Fact…people love to spoil their pets!There are many people that spend immense amounts of money and time looking for that perfect pet bowl, outfit, bedding or collar.What one tends to run into, unfortunately, is the same old same old in large box stores.

So what does a creative soul do when they want something unique and special for their pet, but have not been able to find it?Why, they make it themselves of course!This is exactly what Maria; head honcho, creative superpower, marketing manager and all around one woman show decided to do.

Maria was born in Madrid, Spain and worked for a time for the Museum of Art.This was wonderful, but there was still the adventurous spirit that told her there was more out there, so she traveled to London only to find that jobs were scarce.She found herself working as a chambermaid in various hotels…still not very fulfilling.Maria returned to Spain and landed a job as a secretary.

After a time, back to England she goes where her sister was about to start her own University studies.Maria took the opportunity and began her own studies in design and crafts while again working as a secretary.At the time, it never occurred to her to use these design skills as a source of income.After all, she was earning a fairly comfortable living and just doing the creative work in her own time.After marrying, she and her husband moved to Lyon, France where Maria began working for Interpol (International Police) in the languages department.

Maria soon got an American Staffordshire Terrier named Mia as a companion.She set out to find a beautiful collar for her new friend and only found mass produced, unoriginal fabric collars that in no way showed personality.Flashbulb moment…Maria worked in leather and decided to put her skills to use and create a one of a kind work of wearable art for Mia!Others quickly saw the style and design of these collars and wanted them for their own furry friends.Maria launched her website and found a bit of success selling to all the pet parents of the world.

Fate has a way of making us leap, and for Maria, her job at Interpol ended unexpectedly.Rather than look for another job to pay the bills, but leave her unfulfilled, Maria dove into art full time.She now dedicates herself to every aspect of business and has even added a line of small waist purses to her stock.Each and every piece is still lovingly handmade and unique.

On top of loving what she is doing, Maria also states that she, in her own way, is furthering the promotion of all handmade and fighting the notion that the only option is mass produced goods.She says it best…”I feel that it is a contribution to value our work and fight against the massive manufacturing market that exist now days and that are invading our cultures with no quality products.”Maria says that nothing makes her heart race like the opportunity to develop the artist that exists in us!“You can learn how to do things but you can not learn the instinct of creation!”

Maria has found many rewords working for herself such as freedom to explore and create and the satisfaction of selling to a satisfied customer top the list.There are also difficulties such as only having yourself to rely on and learning how to market a unique product in a global market.

If you are a pet parent, you have to check out Maria’s work!She is easy to find on the Handmade Artists’ Shop as well as Etsy and her DeWanda Shop .You can like her on Facebook and keep abreast on all her new products!

When asked what she would tell a person that wanted to use their creativity and strike out on their own, she replied that while it is not all easy knowing how to navigate the world market and social media and that you need a few years to truly establish yourself, the efforts have a reward!