We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christine Hubal. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christine below.

Christine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

I truly feel that the current education curriculum is sorely lacking in “life skills”. The introduction of computers and ipads is such a two-edged sword; the world is at their fingertips and and the education is spoonfed with little or no effort on their part. Cursive writing has gone by the wayside and touch typing is considered a dinosaur method. Texting with two thumbs, abbreviated words and autocorrect has changed communication forever, not to mention the distraction of having a cell phone during classes. Home Economics taught us sewing, cooking, budgeting and home management. Shop classes opened up the world of all things construction at a young age. Personally, one of the most beneficial classes I took in highschool was called Vocational Office Education. The classroom was set up as an office. We learned to type, create business letters, phone etiquette, adding machines, etc. That class, and the support of that particular teacher, gave me the confidence to properly apply for a job at a major insurance company right out of highschool. I hope that the schools are allowed to go back to basics and instill confidence in students, whether they want to go to college or choose a trade. I won’t even comment on the removal of the Pledge of Allegiance or the Lord’s Prayer.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

It all began with a song… Butterfly Mornings & Wildflower Afternoons… One night, in 1980, my husband and I were up late watching a movie called “The Ballad of Cable Hogue”. It was a romantic western starring Jason Robards and Stella Stevens. In one of the scenes, Stella sang a song called “Butterfly Mornings and Wildflower Afternoons”.

We were both enthralled with the movie, that song, and those words. The next day, Glen did a wood carving using those words as flowers and a butterfly and it hung on our porch for the next couple of years.

. At the end of 1983, I became fascinated with the art of soft sculpture thanks to the Cabbage Patch boom. I took a class, made about 25 of those dolls and then experimented with the method using nylon stockings. Before I knew what hit me, the dolls were selling, and my new creation named Grandma Broom also took off.

Without realizing it, I was now in business and needed a name. The words of this beautiful song described the life I felt we already had and the business success we wanted. An artist friend suggested that I copyright and trademark Grandma Broom. Fortunately, I took her advice as a large manufacturing company I had approached about licensing the right to make her decided to do so without benefit of a contract.. We were able to issue a “cease and desist” order through the same attorney.

Since 1983, my husband, Glen, and I have enjoyed creating many items and selling them at countless craft shows, as visiting craftsmen at Dollywood, through sales reps and thanks to the internet and Country Sampler Magazine, our dream is finally here – making our living doing what we love. I always describe my husband of 58 years as the “temperamental artist” and myself as the “crass industrialist”. He is multi-talented in painting, drawing, stained glass, sculpture, pottery, photography, aquaponics and writing. He shies away from promoting his art, where I am always trying to figure out ways to promote our products so we can continue to enjoy creating them. A few months before Covid hit, I made the decision to retire from the corporate world and open our gift shop in Sautee Nacoochee, GA. Thanks to the support of our friends and family, the many customers we have met and, most importantly, Divine Order from Above, our life continues to be filled with Butterfly Mornings and Wildflower Afternoons.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

When I first began making Grandma Broom, I made up a dozen and took them to Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. I did not call for an appointment, just packed them up and marched into their marketing office hoping someone would see me and possibly want to carry them in their gift shop. While I waited for my turn, a gentleman sitting near me struck up a conversation about my product. Turns out he was a representative for a company who sold to large chain stores. He asked me for my wholesale price and he mentioned a 15% commission, which would include his company billing and collecting the funds and sending me the net amount. Never having done anything like this before, I gave him the only price I had been selling them for and told him that the price did not include a broom. (Not including the broom was a Heaven sent piece of advice that came out of nowhere! It would have cut into my profit and been a shipping nightmare.) I walked out of that waiting room with an order of 168 Grandma Brooms for eight Service Merchandise stores, which I filled in the required 6 weeks without benefit of a glue gun! That incident proved to me that I could tackle any order and complete it. A few years later, I felt confident to accept catalog orders from The Abbey Press, who ordered 2,000 bag stuffers at a time.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I have often said that I wish that the internet had been around when I first began my business 40 years ago. I know that I could have retired earlier than I did (5 years ago) I worked a full time job and a second bookkeeping job while simultaneously creating products for my business. For the past 22 years, I have maintained an eBay store. I had an Etsy store for 8 years, but since new management took over, it became too expensive to sell there. I have my own website. I am in the process of updating it now. With my first social security check, I took a leap and bought an ad in Country Sampler Magazine, a magazine I have loved since its beginning, also 40 years ago. The sales rep told me that they had only had one other person who made vacuum cleaner covers and she could not keep up with the orders. That’s all I needed to hear! I have been a steady advertiser for 13 years now. I advertise in a local tourist magazine and on my Facebook business page. I feel good about the combination of all these components along with my in-person interactions in our gift shop.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.butterflymornings.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/butterflymornings/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vTXuLa1hOY
• Other: https://www.ebay.com/str/butterflymornings

Image Credits

Glen Ray Hubal
Christine Hubal