Mommaprenuer: Kelly Drill, Macaroni & Glue Handmade

Tell us about yourself: I’m a full-time mom, freelance copy editor, part-time nanny, and stationery designer. Both my husband and I are actors, political activists, technophiles, and all-around creative types. Originally Midwesterners, we found each other on the West Coast and lived on a boat in Seattle for several years before relocating to the Dallas suburbs in 2006. Our 3-year-old daughter is the most beautiful and hilarious person I’ve ever met.

How did you make the decision to pursue your art career and work from home? I created Macaroni & Glue in 2007 as a means to establish some much-needed art/life balance. With a history in the performing arts and a career in biotech I’d left behind when my daughter was born, I was feeling a bit lost after two years of being at home. I started looking in all directions for ways to express myself creatively. I totally embraced my inner Martha Stewart – learned to cook, tried all sorts of crafting techniques, made toys for my daughter, etc. Paper crafts and stationery ultimately became a passion. I began experimenting with graphic design, started spreading the word among friends and family, and soon found myself doing weddings. I began listing my vintage-inspired note card sets in my Etsy shop (Retrocrafted Paper Goods) in early 2008, and was thrilled when the sales started rolling in. I’ve since opened a second shop, Freshly Crafted Paper Goods, and have products in a number of brick and mortar shops around the country.

How do you balance work and family? Often, unsuccessfully, but I do my best. I’ve had to come to terms with the realities that our house is not always going to be as clean as I would like it to be, and that our meals will not always be perfectly balanced and made from scratch. I use any and all alone time to squeeze in chunks of work—luckily, I’m a great list-maker and an expert multitasker. My “office hours” include the eight hours per week that my daughter’s in preschool, two hours each morning before she wakes up, and the two or three hours she usually naps in the afternoon. My iPhone is always with me, and my laptop’s not usually very far away. Now that my daughter is a little older, she enjoys working alongside me at the craft table, so I’m able to get my orders out and play with new designs while she “helps.” Largely, though, I call it a day once my husband gets home. We have dinner together as a family, and he and I always have at least a little bit of alone time in the evening.

If you could go back in time to the beginning stages of your venture, what advice would you give yourself? Be honest with yourself about your limitations and find a way to work within them. You can’t be all things to all people, nor do you have unlimited hours in your day. Find a pace for your business that is realistic given your circumstances, and adjust your expectations accordingly.

Tell us about your average day: I wake up every morning at 5:00 to work on my correspondence and blog posts over coffee. I do my best and most efficient writing first thing in the morning, so I tend to save those projects until then. If there is graphic design or copy editing to be done, I also try to get that finished before anyone else is up. The little one typically arrives on the scene at about 7:30 for breakfast, and then we focus on chores and other necessities for an hour or so. If it’s not a preschool day, we’ll generally go to the gym. When we get home, our nanny job starts. Once my niece arrives, we’ll head out for some kind of fun activity, usually involving lunch (which keeps my house clean, keeps the girls happy, and puts food into our bellies). If I’m creative and lucky, I’ll keep the fun rolling until nap time at 2:00. Grandma picks up my niece at 3:00, and my daughter will usually sleep until 4:30. I try to designate a single, specific work-related project per day to complete during nap time, and most of the time I’m successful. After the little girl’s nap, we keep it pretty mellow around here—puzzles, activity books, stories, board games, etc. Once Daddy’s home, dinner’s on the table, and everybody’s eating, I’m officially off-duty. If I’m freelancing or doing a wedding, I’ll work in the evenings too, but most nights I’ve collapsed on the couch by 8:00.

What do you love most about owning and operating your own creative business? The best thing about working for myself is that I’m in the unique position of choosing when and how much I am willing to work. When things are clicking and I’m able to invest a lot of time, I can let the creative projects flow. When I’m dealing with a sick kid or a school holiday, I can simply turn off the faucet. I love the idea that my business can be scaled up or down based on our family’s situation at any given time—that makes it perfectly suited for the next five years or so, and hopefully beyond!

Besides your work and family, what else do you enjoy doing? I play racquetball most days. We also love sailing, but don’t get to do it much since we moved to Texas. I’m very into politics, and do my best to stay active in letter-writing campaigns and the like.

Why do you think consumers should shop handmade? For me the decision to buy handmade is about establishing a relationship with the artisan—a real human relationship rather than a simple paper trail.