About a year after I left teaching, I found myself missing one very specific part of the classroom: creating things.
Throughout my teaching career, I loved making activities, decorations, and resources for my students. I especially loved coming up with hands-on activities for my Pre-K kids. I never wanted everything they did to be another worksheet where they traced something, copied something, and moved on. I wanted them to do something.

Sort it. Match it. Build it. Move it around. Talk about it. Figure it out.

At the same time, as a teacher, I still needed some way to document what they were learning. So I started making what I jokingly think of as worksheets that aren’t really worksheets – activities that gave me something tangible to keep, but required the kids to actually interact with what they were learning.
Even after I stopped teaching, I still enjoyed creating those things.
And eventually I started wondering…. could I sell them?

From teacher resources to an Etsy shop

Technically, this wasn’t my first attempt at Etsy.
I had actually opened my Etsy shop about a year earlier and tried selling other types of digital products. But if I’m being honest, they weren’t doing very well… and I wasn’t really enjoying making them either.
I think that showed in what I was creating. The products didn’t really feel like me, because I was trying to figure out what I thought I should sell instead of creating something I genuinely enjoyed and knew how to make.
So, I took a break.

Then in May 2026, I decided to give Etsy another try. But this time, I wanted to go back to something I knew I was good at and actually enjoyed creating: teaching resources and classroom decorations.
Instead of trying to force myself into another type of digital product, I started making the kinds of things I had spent years creating for my own classroom.

I had bought plenty of resources from Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers myself when I was teaching, so I knew how helpful it could be to find something another teacher had already created.
Sometimes you simple don’t have the time [or energy] to make everything yourself.

I liked the idea that something I created could make another teacher’s day a little easier. And after a year of being away from teaching, I was also looking for a way to bring in some income while doing something I genuinely enjoyed.
Still, actually putting my work up for sale was intimidating.
Who would even buy this when there are thousands of other digital products like this?
What if it isn’t good enough?
What if I put all this time, money, and work into it, and it completely fails?
Those thoughts were definitely there.
Then, in June… about 2 weeks after posting my listings, I got my first sale.
And I was SO excited.

My very first Etsy sale. 🥹 Proof that someone actually wanted something I made. ♡

It wasn’t about the amount of money from that one sale.
Someone I didn’t know had found something I made, decided it was useful enough to spend their own money on, and was actually going to use it.
That felt huge.
So I kept going.

Creating for parents, too

The shop also started becoming about more than classroom teachers.
I have friends and family with young children, and I started thinking about how I could use my teaching background to create things for them. One of my friends wanted to start doing more learning activities at home with her son, but she wasn’t sure where to begin, what resources to get, what skills to work on, or even how to use some of the activities she found.
So I offered to help. I started creating resources specifically for her and her son, with the idea that learning at home didn’t need to be complicated or require a teaching background.

That made me think about other parents who might feel the same way. The ones who want to be involved in their child’s early learning but might not know where to start. When you’re not a teacher, it can be hard to know what skills to introduce, what activities are appropriate for their age, or even what you’re supposed to do with some of the resources you find online.
And yeah – you can absolutely Google those questions. There are endless ideas, activities, and resources out there. But sometimes having so many options just gives you more to sort through. You still have to figure out what’s age appropriate, what skills to focus on, what you actually need, and how to use it once you have it.

I wanted to create things that could make that part a little easier.
And not everything has to be a structured activity either. Sometimes simply having the alphabet displayed where a child can see it, numbers they can begin to recognize, or a space that feels inviting and made for them can become part of their everyday learning.

What started as me making resources for a friend, gave me another reason to keep creating. I realized the things I had learned as a teacher didn’t have to stay inside a classroom. I could use that experience to help parents feel a little more confident teaching their own kids, too.

That’s what I want my shop to continue becoming: a collection of things that can make learning a little easier, more hands-on, and more fun for both the adults teaching and the kids learning.

I needed something that worked with my life

There was another reason I wanted to give Etsy another try, and this one was more personal.

After leaving teaching, I knew I needed a different relationship with work. I had gone through grief and traumatic injuries during that chapter of my life, and by the time I stepped away, I needed space to recover and figure out what I wanted life to look like outside of the classroom.

I wanted to be able to work from home. I wanted more control over my own hours. I wanted to be able to work without feeling like work had to consume everything else.
More than anything, I needed balance.

Starting my Etsy shop gave me a way to ease back into working while still giving myself that flexibility. I could create my own schedule, take a break when I needed one, and build something without feeling like I had to have everything figured out immediately.
I knew Etsy wasn’t going to magically become a full-time income overnight. And honestly, I still don’t know exactly where it’ll lead. But being able to make something, put it out into the world, and slowly watch it grow has given me something that I didn’t realize I needed.
It gave me a way to feel productive and creative again, but this time on terms that felt healthier for me.

So… how’s it going?

It’s been about five and a half months since I decided to restart my shop and focus on teaching resources and classroom decorations. Since then, I’ve made more than 150 sales, brought in nearly $600 in revenue, and received some really kind reviews from people who actually used the things I’ve created.
Now, I know nearly $600 in revenue might not sound like a huge amount (especially when revenue isn’t the same thing as profit and there are Etsy fees and other costs that come with running the shop) But for something I restarted only five and half months ago, with no idea whether anyone would even buy what I was making, I’m genuinely proud of it.

Is it enough to replace a full-time income?
No.
Do I want it to grow?
Absolutely.
But I’m also trying not to dismiss what I’ve already accomplished just because the numbers aren’t enormous.

A few months ago, I was sitting there wondering, “Who would even buy this?”
Now, more than 150 sales later, I have my answer: apparently, some people would. 😂
And that feels pretty good.

I’ve also learned that running an Etsy shop isn’t quite as simple as making something cute, uploading it, and waiting for the sales to come in.
There are listing photos, descriptions, keywords, pricing, customer questions, Etsy fees, and surprising amount of time spent deciding whether something needs to move three pixels to the left. Then there are the products you spend hours making because you’re sure people are going to love them…
….and nobody buys them. 😂
That’s been part of learning too.

I’m still figuring out what people are looking for, what I enjoy creating, and where those two things meet. I’ve also tried to keep my pricing reasonable for teachers and parents while still accounting for Etsy’s fees and the time that goes into creating each resource.

I definitely don’t have Etsy completely figured out, but five and a half months in, I don’t think I’m supposed to.

A new chapter for my little shop

Recently, I changed the name of my shop from DMStudioCo to HelloFromDM.

When I originally created DMStudioCo, I didn’t really know what the shop would become. It was simply a place for me to try selling things I made. But as the shop started growing [and as I started figuring out what I actually enjoyed creating] I wanted the name to feel more connected to me and everything else I hope to create in the future.
That’s where HelloFromDM came in.

I don’t necessarily want the shop, or even HelloFromDM as a whole, to fit neatly into one little box. Right now, teaching resources and decorations are a big part of what I create, but I’m also giving myself permission to see where all of this goes.
Maybe the shop will grow much bigger. Maybe what I create will change. Maybe I’ll discover completely different things I want to make along the way.

I don’t really know yet.
And I think I’m okay with that.

For now, I want to keep creating things that are useful, keep learning what works [and what very much does not 😂), and keep building something that feels like me.
Five and half months ago, I wasn’t even sure anyone would buy what I made.
So for now, I’m pretty proud of where it’s going.

---

A little question before you go…

Have you ever started something without knowing whether it would work? What made you decide to try anyway?