With Sex And The City, and Carrie Bradshaw…

The one recurring question I’m always asked is “How on earth did you get started making custom snow globes?”

If you’ve read my “Who Is The Queen“ page, you already know I’m a dreamer. But businesses don’t start from hopes and dreams alone!

I launched Queen Of Snow Globes in 2012. I always wanted my own business and had 2 test runs in my 20’s and 30’s – both in the music products industry, which had been my vocation and expertise from the age of 19.

Around 2009 I committed to learning as much as I could about online business. I spent all my spare time listening to podcasts and learning a lot of tech skills, but I didn’t know really what I wanted to do with my newfound knowledge.

At the same time, I wanted more creativity in my life.

One night I was watching “Sex And The City” – one of my very favourite TV series. Carrie Bradshaw had a stunning New York City snow globe. In the episode storyline, the globe symbolised the “shaking up” of her relationship with Aidan. The visual was so captivating – I set about trying to find that globe to own for myself, but soon discovered it was a rare creature indeed. (Side note, I do own one now!)

Whilst searching, I noticed that all the snow globes for sale were very kitsch and cheap looking. It was hard to find something beautifully made – something that looked like a really special keepsake. What I did see however was empty snow globe kits for sale. In a moment of joy, I realised my creative itch might be scratched by attempting to make my own beautiful and minimalist snow globe.

When the globe kits arrived, I revisited my fond childhood memories of model train sets by scouring train shops for miniature figurines. The first piece I ever made was called “Mare and Foal Under Winterbare Tree”- my niece Natalie now owns that globe. In the moment the globe was assembled, I was transfixed and knew this was something I wanted to do more of.

I started playing around with sculpting, making pieces for friends & family. I pictured magical Narnia globes and Stephen King novel tributes I might be able to create. It didn’t take long for me to learn how temperamental snow globes can be. So many failed experiments trying to banish air bubbles from the sealed globe!

But I loved every minute of it.

Meanwhile, my business research was leading me to build test websites, learning about keywords and other “boring tech stuff” that gave me an incredibly solid foundation – and in all honesty is a major reason for my success. 

One day I decided to do some research on who else was making custom snow globes. To my surprise, it seemed the niche was one I might be able to crack, if I did it the right way. I don’t remember when the name “Queen Of Snow Globes” came to me, but I never looked back; it’s always felt right.

Buoyed by a few previous website attempts and a LOT of accumulated business knowledge, I built this website myself with the intention of producing a range of tribute snow globes that I would sell to the public. But before I knew it, I was receiving requests for custom designs. Within 6 months, my website was on page 1 of Google for the term “custom snow globes” and I found myself unable to keep up.

Building the website was a calculated guess, but I never dreamed it would develop into a B2B model with clients like Calvin Klein, NBC or The Academy Awards. The first time someone asked me if I could produce a larger order of 100 globes, I nearly fell off my chair. But I had already been approached by manufacturers who had found my website, so it wasn’t difficult to reach out and figure out a deal.

I was very fortunate early on to produce several high profile projects, which certainly helped catapult the business. The day I found myself on the phone with Steve Martin, I realised I had something special going on. I was honoured to produce custom globes for the cast and crew of Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” and I also produced the single custom snow globe that featured at the end of Craig Ferguson’s very last “Late Late Show”.

I do feel like those early wins were a sign that I was finally doing what I was supposed to be doing. Everything just came together and although it was hard work, I never felt as if I was pushing up against any kind of resistance – it just flowed. And the development of the business into a B2B model has been an absolute joy for me – I love working with my clients and I get excited with every new enquiry I receive.

So that’s the story of how I became The Queen – I write this in October of 2023 and cannot believe I’ve been doing this for more than 10 years. Running any business isn’t without its significant challenges, but I would not change this for the world.