Meet Erin Ashare of iCrave Jewels in Waltham

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Ashare.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Erin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
One evening, while walking to meet my husband for dinner, a woman stopped me and asked where I had purchased the sparkling necklace I was wearing. I had recently started making unique necklaces and earrings as a hobby, to wear myself. I told her that I had made it and it was not for sale. She then explained to me that I had just started a jewelry company and that she was my first customer, as she bought it right off my neck!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
About two years after I started my etsy shop my Mint To Be Necklace was featured on the front page of Etsy, along with an email blast that reached over a million people. The response was amazing. Orders came in from all over the world. I immediately called my supplier and learned that the factory could not produce my specially designed beads for 12 weeks. My stomach dropped. I never before had so many orders and never faced such a long turnaround time. I had no idea how my Crave Girls would respond. They were all amazing. Despite informing them of the 3 month delay, I did not have a single cancellation. As fate would have it, the beads came in a month earlier than expected and the necklaces were created and shipped immediately. It was a very stressful 60 days but we made it through.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about iCrave Jewels – what should we know?
iCrave Jewels creates colorful and sparkling jewelry. Each piece is carefully designed and created with an emphasis on attention grabbing pieces. Whenever I wear one of my designs, I am constantly stopped on the street and asked where I got it?! Over the years, I have often been asked how do I come up with my designs? The answer is, I only design and create pieces that I would love to wear. Our motto is: Life is too short to wear boring jewelry!

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Over the years I have worked with some amazing fashion bloggers. These women are trendsetters and it is always flattering that they love my jewelry as much as I enjoyed creating it. They really helped me bring it from a small hometown business to internationally recognize… Some of my favorite bloggers are in Living in Yellow, Teggy French & KBStyled.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.etsy.com/shop/icravejewels
• Email: icravejewels@gmail.com
• Instagram: @icravejewels
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/iCraveJewelsOnEtsy/

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