3D shadow box maker hopes to turn hobby into small business
Dec. 5, 2024
When Adrienne Sharp brings her 3D shadow boxes to the 605 Made Holiday Market at Cherapa Place, she will build on the experience she gained at the 2023 event.
The lesson she learned? People shopping at a holiday market filled with booths of handmade items may be looking at Christmas gifts for others — or themselves — but they don’t necessarily need to have a holiday theme.
“I think I’ve sold more not-Christmas designs than Christmas,” said Sharp of Sioux Falls. “People want to have something to hang up all year rather than a seasonal one. The state designs are pretty popular and the new birch tree ones, the ones that people can keep up all year, I guess.”
A 3D shadow box is a deep frame that allows 3D objects to be included behind the glass. Unlike conventional frames, which are flat and designed for photographs or paintings, shadow boxes have depth.
On her Facebook page, Sharp describes Creatively Sharp Designs as a Sharp family business. Her husband, Mike, helps with the setup at vendor shows, and 5-year-old Willow likes to help. Son Lucas, 3, and 7-month-old Evan are more hands-off at this point.
It’s Sharp who does the design work, whether starting from nothing or purchasing files that others have created. She uses a special tool to cut the assorted colors of card stock in the shapes that she will need to create hummingbirds sipping hibiscus flowers or hot-air balloons or a sunflower looming behind pumpkins.
Cutting the individual designs takes the longest, and it can take two hours to assemble a shadow box. Sharp uses a Silhouette cutting machine for the precision her projects demand.
“Some are six layers, and they cut out pretty quickly,” Sharp said. “Some are 14 layers, and that’s a lot more intense with the details and time you put into that.”
Sharp moved to Sioux Falls in January 2019, after she and her future husband met in West Fargo, North Dakota. They dated long-distance for six months until she joined him here. As a stay-at-home mom with three kids, putting together the shadow boxes often means a lot of late nights.
While Sharp calls it a hobby now, she would like it to expand.
“I would like to do more of this,” she said. “I really don’t see myself going back to a 9-to-5 job or going back to the office. I like doing this kind of crafty stuff. If I could make a living off of it, it would be ideal.”
Sharp grew up among makers. With her mother, who also sewed and made cakes, she would make greeting cards and scrapbooks. Both her father and grandfather enjoyed woodworking.
That innate creativity and a good business sense have allowed Sharp to be flexible. She found that people wanted more variety in sizes other than 8-by-8 or 8-by-10, so she now offers smaller boxes. Sharp also is learning to “think in layers” when it comes to her own designs.
She takes special orders. One potential customer liked a shadow box that featured a tire swing but none of the other pieces. Instead, Sharp incorporated a specific Farmall tractor and farm animals.
“It was fun to see what I could incorporate in there, and it was fun to challenge myself,” Sharp said. I like doing that kind of stuff and coming up with something new and customized to that person.”
Sharp has created shadow boxes that feature wedding invitations and baby announcements. Currently, she is working on an order that will include a couple’s wedding topper in the design. Sometimes, people want special pieces of jewelry included.
The one thing Sharp hasn’t done? Kept one of her pieces for herself.
“I don’t have any of my stuff hung up,” she confessed. “I give it away.”
More than 40 makers will take part in this year’s 605 Made Holiday Market, which will take place in the lower-level parking garage of the original Cherapa Place building, which is on the east side of the Big Sioux River between Sixth and Eighth streets. It will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free.
605 Made is organized by Knotty Gnome Variety & Salvage, Sew Doggy Boutique and SiouxFalls.Business. It is sponsored by The First National Bank in Sioux Falls and Dakota Business Finance.
