Welcome to . . .

On The Lake Creations

By Andy Oliver, publisher

Meet Ellie Tolbers, owner of On The Lake Creations in northern Minnesota. Ellie has made a successful business out of her favorite hobby - rubber stamping. She designs and makes greeting cards, each one by hand. She has recently started on fabric, making customized tote bags.

Folks often ask her, "Do you live on a lake?" She does, and says that her main source of inspiration comes from the beauty around her, on a small lake in the woods:

"I am inspired when I wake in the morning to the birds singing their songs to the evening listening to the beautiful call of the loon. Living in Minnesota brings all the seasons to their full glory and I am inspired by that beauty each day.

 Ellie enjoys her work, and the fact she can work out of her home. She says, "I love being creative on my own terms. I love sitting down and just ‘playing around’ with design ideas and see my ideas come to life. I love hearing feedback from my customers, after receiving their order, how much they like my work and especially hearing from those who have received gifts made by me and how much they cherish it."

On the Lake Creations was started in the Fall of 2000. Ellie’s goals are simple: just to keep plugging away.

"I currently run my business out of a 8x10 room out of my home and I hope to build a small studio to house my business and to teach rubber stamping classes. Also, I would like to attend the New York Stationery Show someday with my handmade creations."

Having a homebased business isn’t all fun and games, though. The most difficult aspect for Ellie, as with many creative individuals, is keeping all the paperwork organized.

Ellie said, "I knew nothing about running a business when I first began. I knew I wanted to create... but the paperwork aspect was something I wasn’t prepared for and still do not enjoy."

Another troublesome aspect of a homebased business is separation of work and play.

"Since my work environment is in my home, it can be tough to separate work with relaxation. I tend to feel very guilty when I enjoy some time for myself as I know how much work needs to be done at all times. But I found turning the computer off -- where a lot of my work is located -- on weekends, turning my phone ringer off and setting actual business hours helps with separating the two worlds."

Ellie tries to balance work with family. She says it can be a struggle at times to keep both sides of life balanced but by working out of her home, it makes some of the struggles easier to manage.

A typical day for Ellie, if any day can be considered typical, normally starts with a large cup of coffee. Then she’ll do any emailing necessary, write, return phone calls and take care of some computer work.

She said, "That kind of work wakes me up. And I spend about 4 hours a day painting and stamping. I first work on orders that need to be finished and end my day working on new projects and designs."

Customers at On The Lake Creations are widely varied, but typically a person who is looking for a unique gift should be quite impressed with the offerings. Ellie also says she will work with the customer to create an original item. Gifts such as these will be cherished for a long time, and aren’t something one can find at the local discount store. Also, because I do a lot of custom work, a person who can’t find that unique gift just anywhere and is made just for them and their needs.

One of Ellie’s favorite creations is her butterfly card, called "Butterfly Dance". It is a butterfly collage-style card with the quote by Madeleine L’Engle, "In our dreams we are able to fly. And that is a remembering of how we were meant to be."

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