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Features - Whats in a name? Jeeberella
Featured in the Christmas Issue December 2011
Written By Jeeberella
To get to the heart of Jeeberella’s Craft Castle you first need to know how Jeeberella was born. It began 11 years ago…
I was 14 and I needed a name for the MTV2 forum (I was a part time grebo as we were called back then). I’d sat there for a good hour trying to think of something cool when I started to watch an episode of The Simpsons. As fate would have it, the episode in question was “Missionary: Impossible”. Homer becomes a missionary by accident and due to his lack of religious faith keeps calling Jesus, Jebus instead. I don't know why but I loved it, so I decided on female jebus.
As I started to use the forums more people very quickly shortened it to Jeeby, which I quite liked. At the time, my two younger sisters were aged 4 and 6 (and I can't remember which sister said it) but I overheard one of them playing and say princesserella. It made me giggle so I put Jeeby and princesserella together and hey presto: Jeeberella!
From then on I was Jeeberella. I’ve had the same email address for 11 years now and if you Google Jeeberella there are over 6,000 results. While I haven’t had the time to check them all, from viewing the first few hundred I can confirm that in one way or another they are all me!
Flash forward to Christmas 2010…
Crafts kind of discovered me over the Christmas break as I was a bit bored so took a random trip to HobbyCraft. I came home with:
I was 14 and I needed a name for the MTV2 forum (I was a part time grebo as we were called back then). I’d sat there for a good hour trying to think of something cool when I started to watch an episode of The Simpsons. As fate would have it, the episode in question was “Missionary: Impossible”. Homer becomes a missionary by accident and due to his lack of religious faith keeps calling Jesus, Jebus instead. I don't know why but I loved it, so I decided on female jebus.
As I started to use the forums more people very quickly shortened it to Jeeby, which I quite liked. At the time, my two younger sisters were aged 4 and 6 (and I can't remember which sister said it) but I overheard one of them playing and say princesserella. It made me giggle so I put Jeeby and princesserella together and hey presto: Jeeberella!
From then on I was Jeeberella. I’ve had the same email address for 11 years now and if you Google Jeeberella there are over 6,000 results. While I haven’t had the time to check them all, from viewing the first few hundred I can confirm that in one way or another they are all me!
Flash forward to Christmas 2010…
Crafts kind of discovered me over the Christmas break as I was a bit bored so took a random trip to HobbyCraft. I came home with:
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Cross stitch kit
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Ceramic tile kit
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Latch hooking kit
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DIY card kit
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I failed miserably at the cross stitch as I couldn’t figure out what the pattern meant. I tried watching YouTube videos on latch hooking but just couldn’t grasp it. I couldn’t decide on a photo for the tile kit and I was really disappointed with the card kit.
After seeking some professional advice from a lovely lady who I knew through work, I finally got my head round cross stitch and latch hooking and off I went. In January I was showing my partner of 3 years, Neil, some of the lovely canvasses that a friend of mine in Plymouth did. She does custom orders for people as well as working full time. Neil said if I put my mind to it I could something like that. Now, I can’t paint for toffee. Even now I have no idea how I got a B in Art at high school. Instead I decided to do a collage in time for our 3rd anniversary in February. I spent days trawling the internet for ideas and settled on gorgeous brown mulberry paper, carefully selected photos and some lovely gold lettering and words. Turned out quite well so I made something similar for Neil’s goddaughter’s birthday and from there I started to get other ideas…
Creeping up to February 2011
I love personalised things. You’ve only got to ask my friends about the pretty personalised things I try and buy for them. In fact, for my future goddaughter’s baby shower, EVERYTHING had her name on it!
So I went back to the DIY card kit and decided to see what else I could come up with. My first cards were quite cute, but basic. Then I wondered if anyone else would be interested in my cute designs too,
After seeking some professional advice from a lovely lady who I knew through work, I finally got my head round cross stitch and latch hooking and off I went. In January I was showing my partner of 3 years, Neil, some of the lovely canvasses that a friend of mine in Plymouth did. She does custom orders for people as well as working full time. Neil said if I put my mind to it I could something like that. Now, I can’t paint for toffee. Even now I have no idea how I got a B in Art at high school. Instead I decided to do a collage in time for our 3rd anniversary in February. I spent days trawling the internet for ideas and settled on gorgeous brown mulberry paper, carefully selected photos and some lovely gold lettering and words. Turned out quite well so I made something similar for Neil’s goddaughter’s birthday and from there I started to get other ideas…
Creeping up to February 2011
I love personalised things. You’ve only got to ask my friends about the pretty personalised things I try and buy for them. In fact, for my future goddaughter’s baby shower, EVERYTHING had her name on it!
So I went back to the DIY card kit and decided to see what else I could come up with. My first cards were quite cute, but basic. Then I wondered if anyone else would be interested in my cute designs too,
so I set up a Facebook group called Tasha’s Crafty Cards and invited all my friends. After a few days I decided my business name needed to be something special, something different. And here’s where it comes full circle…
When I was thinking about a new business name the first thing I thought was Jeeberella. For days I couldn’t decide between craft castle or craft palace. Palace sounded posher but I liked the alliteration of craft castle. And there it was, Jeeberella’s Craft Castle. It’s been a whirlwind ever since; setting up the Facebook page, registering with HMRC, setting up an email address, networking, blogging, expanding, expanding and some more expanding.
When I was thinking about a new business name the first thing I thought was Jeeberella. For days I couldn’t decide between craft castle or craft palace. Palace sounded posher but I liked the alliteration of craft castle. And there it was, Jeeberella’s Craft Castle. It’s been a whirlwind ever since; setting up the Facebook page, registering with HMRC, setting up an email address, networking, blogging, expanding, expanding and some more expanding.
From humble beginnings making a few cards, the range is now huge. Cards, bunting, fridge magnets, bookmarks, door signs and more unusual things like letters from Santa and the tooth fairy. Postcards to send to people asking them to be your bridesmaids, maid of honour and godparent are popular because you don’t see them anywhere else. One of my most popular card designs is for a new baby to send to their older brother or sister. Having a new baby in the family can be tough on older children and these cards really are a good way to make them feel involved. My latest offerings seem to be going down well too; car window signs to advertise your business on the go and baby body suits with transfers of their name or nickname.
The castle now has nearly 850 fans on Facebook, hundreds of Twitter followers, regular blog updates, shops on Folksy and Wowthankyou and the feedback from custom orders has been fantastic, not to mention all the support from fellow small businesses. The best example I can give you is Gayle of Happy Hands Belcoo who made my logo for free after a friend drew the design for me!
Considering I work full time, the business is going from strength to strength. My mission now is to do as much as possible to get the castle advertised and out there. So keep an eye out, you never know where it might pop up!
The castle now has nearly 850 fans on Facebook, hundreds of Twitter followers, regular blog updates, shops on Folksy and Wowthankyou and the feedback from custom orders has been fantastic, not to mention all the support from fellow small businesses. The best example I can give you is Gayle of Happy Hands Belcoo who made my logo for free after a friend drew the design for me!
Considering I work full time, the business is going from strength to strength. My mission now is to do as much as possible to get the castle advertised and out there. So keep an eye out, you never know where it might pop up!
