We recently connected with Katlyn Katona and have shared our conversation below.
Katlyn , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Crafty Mom Candles, LLC was born over a few years between kids and me needing a creative outlet. It began with a kit after giving birth to my oldest in 2011 and picked back up in 2019. The name of my business was something I mulled over for a long time because I did not want a name that was just slapped on a label – I wanted it to mean something.
Crafty – I have always been doing creative and crafty things all through my life so that just fit!
Mom – Is the core of who I am with 2 kids at home. I wanted by business name to have that in there to always remind me why I am working so hard to give them a better life. They also help with the business but MOM in the name is to never let the business take away from time and memories with them.
Candles – I started as all folks do with a little bit of each craft until my love for candles brought me back. Creating unique and true to name scents. Something that invokes a feeling or memory is the best compliment anyone can give my candles!
Katlyn , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Crafty Mom Candles, LLC was born over a few years between kids and me needing a creative outlet. It began when my youngest was born 10 years ago 30 weeks early and me needing something to keep Postpartum Depression at bay. It was then reignited 3 years ago with black soot on my wall from a well known candle company that made me research what was in them – YIKES!
Right then I decided I wanted to create a healthier and safer candle in my home. Little did I know this endeavor would turn into such a huge part of our lives. I proudly take the time to hand pour all of my candles to ensure quality and safety is brought into your home.
My candles are all soy based with fragrance oils that now are from a vendor specializing in Clean Scents for Home. This means there are none of the things that are unsafe for pets, children and you! While I want a safe products another perk of these is a true to scent candle that causes less headaches without all the additives, carcinogens and cancer causing agents.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
This one has been a wild ride for sure! I started with my local folks on Facebook and started to grow there – while it is my lowest “follower platform” the people there have been with me since the beginning and have truly seem the growth as well as ups and downs of my journey. I expanded into Instagram as the next logical step just because a lot of folks buy with their eyes first so having my photos there brought in the website traffic. Tiktok is my largest platform and that was almost by accident! I joined there so my business name could not be taken – now it is my go to for content creation and I love everyone there! I can let my creativity flow and at the same time bring my fellow small business owners and parents along for the ride. I have a combination of small business support, parent comradery, how-to video and education on candle creation and have gained over 20K followers (28K across all platforms) over the course of a few years!
Have you ever had to pivot?
We went from corner of the basement to a shop space and now back to full basement!
We had a shop location from August 22-Jul 23 but decided to not renew the shop lease for another year.
It was a difficult but much needed realization for us. It was the perfect space & price but not the right timing as it has had me away from home & my family too much.
The move back home was absolutely the best decision and would have always been my what if.
I know that at this time a retail/brick and mortar is not for me and was taking the joy from it. I don’t think this is the end for a brick and mortar for us but we need the kids to be a bit older first. It has not affected any current business, wholesale or growth otherwise and we are still be bringing all the amazing candles, melts and goodies right here in Redford- just from a revamped home space. This also means my husband is back as my packaging supervisor so we can share coffee and time together nightly!
While one of the hardest decision I have ever had to make it has allowed me to focus again on my business and creation as well as growing the event manager side of craft shows.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.craftymomcandlesllc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craftymomcandles/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craftymomcandles
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katlyn-katona-50a87014a/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@craftymomcandles
Image Credits
Image Credits (Midnight Sun on Shelf, Midnight Sun & Mocha Latte Candles in Hand) – Sunflower Productions LLC All others – Katlyn Katona