Life & Work with Nicolle Webber of Queen Creek

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicolle Webber.

Hi Nicolle, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2020 our one and only child, our son, turned 16, and our life started to change. After years of driving him all over, his need for us wasn’t there as he became more self-sufficient and had a busy social life. I had so much more free time on my hands due to my job as a Surgical Technologist being impacted by the pandemic. I started some house projects to stay busy; One was a redo of our outside front entryway. I stenciled my concrete entryway and painted our porch bench. That made me need a cute welcome sign to match my newly remodeled space. Just like that, it began. I started making door hangers. I started production from the large pre-cut rounds at Home Depot for my friends as gifts. They were so darn cute I started to sell a few here and there. Once I was addicted to creating these door-hanging masterpieces, the supply chain from Home Depot was interrupted, and the supply of the wood round signs was extremely scarce. This leads me to trick my husband into covertly becoming my wood sign supplier. My husband, Chris, is a nurse by day and 100% handyman for all our house projects by night. He happily supplied my addiction by offering to cut my rounds for me to save time and money. Our handmade wood rounds are better quality than the previous HomeDepot product. Once that started, I blossomed into a small sign-making fool. My husband’s unlimited supply of blank signs and my sign design dedication developed into a small wood sign inventory. This couldn’t have come at a more opportune time! There was a thread on our neighborhood page about having a holiday craft fair in someone’s garage. I joined that neighborhood holiday market with just 12 signs and sold them! Plus, I had received orders to make more. It was such a big success. It sparked our interest to do more next time. January ’21, we expanded our hobby/small business by joining the Queen Creek Family Markets. This event happens on Saturdays near our house starting in October through April. These events kept improving, and we became more popular with our compounding success. I think people adored the hand-painted sign look, which didn’t require them to have any vinyl stickers on them. Then boom! Our hand-cut, sanded, edged, painted, sealed, and decorated sign business from our home was a hit. At this point, it’s keeping me busy while our teenager is living his best life doing his own thing. On April ’21, I applied to join this amazing 2-day Mother’s day market in Queen Creek called Vintage and Vino (huge with over 100 local vendors) and was accepted! We were thrilled that we were excepted but then realized we had only two weeks to make signs. We managed to make 101 signs and sold 91 of them in those two days. It was a great feeling, and we appreciated our hard work. It was a huge success and so much fun to be a part of. During this time, the gals that run Sip and Shop a Local Collection in Gilbert at San Tan Mall, who also run Vintage and Vino, asked if we would like to sell our signs in their store. Um, yes, we would! And to this day, we sell so many seasonal and day-to-day door hangers there. Being a part of Sip and Shop has been extremely fortunate and successful. Christmas of 2021, we sold 140 signs in the store alone and almost could not keep up with sales. I’m the only painter and was non-stop and grateful to keep busy.

Our little homemade business has taken off enough for me to quit my day job in healthcare and work full-time from home. My day is filled with staining and painting signs with the help of my husband and son doing what they can. As of this July, our signs are also displayed in The Painted Tree boutique in Scottsdale; both stores are open 7 days a week. We can’t be more thankful for everyone who buys our signs and keeps coming back for new holiday signs or gifts. It’s been so amazing, and we are grateful for their support. We are excitingly waiting to see where this homemade enterprise will lead us in the future.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a smooth road?
We started with the HomeDepot precut rounds, and during the pandemic, they became scarce when we needed them most. That’s when my husband started buying the wood and cutting them for me.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
For the last 15 years, I have been a surgical technologist in the operating room, the first 10 at St. Joesphs Hospital in Phoenix, and the last few at a surgical Center in chandler. My husband is also in the OR as a Circulating RN in Chandler.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
Please feel free to reach out via Instagram or Facebook.

Pricing:

• Signs are $45 pre made
• Custom requests are $55

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @round_em_up_crafts
• Facebook: Round_em_up_crafts

Image Credits
Our family photo is Amy South Olsen photography