Terrific Tuesdays: An Interview with Rachel Klein of One Pretty Thing

Hello Lemonheads! I hope you are ready for a Terrific Tuesdays surprise, an interview with the woman behind One Pretty Thing, the one and only, Ms. Rachel Klein! Many of you probably migrated from One Pretty Thing to Purple Lemon Designs, so you know what a great service Rachel provides. If you haven’t ever visited her site, what are you waiting for? She provides a daily dose of DIY projects from across the web. She captures all of the wonderful goodness including free downloads, project directions, patterns, and other fun things from across the interweb.

photo courtesy of Rachel's flickr stream

Not only is Rachel a fabulous blogger, but she also is a good photographer. I could spend hours going through her flickr stream. Check it out when you have some time.

I don’t know about you, but Ms. Rachel is a mystery to me. So a few weeks ago, I thought I would ask if she would submit to an interview…Lucky for me (and you!), she said YES! So without further ado, Ms. Rachel Klein of One Pretty Thing.

photo courtesy of Rachel's flickr stream

Kelly: Tell us about yourself!

Rachel: I’m a 28 year old married girl from California who lives with her husband and a darling menagerie of assorted animals. Besides crafting, I’m really into the outdoors, gardening, cooking, and eating. I don’t know how I get anything done, I’m ALWAYS thinking about food! There is almost always something cooking or baking here, and I love having friends over for evening-long meals.  We’re a vegetarian household, but this year I’m making a big effort to cook more vegan food. I’m having a blast experimenting!

Kelly: What inspired you to start One Pretty Thing?

Rachel: I felt like I hit the lottery when I discovered craft blogs last year. There were patterns and how-tos for absolutely everything I wanted to make and my to-do list got longer and longer. I got a little obsessive about checking sites everyday, I didn’t want to miss anything. I remember thinking that if all the tutorials were in one place, I could spend more time crafting and less time clicking. That’s when I decided to publish the results of my searching so that everyone would benefit. One Pretty Thing looked so different when I first started. I blogged long lists of tutorial links with the occasional picture thrown in. Now I have a custom-built interface that allows me to create the Roundups in less time while including much more information for the reader.

photo courtesy of Rachel's flickr stream

Kelly: What is  a typical “day in the life of Rachel” look like?

Rachel: I wake up anywhere from between 6 and 9 am, take care of my animals and sit down in front of my computer with a cup of tea. I usually get in a couple of hours on the site before my husband gets up and I cook breakfast. Once he’s off I get in a work out, then get back to One Pretty Thing. If I’m wrapped up in what I’m doing the entire day can go by and I won’t even notice. I’m working on that! Ideally I like to walk Puppy Jane in the afternoon and put in a few minutes of garden time but that doesn’t always happen. My husband comes home anywhere between 4 and 7pm. We make dinner together and walk the dog, then I’m either back at the computer or doing chores if we don’t have plans to go out. We spend a few nights a week eating with friends, going to the beach or playing games together. Regardless of what we do, we always end the night with a glass of wine and The Daily Show. My husband and I both have crushes on Jon Stewart!

Kelly: Is One Pretty Thing your day job?

Rachel: One Pretty Thing is quickly becoming my day job! I started the site when I was between jobs and had no idea it would require the amount of work it does now. I started the site back in August, only eight months ago and had four readers. I might have spent two hours a day on it. Now I have 6,000 daily readers and I could easily spend (and often do!) ten or twelve hours a day working on Roundups, trying to keep up with email and maintaining the site. I also have some really exciting new features to add so I try to work on those as often as possible. The good news is that the response for the site has been amazing! I’ve had lots of interest from advertisers so it looks as if the site will support itself if I decide to go that route. Currently I’ve been holding giveaways to give out ad space while I get used to the idea of having ads, as well as creating a slide show program for fading ads.

While I haven’t decided on monetizing the site, I know that either way I’ll be sticking with the blog. I’ve met so many amazing people and discovered so many fantastic blogs. I love that when I find a great tutorial I can actually send traffic back to the site! And after the holidays I received quite a few emails thanking me for helping people out during a tight Christmas. That was incredible. I love connecting people!

Kelly: What did you do before One Pretty Thing?

Rachel: I was a public speaker! I know it’s most people’s worst nightmare but I loved it. It’s taken some getting used to to go from talking to a thousand people a day to discussing embroidery projects with my cats. Luckily they don’t think it’s odd if I decide to give them an impromptu presentation on my latest Roundup idea.

photo courtesy of Rachel's flickr stream

Kelly: What started your love of crafting?

Rachel: My mom for sure! She made so many things for me when I was younger; clothes, doll furniture, a playhouse, you name it. My bedroom growing up was a DIY dream. From the mural on my wall (that I destroyed with markers-sorry mom!) to the curtains to the furniture, my mom made everything. It was really inspiring and she taught me so much. She still does. When she was here over Christmas she helped me make a rain jacket for my horse!

Kelly: What does your work space look like?

Rachel: My office space is currently a temporary table in my husband’s home office. Now that I’m spending so much time in there I’ve decided to spruce it up and make it a nicer work environment. I’m repainting the peach walls a leafy green, bringing in some new art and I’m currently hunting for the perfect desk.

photo courtesy Rachel Klein

My craft room is my favorite room in the house.

photo courtesy Rachel Klein

It’s also the messiest! The dresser was a thrift score that holds art supplies, inspiration pages torn from magazines and works in progress.

photo courtesy Rachel Klein

Usually I have a large table in the middle of the room for painting and sewing but it’s in the garage having it’s legs extended. I’m really excited about that!

photo courtesy Rachel Klein

Thanks so much to Rachel of One Pretty Thing. Don’t you just love getting a glimpse into your favorite blogger’s life? I am so smitten with her crafting area (and her super organizational skills!).

I want to publicly thank Rachel for all of her support over the past few months. She has always posted my freebies and projects on One Pretty Thing, hosted a giveaway, and now she has so generously shared her story and her life with Purple Lemon Designs. Do I hear a big round of applause? I think so!

What do you think Lemonheads? She is a pretty cool chica right?