin!

    Dtdady at gmail dot com

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  34. Congratulations! I love your colors!

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  36. I am obsessed with your felt! I actually by things by the yard now! Best quality and colors available! I love the little collections you make because it is a great way to try out new colors! Brilliant! Fingers crossed for winning!!!! Jessferoli@gmail.com

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  37. Congrats on 5 years! I would love to see metallic or glitter felt! (karahale47 at gmail)

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  38. Love all the felt. Would love to see some felt kits with some project ideas.

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