About Retro Hugs

Hello! My name is Rosana, but these days I go by Rosie. You may know me from my Etsy store Retro Hugs, where I sold handmade planner goodies (such as custom planner inserts and hand drawn stickers) in the past. These days I no longer run the Etsy store. It's officially on hiatus, but I don't see myself returning anytime soon, for a variety of reasons, which I will explain below as well. But first, a bit about me!

I'm a Dutch designer and artist. I'm married to the love of my life Wouter (who will mostly be referred to as "hubby" on my sites), and we have 3 kids. We live in the southern part of The Netherlands. I have a really cosy studio here. I'm chronically ill, which means I'm unable to be find regular employment. On top of that I have never found a job where I can do what I love to do.

I love creating pretty things, and that is what I have been doing for most of my life. I share a lot of my work on my main website RosieSoCosy, but I also have a Sims fansite called SimsNetwork, where I also create mods for The Sims games, all of which I create myself. I love customising everything. So it's really no surprise that I also love customising my planners.

Retro Hugs came into existence in 2009. I really wanted a crafty (scrapbooking) website, even though I knew chances were slim I would ever run a big company with my own products. But I did design as Miss Design for companies at the time, and in 2011 I officially registered at my chamber of commerce for my design work, including Retro Hugs. It still took until 2016 for me to really take the leap and start selling on my Etsy store. But I did. And I'm proud of what I achieved in the short time on Etsy. 

To be continued.