Ever since quarantine started, and even before that for some, students have been pulling out their creative side in order to start an online business on social media. From tie dye, to homemade (and recycled) earrings, to stylish stickers, these students are getting innovative.

According to Megan Rabaut ‘21, creative producer of ‘@mebblet_’ on Instagram, she has been creating homemade, recycled earrings since January of this year.

“I make earrings with wire and beads that I got donated from my friend’s grandma, who used to sell jewelry,” Rabaut said. “I also get recycled materials from Arts and Scraps as well as from other sites online and from craft stores.”

Like many other students, according to Sarah Rogers ‘21, creative producer of ‘Sarah Does Tie Dye’, she has started making tie dye outfits to sell on her page.

“I started (my business) because I started to have a lot of free time ever since quarantine began,” Rogers said. “Also, I’ve always been interested in starting an online store so I thought that this was the perfect time to start.”

One student, Scarlett Draper ‘21, creative producer of ‘@handmade.by_scarlett’ on Instagram, uses her broad artistic abilities in what she sells.

“I started painting other students’ calculators for fun and then people were saying my art was really good,” Draper said. “So I decided to open up the business on Instagram involved around my art. I got inspired by a lot of people who opened up a business and we’re doing quite well.”

According to Rogers, tie dying has definitely reduced her boredom, especially during quarantine.

“Tie dying has started to replace the time when I would usually watch netflix or go on my phone, which is one of the reasons why I like it so much,” Rogers said. “I’ve been trying to stray away from going on my phone so much during this quarantine and this hobby has helped a lot with that.”

According to Rabaut, her sibling and her have been making lots of earrings recently, with all the time they have, and she got molds to chemically make earrings with, which is really exciting and new.

“I really didn’t expect it to get this big,” Rabaut said. “I thought I’d just be selling to my friends and some people at school, and it’s crazy that now I have had almost 400 sales and am shipping to places like Los Angeles,California.”
According to Draper, she loves art and she thought this would be a good way to make money off of it. She enjoys making things for fun and now she is able to make something of what she creates.

“I make stickers, jewelry (earrings, bracelets, anklets, necklaces), and pillows. I drew my designs for the stickers and then I got a sticker maker to turn them into stickers. I have a bunch of beads and jewelry supplies to make those, and I sew the pillows by hand,” Draper said.

According to Rabaut, she makes earrings when she feels like it and makes them as she sells, so she doesn’t overwhelm herself.

“To keep organized, I have a little book that I log all the orders in to keep track of who got what, how they are paying, if I need to ship, and more stuff like that,” Rabaut said. “As the business grew, I found this to be super helpful, especially for shipping orders.”

If you are thinking about making an online store, according to Rogers, you should definitely pursue it.

“It is really fun to pass the time in these uncertain times,” Rogers said. “Along with that, once quarantine is over, you will still have that hobby that you spend as much or as little time on it as you want!”