The Magic of Storytelling

The Magic of Storytelling

For centuries stories have been used to celebrate our culture, our lives and as a means of passing along a message. Do you remember that great teacher you had that used stories to help you learn new concepts? I bet you can even remember the name of a teacher that used to make school come alive by using storytelling in the classroom, whereas the names of the teachers who just used to "lecture" you in the classroom are likely long forgotten.

The reason why storytelling is so powerful is because really great storytellers have the ability to help us connect with a story. They draw us into the story and make us feel specific emotions or help us to experience the world around us in a particular way. Think back to that book you just couldn't put down; as the story progressed you began to develop either a like or a dislike for a specific character. I can't tell you how many discussions I was involved in regarding Christian Grey (from 50 Shades of Grey), it was amazing how his story captivated so many of us.

So what does this have to do with marketing your crafting business?

If we look at most of the products showcased at a craft show, the simple truth is that many of the items on display can be purchased far cheaper at a big box retailer like Wal-Mart. So why then do people pay more to buy from us?

Since starting Makers Move, my partner and I have had the opportunity to speak with not only the makers themselves, but also the buyers who attend these craft shows. Interestingly, what we have heard over and over again is that customers make purchasing decisions based on the maker's story and not simply the item they have created. Better yet, truly great stories are perceived to have greater value to the end customer which is why they pay more for the item.

A great example of the power of storytelling can be found within the story of my partner Mandy's tie dye business. For those of you who do not know Mandy, she is the mother of 5 amazing kids. Like so many of us, she has always wanted to take her kids to Disney World to experience the magic of Disney, but the costs of a 7-person trip was a challenge. In order to earn the extra cash to take her family on this once in a life time trip, Mandy started "Over the Rainbow Dying" and something amazing happened. Mandy started getting calls from media outlets wanting to interview her about her new business. Within a short time article after article was being written about Mandy and her business and that she was "Dyeing for a trip to Disney World". As people learned about Mandy's business and the story behind it, people began to connect with her story and her sales began to increase.

How can you make storytelling work for your business.......

When crafting your brand story, you must illustrate what your voice is, what you stand for and why it matters to the lives of the audience.  Remember that good storytelling isn’t even directly about you, your brand and your solutions/products; it’s about emotions, experiences, needs and the written and unwritten images associated with these emotions and needs, in relationship to the feeling your brand evokes.

Never forget, the ultimate goal of marketing is to inspire, to motivate, change, and encourage the buying of a product or draw people into your store.

So how do we craft our brand story? The following info-graphic is a great road map for developing your story. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Want to be featured by Makers Move Manitoba? 

Click on this Link Feature Me

What is Makers Move?

Mandy Johnson and I founded Makers Move Manitoba in the Fall of 2015 as a means to support and promote the many amazing artisans, hand-makers, crafters and farmers located right here in our beautiful Province. Right from the start our goal was simple; to create a community of makers and help connect them to customers and admirers who believe in the value of shopping local and supporting small business.


One of the greatest things about Makers Move Manitoba has been the opportunities that we have had to meet and talk to the many talented members of our community. Through these dialogues you have shared your triumphs, your fears and your greatest challenges with us allowing us to understand how we can leverage the strength of the entire community to help break down barriers for all of us.


What we have learned is that regardless of how successful any one of our members has become, we all suffer from the Crafters/Makers Dilemma  which has made it difficult to take our passion for creating from being a hobby to becoming a business which one day could actually become our main source of income. 
More importantly, we have learned that by harnessing the strength of our community, Makers Move Manitoba can become the catalyst that breaks down the barriers that prevent many of us from achieving our true business goals. 
As we continue our quest to procure the best possible resources to overcome the various obstacles we makers face, we also wanted to make the following commitments to all the amazing members of the Makers Move Community:


To our MAKERS
We promise to always strive to provide a variety of the very best resources available to aid your business to reach its full potential.We offer a variety opportunities for makers/growers to grow their businesses.

 Our RESOURCE page is a great place to start.

