The Faint of Heart

Good Morrow!!! Nicki here. Today I would like to introduce you to my own personal Etsy small business!

The Faint of Heart was born out of my desire to be constantly creating art, in different forms, from finding inspiration in everyday places. I believe in the power of inspiration and beauty, and love to be surrounded by things that make me feel creative. While music is my native creative language, visual art has always been right there beside it. I hope to create things that inspire people to also reach their creative potential, and see the beauty in our every day lives. Currently, my main items are Bohemian jewelry and dreamcatchers.

There is something so magical about creating a handmade item that someone gets excited about wearing or hanging on their wall! I have always loved the dreamy aesthetic of Bohemian fashion and decor, so it seemed fitting that I would focus on that vibe for my Etsy shop.

I primarily use raw crystals, Pyrite, Peacock Ore, Turquoise, druzy stones, bronze & silver charms, and various other glass beads to create jewelry pieces. I just love designing new things!

Something else that I hold to is the stubborn refusal of taking any jewelry making classes. (my argument is that I don't have the money to throw around taking jewelry classes...) I have figured out all of these designs with trial and error, and some soldering advice from my Dad who can weld pretty much anything you could ever need.

This business has truly been handmade, from the items themselves, to the enlisting of my friends as the models. (Thanks, Jordan, for this one! Shout out to J2 and Kate)

That being said, I am so proud of where The Faint of Heart is today. When I started out in 2011, I had a lot of passion, a lot of ideas, a lot of ADD, and little in the way of concrete plans to make any of my dreams a reality. It has taken two failed attempts at opening my shop on Etsy before I really found my niche and started making quality products that I love. This is not to say that I have "arrived" yet. There is still so much to learn every day about fashion, jewelry, home decor, search engine optimization, learning about online marketplaces, and running a successful online shop! I am always learning and researching and everything is trial and error, but I just have so much fun with it! I am so glad that I didn't give up when I failed.

Other than jewelry, I adore making Boho style dreamcatchers. I just love those tribal vibes, and they look so dang cool hanging on the walls. It's nice because I have approximately one million dreamcatchers (okay, maybe twenty) lying around the house, so I can decorate to my heart's content while they are waiting to be shipped off to their new homes.

It was so crazy when Samantha and I first discovered that the other had an Etsy shop, and we BOTH made dreamcatchers! Becoming friends with her and collaborating with her shop has been so inspiring! We love to craft together and bounce ideas off of each other, so that has helped me to scheme up new designs and ideas for my shop. Not to mention just having a pal to model and do

photo shoots with and set up boho tables full of goodies for sale at local farmer's markets (more on that later.)

Basically, this blog has brought me a lot of joy lately! I have been more inspired than ever to design new items for The Faint of Heart, and scheme up and schedule posts with Sam. It really is so exciting and fun for me!

Thank you for reading, for following, for encouraging, for believing. Below I have included the links to the items in the pictures.

XO

nicki

BRANCH+ANTHEM