The Making of
Matchbox House
This week after a lot of second-guessing, tweaking and probably spending far too much time on Etsy listings, I am finally launching my Etsy shop called Matchbox House!
This feels like a huge milestone for me. For the past few years I’ve been creating art and sharing it on my social media and for a long time I didn’t feel like my art was good enough to sell. So what changed? Well this year I’ve been exploring more styles of illustration, trying more mediums and challenging myself to draw subjects I had previously avoided. By challenging myself, I’ve grown more confident in my skills and I now feel like it’s time to start turning my passion into a career.
So, what is Matchbox House?
Matchbox House is my little corner of Etsy where I’m going to be turning my illustrations into things you can actually buy, starting with a collection of colourful, hand-painted digital invitations. I will also be selling some party decoration sets (keep an eye out for Christmas!).
I wanted the shop to feel like a little world of its own, rather than simply being called Polly Jupe Illustration.
That’s where Matchbox House came from.
The name is inspired by the logo for my website, as I wanted to connect it to myself and my website in an attempt to cut through the AI noise of Etsy and show anyone who found my shop that I am in fact not an AI Bot, but a living breathing artist.
Why Digital Invitations?
I’ll admit, I went back and forth on this one. I love the idea of making physical stationery and eventually I’d love to turn my illustrations into all sorts of lovely things — prints, wrapping paper, cards, party decorations and who knows what else. But digital invitations felt like a really good place to start.
I’ve always loved designing things that are made for a particular occasion. There’s something quite lovely about creating an illustration that gets to be part of someone’s special occasion, whether that be a birthday, dinner party, wedding, Christmas celebration or general excuse for a get-together.
For my first Etsy products, I decided to make digital invitations that people can personalise themselves in Canva.
The illustrations are all completely designed and hand-painted by me before I turn them into editable invitations. So although the customer can change the practical bits — names, dates, times and all the important information — the artwork itself remains the same.
There’s no waiting for postage, no worrying about whether your invitations will arrive in time and no need to order 50 when you only need 12.
You can simply buy the invitation, personalise it in Canva and then download it to share for your special occasion!
And importantly, I’ve designed my invitations so that you can use them with a free Canva account.
No fancy subscription required!
So, What's Next?
The invitations are just the beginning. I have lots of ideas for where I want to take Matchbox House, and I'm hoping to gradually introduce more products as I go (party decoration sets I’m looking at you next). But starting with digital products felt less daunting than starting with physical products and worrying about suppliers, postage and all those practical bits alongside my 9-5.
One of the biggest things I've been trying to do with my illustration work is move from simply painting because I enjoy it, to actually building something around it. That is a slightly scary shift. For a long time, my artwork existed just for me and what I wanted to create, that also meant if someone didn’t like it, that’s ok because it’s just for me.
Now I'm starting to think about what happens after I finish the artwork. And challenge myself by thinking about my work as a commercial product to put out into the world.
My Plan for The Future
I have lots of ideas for where I want to take Matchbox House, and I'm hoping to gradually introduce more products as I go. For now, though, I'm going to enjoy having my first little collection out in the world.
So if you'd like to have a look, Matchbox House will be officially opening on November 1st.
And if you happen to buy something, Thank You! You're not just buying an invitation — you're helping a small illustrator turn their after-work passion into something much bigger.