 A great way to boost views to your site or page is by signing up to have your work FEATURED by us (click on link).

Also be sure to follow us on

Instagram @makersmovemanitoba

Twitter @MakersMoveMb

 Facebook Makers Move- Manitoba

 Linkedin Makers Move Canada

 Pinterest Makers Move Manitoba

As Mandy and I continue along on our mission to grow the Makers Move Manitoba community and continue to create a series of resources that help all of you grow your businesses, you can help us by continuing to share your successes, failures, struggles and fears with us. Your stories can be used not only to inspire other members of the community, but also to provide us with the information necessary to help us build/acquire the resources that will provide the greatest impact to our entire community.

To our CONSUMERS

We promise to always strive to connect you to Manitoba's very best artisans, hand-makers, crafters and farmers in an effort to help provide you an opportunity to "support local" and keep your hard earned money at work in our communities. With out you our makers wouldn't have a business. We thank you for your support.

 Did you know that if each of us spent $100 a year on local businesses instead of chain stores, it would put an extra $3 Million back into our economy and create thousands more jobs every year.

Photography by Kelly Allison Photography, photo's taken at Blacknot farm,logo by Pareair Custom Designs, word blocks by Jbirds & Sonshine, frame and chalkboard by Chalk It To Me, Brandy's boots by Northern Heart Designs, Mandy's scarf by Ashley Erika Designs, Mandy's earrings by Universal Abundance, Brandy's scarf by XOXO Knits, Brandy's earrings by Souvenir Handmade         

Meet the Maker- Jeremy Morantz

Meet Jeremy Morantz 

 First and foremost, I am a full time student at the University of Winnipeg majoring in communications. On the side I do freelance videography, and film making. You can also hear me most Monday mornings on CKUW 95.9fm from 8:00am-9:00am hosting the morning news show, People of Interest. Recently, I started up a major new project called Morantz Media. Morantz Media is a network of all local podcasts, shows, videos, articles, music, and artists.

How did you get to where you are as a business?

It’s all about hard work and determination when trying to grow a business, but the most important aspect that simply cannot be stressed enough is PASSION. Passion is how my projects all got to where they are today. I first began to take an interest in videography at a young age. I found myself fascinated with the beautiful moving images I saw in movies or on TV, and I realized that I wanted to

recreate these images on my own. I started transitioning into creating broader ranges of media only recently. While videography will always be in my heart, I began craving something different. I created Morantz Media as a way to produce many different forms of content. What should we know about your work?

At Morantz Media, the podcasts have become more of the signature product we create, while on the video side of things, a music video I shot and edited for local musician, Jeremy Hecht called “Can You Feel It”, would probably be my most known videography work. I also did the Makers Move Promo video.

What advice do you have in regards to your success?

For a really long time I also thought that success is something that would just come to me, because I’m special or something. Only a few months ago did I fully realize that this is not nearly the case. In order to see any success, you have to work hard. It’s not the answer most people want to hear, it’s not the answer I even want to hear, but it’s the truth. Any successful individual you looked up to worked harder than you could imagine to get to where there are today. That doesn’t mean however, that you can’t have fun in the process. Having fun is just as important as working hard, otherwise you’d just end up miserable.

What makes you proud to be a Manitoban?

Because of my Winnipeg roots, I realized recently that I know next to nothing about the rest of this vast province. What makes me most proud to be a Manitoban is learning about the seemingly never ending amounts of rural municipalities, communities, and small towns that call Manitoba home. Hopefully one day I'll visit every single one. Definitely when its warm out, for sure not during winter.

Why do you think it is important to shop local and support small businesses?

 Supporting local, homegrown, Manitoba business is key to ensuring our provincial identity remains intact. It is essential that one chooses a family owned coffee shop over a traditional Starbucks type store because that is what binds us all as Manitobans. I understand that at times, it may seem that most Manitobans are bitter, and irreverent  towards their own province. But it is the warm, welcoming local businesses of Manitoba that act as the thread which brings us all closer so we can celebrate Manitoban pride.

Where can we find your work Jeremy?

