About

Tell us a little bit about yourself:

 

Hi, my name is Kara and I have been with my husband, Greg, for 19 years.  We have three gorgeous little kiddies, Cassie, Luke and Lacey.  They were all born in Australia while we were living in Perth.  We relocated back to New Zealand in 2015 to be closer to our families.  The kids absolutely love it back here, as do we, although the weather can be a bit testing at times after 15 years of blue skies and sunshine!

 

When did you start Sassie?

 

I started up Sassie in 2011 about six months after I had my second child.  I was searching for personalised wine charms and couldn’t find them anywhere.  I decided to make some myself, and it all started from there.  I made personalised wine charms, which lead to personalised children’s jewellery, hand stamped adult jewellery ... and all things girly and pretty.  After I moved to back to New Zealand I couldn’t easily source the jewellery findings so have put the jewellery on hold for now.  I started doing crochet beanies and added little flower hairclips to the girls designs.  This started on my search for the perfect flower and here I find myself doing the floral initials which I LOVE! 

 

How did you name your business?

 

When I started my daughter Cassie couldn’t pronounce her name correctly, she called herself Sassie, and my business was named!

 

How have you juggled running a business with having a family?

 

This is tough with three little kids and a husband who spends most of the year in Perth for his business.  I spend lots of late nights working to get orders complete.  My oldest two children love doing all things art & craft so when I make gift cards they love to join in with me.  My littlest one is a bit too destructive to join in at the moment (and she is such a girly girl, just not nearly as fussy and neat as my oldest two – or me!!!)

 

What is your favourite product within your range? Or your bestseller

 

Definitely the personalised floral initials.  I love creating these.  Each one is so unique with the name painted in any colour and the flowers added to suit the bedroom or nursery decor. 

 

What is one thing you do daily to make your business work?

 

I spend a lot of time photographing and presenting my work.  Presentation means everything to me, so I pride myself on beautiful packaging and high quality images.

 

Where to from here with Sassie?

 

I absolutely love creating the floral initials, but struggle with not having anything out there for the little men in our lives.  So I am currently working on a boys design.... hopefully coming soon.