SPECIAL FEATURE #4: Always Amy

You will always find something unique and quirky in Amy Divebiss' Etsy shop. Her cheerful selection of accessories will always put a smile on your face because Always Amy is continually fresh and exciting. Put ice cream sundae earrings, a vinyl record bracelet, and an Alice Cooper notebook in one shop, and how could it not be a treasure chest of fun? This Salina, Kansas resident is certainly not afraid to live out loud - her style screams loud and clear from the mountaintops.

Amy may work in retail part-time, but she eats, sleeps, and breathes her successful Always Amy brand. Asked to describe herself, the saavy business woman admits she's "tenacious, stubborn, and determined." We could all take tips. Her sales record proves that these qualities are truly worth having.

When she's not steadily creating pieces to add to her shop, you can find Amy with her husband, playing with her animals, and keeping busy in her rooftop garden.

Read the interview below, to find out more about Amy D. and what new things she has in store:


In business, the 20 second pitch means everything. In 2 sentences or less, tell us what you sell in your Etsy shop and why it is unique.

I sell recycled memories. My jewelry embraces the nostalgia of the past, they are fond memories made tangible.

What are your favorite materials to use in your pieces?

Toys, buttons, miniatures – mainly plastic because you can get such a bright range of colors.

Which item from Always Amy is your most treasured piece? Why?

Right now I am really in love with making necklaces. Oddly, I hadn't really been inspired to create them much before this last month or so. So it's been this whole new fun thing for me & I am madly in love with the 'Cowfolk & Native American' series that I am making from vintage plastic figurines. But the boy rapid firing his gun, while his 10 gallon hat flies back, is my favorite of favorites (for now)!

We all pull from different things to inspire our art. What 3 things inspire your creativity the most?

1 - My desire to repurpose all the discarded little treasures. I love bringing things back to life

2 - COLOR COLOR COLOR. I love bright colors, and the different feelings that can be evoked by their combinations.

3 - My robot overlord. Not really, but I have always had a zany side – the childish joy of imagining hasn’t seemed to have left me yet. I am innately curious and gratefully have been able to channel that into my art.

What is your definition of success?

Albert Einstein said it well, “The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. . . . The ordinary objects of human endeavor -- property, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible.” My shop’s success is that it is enough. Enough to let me do this as a full time job, something beautiful that I enjoy. It allows me to do my little piece of helping the future by recycling and repurposing, and it makes other people happy (at least more so than if I was a telemarketer or bill collector or something else mundane).

Etsy selling is all about survival of the fittest. What has been your toughest challenge while running Always Amy?

I am very principled, perhaps to a fault. There are things that I have made and then discovered that someone else made them first and I won’t list them. I try very hard to ensure that everything I make is my own idea, my own creation. That is the hardest part, especially in a world where not everyone is so principled. There are people, not just on ETSY – but everywhere, who have no problem with stealing an idea and then recreating it and undercutting the price. I refuse to have a price war with my own product.

Share your most exciting experience while running Always Amy.

My first sale; I recently had my 3,000^th item sold; and it is kind of silly, but a minor pop star bought a item from my shop and wore it to an event and a magazine shoot – so I can see it in the pictures.

What words of wisdom do you live by when selling on Etsy?

Be tenacious. Don’t compromise – ever. Dedication.

If you could open a brick and mortar shop anywhere in the world, where would it be? Why?

Whew. I had a brick and mortar shop before and it was not an ideal situation. But anywhere in the world… New York. Living where I do, New York seems like a mythical place. I have always wanted to go there, but money/family constraints have kept me where I am to this point. But New York is the dream.

If you could select only one celebrity to be photographed with one of your pieces, who would it be?

I would like to say that it doesn’t matter, that I am not into celebrities, but anyone famous wearing one of my pieces would thrill me. If Ani DiFranco bought something from my store – well – I might get a little spastic over it.

(Ani DiFranco; Mourning Blossom Stud Rose Post by Always Amy)

What new things should we look forward to in your shop?

Hopefully lots. I am in the midst of a self imposed purchasing ban for the summer. I have so much unused product cluttering my craft room(s) that I really need to focus on using it up before I get more, but there are ideas floating in my head for the distant and not too distant future of my store, including an entirely new store with a ‘darker’ or grittier theme (more art base than jewelry), but I don’t have any time tables. Just keep checking the store and I will do my absolute best to keep it interesting and updated with new things.

Visit Always Amy to see more great items.
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Amy's MOST MEMORABLE CARNIVAL MOMENT:

Not a big fan of the rides, (thanks to the gift of motion sickness) however, a few years ago we went to the local carnival and I took some pictures of people on the rides. There was the ride that spins and presses everyone against the wall and then the bottom drops out. Well, the frame rate of the camera happened to match the rotation speed of the ride. When the pictures turned out you could see a few of the people in clear focus, while the ride and the lights were a moving blur. It was really neat.

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