Interview ~Kari from Ucreate!!~

Hi everyone! That's right, you read the title correctly, I am posting an interview with Kari from Ucreate today!!

Ever since she contacted me about a year ago, we have been emailing back and forth. Kari is one of the special people that I have become good friends with through blogging. Sometimes you get to know someone and you "click", then you become friends. Before I started blogging, I never thought that in a million years I would make friends through this!

Kari is the person behind the wildly successful blog Ucreate. She has a keen sense of finding many kinds of cute projects in the craft blogosphere. Her blog contains always new and exciting information and links; never a dull moment.

I was a little nervous when I asked her if she would answer some questions. I knew she was really busy, and I would have understood if her answer was no (but I was crossing my fingers hard!). I am sooo excited that she gracefuly agreed to the interview with me!! She doesn't write about herself on her blog, so, this is a great chance for you to get to know her a little more.

I will start the interview...(just pictuer us sitting on my dream couch, a cream leather couch, I have been wanting for a long time. On the table we have a glass of juice, and some beautifully decorated treats...)

1. "Ucreate" is a household name among the crafters now. How and when, did you come up with the name?

When I first started my blog it was called “You Can Make It!” After a few months I decided I wanted to change the name, after a couple days of brainstorming “Ucreate” seriously just popped into my head. I thought it was a little weird at first (like most things we change are), but I’m so glad I changed it!

2. I think we all want to know this... with four children, a household to run and above, how do you manage your time to maintain such a fun and exciting blog? When is the best time for you to work?

I still want the answer to this question myself! I really have to be careful not to waist or spend too much time online. My favorite time to work is between the hours of 10pm-midnight {I’m definitely a night owl}. I treat Ucreate like a part-time job and I keep it between 1 to 2 hours a day. I will also check my emails throughout the day when things are slow. My family always comes before my blog and business ventures, however they also understand that this is something I love to do and they are very supportive.


3. You share many different kinds of crafts and sewing projects, what is your most favorite thing to do?

This is always changing for me. I will really get into one craft… I’ll get burnt out…get into another craft…and so on. Funny thing, when I was pregnant with all four of my kids, I hated to craft (I know, shocker)!
The past few months all of my craft supplies have been in storage and I can’t wait to get them back this week! Right now I LOVE to make modern looking quilts and I have a feeling my next obsession will be decorating my house!


4. How would you describe your decorating style? Do you have a favorite color?

I like a variation of these decorating styles {classic traditional, romantic, shabby}.
As for colors I’m really liking the soft grays, greens, blues, etc.
I always love a bold orange, too!

5. I know you love making quilt tops, who is your favorite fabric designer?

Joel Dewberry {his brand new line is fabulous!} and Heather Bailey

6. If you could describe yourself with three words, what would they be?

This is pretty tough for me to do so I asked my husband for three words and he said, “Funny, To-the-point {not quite one word},and Friendly”

7. You have mentioned that you love to read, please share your top three books we should read.

I could give you a huge list of my favorites, however three recent ones that come to mind are:
1) The Last Lecture (Randy Pausch)
2) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Shaffer & Barrows)
3) The Hunger Games series (Suzanne Collins)

8. If someone were to show up on your doorstep and give you and your family tickets to anywhere, where would you go and why?

If my kids were with me we would go to Disney World. I am a HUGE Disney fan (I can’t tell you how excited I am for Toy Story 3) and I love to see my children’s faces when they see a character and believe that they are real! If only my husband and I were allowed to go, we would go to Switzerland. My husband lived there for awhile and I’ve seen many pictures…Beautiful!

9. Do you have a favorite restaraunt? What dish would you recommend?

I have lots of favorites, but I am soo loving Firehouse Pizza right now. Their salad and chicken cordon bleu pizza is DELICIOUS!

10. What gives you joy and happiness?

Definitely living my religion. My faith gives me the strength and confidence I need in happy/hard times and helps me to experience true joy.

11. Ucreate grew in such a short period of time. Do you ever stop and think "Wow, I did this"? What do you think made Ucreate one of the most popular blogs out there? Do you have any plans for Ucreate? (well, if you are allowed to share...)

Sachiko, you’re seriously too kind. I do look at it sometimes and wonder when this all happened and what in the world have I gotten myself into. I think I am more amazed that I have met so many incredible crafters online and have made so many friendships (Sachiko, you included). I am also fascinated with all of the brand new craft blogs out there…when I asked everybody to share their new blogs with me my inbox was overflowing with them…I didn’t expect that at all!
I do have some fun ideas in store for the future. Some I can’t share yet, but I will say: “watch for some huge craft celebrities”.

12. Would you share some advice with Tea Rose Home readers on how we can become successful bloggers?

I would love to. Keep in mind that these are tips I use and are not necessarily the right or wrong way.

-Keep your personal blog separate from your hobby blog. I do this for privacy issues as well.
-Reward your readers and followers. Let them know you appreciate them and also make sure it’s easy for them to contact you.

-Keep up with the trends/news in your blog category.

-Have fun with it!

13. What is something most people don’t know about you?

I was offered to be on the Dr. Phil Show. The topic was “Leading Busy Lives” and at the time I was going to school full-time evenings while my hubby was going to school and working in the days and we had two kids. I ended up declining…because our lives were too busy!

14. What do you love most about Ucreate? Dislike most?

I LOVE my readers! I can’t believe how kind people are. I will get emails from people telling me to keep up the good work or just to stop by with a friendly comment. These are my favorites and truly motivate me to keep going. I love when people take time to submit their tutorial and share it with me! What I dislike the most? Is that it is impossible for me to respond to every email or submit every tutorial. I really hope they don’t take it personal, it would just take way too much time away from my family

Wow, those were some great answers. Thank you so much for spending time with me and all of our readers today Kari! I am looking forward to seeing Ucreate keep on inspiring us and most importantly, I wish the best for you and your beautiful family!