Meet-A-Mom Interview  | Ridgefield Moms

Laura & Gabrielle of You Can’t Craft With us

 

1. Where are you from originally and how long have you lived in Ridgefield? 

Gabrielle: I grew up in Ridgefield and moved back about 5 years ago.

Laura: I am originally from Yonkers, NY and I currently live in Danbury literally down the street from her.
2. How many children do you have? What are their names and ages?
Gabrielle: I have two boys, Brady who is 8 years old and Ayden is 6 years old.
My husband Brian and I have been married for 10 years this February. We met in high school and started dating my senior year.
Laura: I have a boy, Payton who is 12 and a girl, Mia who is 8. I have been with my husband, Jesse for 20 years.
3. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you both? 
Gabrielle: We both lived in Yonkers but never knew each other until we moved to CT. Our husbands are really close friends so it is as if they are our second family, we call them our framily.
Laura: She has a type A personality and I am a type B, so we balance each other out.
4. Tell us about your work? And how would you describe your design taste? 
Before we started our business,we were like many others ordering from Etsy. I would sometimes take weeks before we received our orders, so we said we want to bring “etsy to your door”. We target loving, crafty, farmhouse, modern “cool moms.” Our shop name You Can’t Craft With Us, is a nod to the movie Mean Girls. We are far from mean but just really enjoy making gifts for families.
5. What’s been the best piece of advice you’ve received from another mother? 
Gabrielle: I think that we as mothers carry around so much mom guilt about too much screen time or not having your children eat healthy all the time. Give yourself a break, you are doing the best you can, especially right now with everything going on. The laundry will get done, the house will get clean, eventually.
Laura: To “find your own happiness”. We are so busy with wearing the many hats of being a mom, wife, sister, friend etc. Find your happy. We found crafting while listening to 90’s R&B made us happy.
6. What was the “push” that you needed to begin your own business? 
Gabrielle: I think that being on lockdown made us really push to do something for ourselves. We love to craft in our free time and we decided it was time to make it happen.
Laura: I have to say the push was from our husbands believing in us. Since we started our business there isn’t much “downtime” anymore. Our husbands are big dreamers- they are our biggest cheerleaders.
7. Tell us about any exciting upcoming projects you may have in the works?! 
We just started our Mama and Mini line. We are so excited about this line! The cups we use are all BPA free. They can be personalized with any name or design you want!
We are also currently working on personalized Easter basket tags, we love seasonal items!
8. How has this community been instrumental in getting you to where you are now?
 In  our community, everyone loves to shop small and local. I think that everyone loves a personalized gift, we can provide that and have it to you within a few days.

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