Please check out morantzmedia.com which is my latest project. Morantz Media is a home to local musicians, artists, podcasts, shows, articles, and videos. Also please follow me on twitter and Instagram: @jeremymorantz

Want to be featured by Makers Move Manitoba? 

Click on this Link Feature Me

What is Makers Move?

Mandy Johnson and I founded Makers Move Manitoba in the Fall of 2015 as a means to support and promote the many amazing artisans, hand-makers, crafters and farmers located right here in our beautiful Province. Right from the start our goal was simple; to create a community of makers and help connect them to customers and admirers who believe in the value of shopping local and supporting small business.


One of the greatest things about Makers Move Manitoba has been the opportunities that we have had to meet and talk to the many talented members of our community. Through these dialogues you have shared your triumphs, your fears and your greatest challenges with us allowing us to understand how we can leverage the strength of the entire community to help break down barriers for all of us.


What we have learned is that regardless of how successful any one of our members has become, we all suffer from the Crafters/Makers Dilemma  which has made it difficult to take our passion for creating from being a hobby to becoming a business which one day could actually become our main source of income. 
More importantly, we have learned that by harnessing the strength of our community, Makers Move Manitoba can become the catalyst that breaks down the barriers that prevent many of us from achieving our true business goals. 
As we continue our quest to procure the best possible resources to overcome the various obstacles we makers face, we also wanted to make the following commitments to all the amazing members of the Makers Move Community:


To our MAKERS
We promise to always strive to provide a variety of the very best resources available to aid your business to reach its full potential.We offer a variety opportunities for makers/growers to grow their businesses.

 Our RESOURCE page is a great place to start.

 A great way to boost views to your site or page is by signing up to have your work FEATURED by us (click on link).

Also be sure to follow us on

Instagram @makersmovemanitoba

Twitter @MakersMoveMb

 Facebook Makers Move- Manitoba

 Linkedin Makers Move Canada

 Pinterest Makers Move Manitoba

As Mandy and I continue along on our mission to grow the Makers Move Manitoba community and continue to create a series of resources that help all of you grow your businesses, you can help us by continuing to share your successes, failures, struggles and fears with us. Your stories can be used not only to inspire other members of the community, but also to provide us with the information necessary to help us build/acquire the resources that will provide the greatest impact to our entire community.

To our CONSUMERS

We promise to always strive to connect you to Manitoba's very best artisans, hand-makers, crafters and farmers in an effort to help provide you an opportunity to "support local" and keep your hard earned money at work in our communities. With out you our makers wouldn't have a business. We thank you for your support.

 Did you know that if each of us spent $100 a year on local businesses instead of chain stores, it would put an extra $3 Million back into our economy and create thousands more jobs every year.

Photography by Kelly Allison Photography, photo's taken at Blacknot farm,logo by Pareair Custom Designs, word blocks by Jbirds & Sonshine, frame and chalkboard by Chalk It To Me, Brandy's boots by Northern Heart Designs, Mandy's scarf by Ashley Erika Designs, Mandy's earrings by Universal Abundance, Brandy's scarf by XOXO Knits, Brandy's earrings by Souvenir Handmade

Crafter/Makers Dilema

The Crafters/Makers Dilemma

    Most entrepreneurs have experienced that moment of complete insanity (often referred to as an entrepreneurial seizure), which ultimately led to the creation of their business. This sequence of events typically begins with a friend or family member admiring something that you have created and asking if they could pay for you to make one for them. From that moment on, we are hooked and the process of trying to take our passion from a hobby to a business is in full swing.
    As we come down from the high of our first couple of sales, the reality that running a business is far more difficult than just sharing our passion with family and friends. We quickly learn that in order for our business to succeed we need to constantly be trying to connect with our next set of buyers. We start to attend craft shows and begin to try to figure out how to create our own website and online store. Before we know it, more of our time is going into marketing our creations than into making them . It becomes difficult for us to find the time to market our products and continue to create them.
   We finally hit that realization that something has to give. There are just not enough hours in the day for us to complete all the tasks required to run our growing business. For most of us, the most logical idea is to start paying someone to help us market our stuff. For many of us this is not an option as the costs are too substantial for our current level of sales. For far too many businesses this is where the dream ends.

