C'ville Entremom

When I first decided to start up C’Ville Entremom, I sent out an email to every woman that I know in the area in search of mom-owned businesses.  There was one name that came back to me over and over again:  Besty Carter of By Betsy.  I just had to find out what all of these women knew that I didn’t and what I have been missing out on!

Log onto ByBetsy.com and the first thing you notice is the fun, fresh and whimsical artwork that Betsy creates.  By Betsy offers stationary and invitations for all occasions:  weddings, save the dates, birthdays, birth announcements, moving announcements and customized bookmarks to name a few!  Betsy uses your ideas and her creativity to create one of a kind stationary for you.  All you have to do is contact Betsy and let her know what you are envisioning and she creates/draws/designs exactly what you are looking for!  How cool is that??  One of Betsy’s best sellers is her Cheers! Drink Line..  Here is an example:  Let’s say you want to create your own family stationery with drinks customized for every member of your family…  You’d end up with the cutest cards with a beer mug for Dad, champagne for Mom, a bottle for baby and a dog bowl for Luna, all with the family name underneath!

The Cheers! line became so popular as stationary that Betsy started extending it into customized invitations as well. For example, if a customer is having a cocktail party and she knows the are huge UVA fans, she will incorporate the personalized drink(s) into the invitation scene somehow or will have a row of cocktails that will be served at the soiree with a UVA koozie on a beer bottle in the lineup.  The Cheers! line led to similar line-up ideas:  family shoes and kids outfits!  How adorable are these?

Betsy founded By Betsy in 2003 when she couldn’t find the kind of stationary that she wanted for her 4 month old daughter, Susannah (now 6).  She found an open niche out there and went after it.  Prior to motherhood, Besty, who has a Masters in Teaching, was an elementary school teacher.  Often, she had to get creative when teaching concepts and would use some of her whimsical artwork to help inspire her students with their lessons.  Who knew that this creativity would later transcend into an enterprise??

So, how does Betsy balance working and motherhood?  Betsy finds this part fun.  She will sketch designs at her kitchen table while her little ones, Susannah and Graham (4), are doing art projects or working on homework.  After the artwork has been created, she does all the formatting and publishing of the work once the kids are in bed.  She admits that, at times, it does get tough to balance family and work, but she has used her creativity to juggle both.

Betsy mainly relies on word of mouth to promote her business.  I would have to say she has done a great job as I have found many, many women that use her!  If you would like to find out more about By Betsy, visit her website (www.bybetsy.com) or email Betsy bybetsycarter@comcast.net.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 6:36 am and is filed under Custom Invitations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.