   The good news for crafters is that an unusually large number of us will actually succeed at taking our businesses from a hobby to a business which allows us to leave our current full time jobs. If we look at the statistics, about 20% of businesses that are started will successfully get to a point where the owner can operate the business as their sole means of earning an income. Of the 80% that are unsuccessful at making this transition, the large majority give up because they feel they are unable to overcome the barriers that all businesses face.

   Since we started Makers Move Manitoba, we have had the incredible opportunity to not only meet many crafters and makers, but also many successful business people from different industries. What we have learned is that the majority of the companies who are successfully generating sales online are employing the services of website and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) specialists at an average cost of $3,000 per month. For most crafters , the profit margins do not allow us the luxury to employ those types of services, until now.

    We are far stronger if we stand together than if we attempt to go it alone. With this in mind, my business partner Mandy Johnson and I have started exploring whether it might be possible to leverage the size and strength of our maker community in an attempt to allow all of us to take advantage of services that we likely could not afford on our own.

   Over the next few months, we hope to see the fruits of these efforts as we plan to unveil a number of resources for our members that will allow all of us to act like the big boys while sharing the costs so that we can all prosper and grow our businesses. Our goal is to help turn the table in our favor and see if we can’t improve the odds of success for the many talented makers and creators who are part of our community.

Stay tuned as we unveil affordable resources that will result in some incredible success stories from the members of the Makers Move Community!


Cheers to your success…..

  

We offer a variety opportunities for makers/growers to grow their businesses.

 Our RESOURCE page is a great place to start.

 A great way to boost views to your site or page is by signing up to have your work FEATURED by us (click on link).

Also be sure to follow us on

Instagram @makersmovemanitoba

Twitter @MakersMoveMb

 Facebook Makers Move- Manitoba

 Linkedin Makers Move Canada

 Pinterest Makers Move Manitoba
We promise to always strive to provide a variety of the very best resources available to aid your business to reach its full potential.

As we continue along on our mission to grow the Makers Move Manitoba community and continue to create a series of resources that help all of you grow your businesses, you can help us by continuing to share your successes, failures, struggles and fears with us. Your stories can be used not only to inspire other members of the community, but also to provide us with the information necessary to help us build/acquire the resources that will provide the greatest impact to our entire community.

To our CONSUMERS

We promise to always strive to connect you to Manitoba's very best artisans, hand-makers, crafters and farmers in an effort to help provide you an opportunity to "support local" and keep your hard earned money at work in our communities. With out you our makers wouldn't have a business. We thank you for your support. 
 Did you know that if each of us spent $100 a year on local businesses instead of chain stores, it would put an extra $3 Million back into our economy and create thousands more jobs every year.

What is Makers Move

         

What is Makers Move?

Mandy Johnson and I founded Makers Move Manitoba in the Fall of 2015 as a means to support and promote the many amazing artisans, hand-makers, crafters and farmers located right here in our beautiful Province. Right from the start our goal was simple; to create a community of makers and help connect them to customers and admirers who believe in the value of shopping local and supporting small business.


One of the greatest things about Makers Move Manitoba has been the opportunities that we have had to meet and talk to the many talented members of our community. Through these dialogues you have shared your triumphs, your fears and your greatest challenges with us allowing us to understand how we can leverage the strength of the entire community to help break down barriers for all of us.


What we have learned is that regardless of how successful any one of our members has become, we all suffer from the Crafters/Makers Dilemma (I will write a more detailed post about this at a later date), which has made it difficult to take our passion for creating from being a hobby to becoming a business which one day could actually become our main source of income.


More importantly, we have learned that by harnessing the strength of our community, Makers Move Manitoba can become the catalyst that breaks down the barriers that prevent many of us from achieving our true business goals.


As we continue our quest to procure the best possible resources to overcome the various obstacles we makers face, we also wanted to make the following commitments to all the amazing members of the Makers Move Community:


To our MAKERS

We promise to always strive to provide a variety of the very best resources available to aid your business to reach its full potential.
  
We offer a variety opportunities for makers/growers to grow their businesses.
 Our RESOURCE page is a great place to start.

 A great way to boost views to your site or page is by signing up to have your work FEATURED by us (click on link).

Also be sure to follow us on
Instagram @makersmovemanitoba
Twitter @MakersMoveMb
 Facebook Makers Move- Manitoba
 Linkedin Makers Move Canada
 Pinterest Makers Move Manitoba

As Mandy and I continue along on our mission to grow the Makers Move Manitoba community and continue to create a series of resources that help all of you grow your businesses, you can help us by continuing to share your successes, failures, struggles and fears with us. Your stories can be used not only to inspire other members of the community, but also to provide us with the information necessary to help us build/acquire the resources that will provide the greatest impact to our entire community.

To our CONSUMERS

We promise to always strive to connect you to Manitoba's very best artisans, hand-makers, crafters and farmers in an effort to help provide you an opportunity to "support local" and keep your hard earned money at work in our communities. With out you our makers wouldnt have a business. We thank you for your support.

 Did you know that if each of us spent $100 a year on local businesses instead of chain stores, it would put an extra $3 Million back into our economy and create thousands more jobs every year.

5 Reasons Why You Need AWESOME Product Photos For Your Handmade Business

Reason #1:

Customers judge the quality of your products by the quality of your product photos. If the lighting is dim, the background is distracting, or the photos are blurry, the buyer will probably think twice before making a purchase.

Reason #2:

Customers make split-second decisions about buying your products, based on your product photos. You have just a few seconds to impress buyers before they click away from your site.

Reason #3:

Customers cannot see or touch your products in person, so your product photos must “tell the story” from afar. Be sure to display photos that are large enough for the customer to zoom in and see small details, too.

Reason #4:

Thousands of product photos vie for attention on online shopping venues such as Etsy. Your photos must stand out from the crowd! 

Reason #5:

Customers who can visualize themselves using your product are more likely to buy it. How will your product make them feel? How will it improve their life? Your product photos need to tell them!

Makers Move - Manitoba can help you with your PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY!

At Makers Move - Manitoba, we are fortunate to have the opportunity to meet and share the stories of our province's talented makers, growers and artisans. These talented members of our community share with us not only how they got started and the many successes they have had along the way, but also the major challenges they face in their businesses.

In a recent survey we created that was completed by over 100 Manitoba Makers, we learned that one of the greatest challenges that most sellers face in growing their handmade businesses is finding the time to do all of the behind the scenes work that it takes in order to market themselves and their business when all they really want to do is CREATE!




Makers Move - Manitoba has decided to start offering PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY to help out our sellers with one aspect that is SO VITAL to selling online, that takes up a lot of time!

Product photography sessions will be offered the 1st Sunday of every month and to make it simple and easy to find the dates and to register, we have added our product photography calendar to the home page of our website.  If you click on it, you will be able to read about the details and purchase tickets which will ensure your products have a spot.

Participants who have purchased tickets and would like to have their products photographed must print off our photography contract and have it signed and dropped off at the same time that their products are dropped off or we will not take the photos.

Products need to be dropped off to 11 Shauna way on or before the Saturday before the photoshoot.  Items will not be accepted the day of the photoshoot.

If you have a specific prop that you would like in your photos, please drop it off at the time that you drop off your photoshoot.

Products may be picked up the Monday after the photoshoot, or at some point during the week following.

We also offer headshots and lifestyle photo's of makers engaged in their work to be used in the makers marketing, website, blogs, etc starting at $20 each. If this is something you are interested in, please send us an e-mail at makersmovemanitoba@gmail.com to book.

We can come to you or you can come to us!

Powered by Eventbrite

Meet this Manitoba Maker- Whistle Pea

MMM: What is Whistlepea the business and what do you MAKE?
Whistlepea: My name is Amy and my shop is Whistlepea. I primarily make items for children and babies including dresses, scarves and skirts, dolls and doll clothes, Happy Manitoba tees and knit baby hats. Kids are so fun to sew and knit for and there are so many great fabrics and trims out there! I also make infinity scarves and headbands for women and occasionally I make vintage tea cup candles. I like to keep things varied because I want this to be an enjoyable endeavour for me, not a one-lady sweat shop and I like there being something new to check out every time you visit my Etsy shop or see me at a craft show.

MMM: Why did you decide to start doing what you do?
Whistlepea: I graduated from teacher's college in 2004 and I always struggled with finding steady teaching jobs. I'd learned basic knitting and sewing as a kid and I picked it back up again to fill the time between terrible substitute teaching jobs. I moved to Japan in 2005 to teach English and the craft scene there is just amazing. You can find incredible yarn and fabric and patterns all over the place. I didn't have a sewing machine there but my knitting obsession really took hold. When I returned to Canada, I had a lot of trouble finding permanent work again and I opened my first Etsy shop mostly for something to do. I relaunched it again last year as an outlet for all my crafty output and for a focus outside of parenting my two small children.

MMM: Thank You Amy for your very honest response. I think fellow crafters and parents can  relate to the happiness and fulfillment that one gets out of perfecting and sharing their craft.  

MMM: What is your favorite product to make?
Whistlepea: Hmmm... it really varies. Right now I'm really proud of the embellished skirts I fell down a rabbit hole of making recently. They're so cute and really reflective of my style with their Scandinavian inspired ribbons, tiny pockets and vintagey ricrac.

MMM: Where part of Manitoba did you grow up in?
Whistlepea: I was actually born in Cape Breton and grew up mostly in Eastern Ontario. I moved to Manitoba in 2008 and I've lived in Killarney for three years. I will be moving to Winnipeg when we sell our house here. I'm really looking forward to exploring the big city more!

MMM: What is one of your favorite things about Manitoba?
Whistlepea: Maybe it sounds boring and practical but I really appreciate that the cost of living here is still manageable, especially compared to Ottawa where I lived previously. It gives me the freedom to stay at home with my two kids and work when I can. My life is fairly slowly moving here and I like that.

Some places you can find Whistlepea products:
Whisltepea Etsy Shop 
Whistlepea is on facebook
Also Whistlepea goods are available at Little Green Stone's pop up shop on Broadway in Killarney, Manitoba. 

There are so many great products from Whisltepea to check out


Whistlepea's Soy candles in vintage tea cups! Brown Sugar and Fig Scent are a hit!

Brought to you by Makers Move Manitoba?

Makers Move is a hub for all things handmade and home grown locally here in Manitoba! 

Makers Move Manitoba was created by proud Manitoba girls Mandy Johnston and Brandy Sylvestre. We wanted to create a platform to showcase the MANY incredibly talented makers movers and shakers located right here in our amazing province!

Makers Move is a community for our Makers and those who value the importance of shopping local and supporting small business; we work towards fostering connections between businesses and consumers, and in doing so we hope to inspire Manitobans to think about where they want to spend their money. Join the Makers Movement; together we can educate Canadians about the importance of supporting local business.

"Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of word you want."
- Anna Lappe

In order to ensure that we do our best to spread the word of this fabulous community, we have developed a presence on both Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; Please be sure to check them out . Like and share to help us continue to grow the community.

Fellow Creative Souls and Founders of Makers Move Manitoba

RBM Christmas Wreaths and Trees

RBM Trees and Wreaths

Verna McGuckinPhotos by Kelly Allison Photography

Family owned local wholesome Christmas wreath and tree company. RBM Trees and Wreaths are located about 3 km west of the perimeter. On the north side of the road just before Breezy Bend golf course.  They have a group of very talented ladies that make thousands of fresh Christmas wreaths at their location in Headingley. For the wreaths to last a long time, they are made with mostly Fraser Fir boughs and some White Pine for a very nice contrast. A majority of their customers are fundraising groups from schools, sports teams, scouts, and kinsmen and optimist clubs.We asked Roy and Verna McGuckin owners/operaters to tell us a little bit about their Tree and Wreath business;

Brandy & Mandy
Photos by Kelly Allison Photography
Tree Pillow by Joyful House Designs
Large Wood Christmas Tree by Wood-n-Knots

How did you get to where you are as a business? Also tell us about your beginnings? 

Verna McGuckin: My husband and I started off with a few locations in the city renting space on parking lots. When we first started we sold out of our vehicle! During those early days we bought our trees from a different wholesaler, but as we increased our locations and needed a much larger volume of trees, we started to buy directly from the farmers. We still retail, but now only from our main location at 7521 Roblin Blvd. . Our main business is now wholesale.

What is your signature product or Top sellers?
Verna McGuckin: Although our tree numbers are still much larger, our freshly handmade wreaths are becoming more popular every year! They are beautiful, but they also last longer than most types because of the type of boughs that we use.

Verna McGuckinPhotos by Kelly Allison Photography

What advice do you have in regards to your success?

Verna McGuckin: It has taken us over 20 years to build up our business! We work incredibly hard to give all of our customers-both retail and wholesale customers, very good service and a great product. Also, we have had to constantly monitor and make changes as the supply and demand of trees changes. When we first started in the industry, almost all the tree sales were Scotch Pine and the local MB spruce. We still sell both of those types, but now our most poplar trees are the Fraser Fir, then the Balsam Fir. Those were not even an option when we started.

What part Manitoba are you from? Where do you reside now?
Verna McGuckin: My husband grew up in Headingley and although we lived in Charleswood for the first 20 years of our marriage, we are now back in Headingley. I was born in South America, and at the age of 9 moved to Winkler where my parents still live.

Mandy Johnston of Co-Founder Makers Move Manitoba
holding a handmade wreath by RBM Trees and Wreaths
Photos by Kelly Allison Photography

Tell us something interesting about yourself?

Verna McGuckin:  I am always busy. We also started Thunder Rapids Amusement Park almost 20 years ago. When we first bought the land it was just a farmer’s field! Slowly over the years we added different attractions and now have quite a variety of attractions. Having the amusement park in the spring-fall season and then going right into the Christmas tree season gives us work almost year round, especially when you factor in the pre-season planning.
One of my passions during our “slow” time, is hiking and travelling. I was thrilled to have walked the last 250km of the Camino de Santiago, in Northern Spain with my sister. One day I would love to do the complete 800km journey.

What makes you proud to be a Manitoban?

Verna McGuckin: I’m a people person, and just love the friendly Manitoba people. Although I would choose to have shorter winters, I really appreciate the 4 distinct seasons and LOVE having snow at Christmas! I know there are lots of people living in poverty here, but nothing like I’ve personally seen in many other countries. To me, one of the best things about Manitoba and Canada in general is the relative safety I feel in our country. I think the more I see different parts of the world, the more I appreciate what we have here. 

Go get your Fresh Handmade Wreath or Tree 

Address: 7521 Roblin Blvd, Headingley, MB R4H 1A7

Phone:(204) 885-7223

Tree Lot Phone: (204)888-3124

Brought to you by Makers Move Manitoba?

Makers Move is a hub for all things handmade and home grown locally here in Manitoba! 

Makers Move Manitoba was created by proud Manitoba girls Mandy Johnston and Brandy Sylvestre. We wanted to create a platform to showcase the MANY incredibly talented makers movers and shakers located right here in our amazing province!

Makers Move is a community for our Makers and those who value the importance of shopping local and supporting small business; we work towards fostering connections between businesses and consumers, and in doing so we hope to inspire Manitobans to think about where they want to spend their money. Join the Makers Movement; together we can educate Canadians about the importance of supporting local business.

"Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of word you want."
- Anna Lappe

In order to ensure that we do our best to spread the word of this fabulous community, we have developed a presence on both Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; Please be sure to check them out . Like and share to help us continue to grow the community.

Fellow Creative Souls and Founders of Makers Move Manitoba