I am Toni (right), an engineer with a passion for adventure, friends, family, and art. In my first year at the University of Minnesota, I took ceramics classes. I used some hand-cut paper snowflakes as patterns for glazing some of my pieces. I really loved how they turned out, and wanted to make a matching set. So, I learned how to use a vinyl cutter to cut out multiples of the same design. This process involved scanning paper snowflakes into the computer and vectorizing their outlines. It turns out that laser cutting uses the same kind of files as vinyl cutting, and inspiration struck when I was building a robot out of laser cut parts!

The first year I made snowflake ornaments, 2013, It was an experiment and I made them for friends and family. I made more in the winter of 2014, and since the quality of my designs was increasing, I decided to start a business and share them with the world!

So, Marie Ruth began in the spring of 2015. My strengths lie in product design and engineering, so it was a large learning curve to learn about marketing, sales, and business in general. I met all of my goals for the first year in business and made a profit. It was a lot of work, but I learned what works for me and a little bit of what doesn't!

I have great plans for 2016 and 2017, from adding new products and making sure all aspects of the business have a simple system for ensuring success, my business will grow like the drifts of snow in winter! I love to create beautiful things, and I thank you for checking out my website and learning about my journey. Happy Holidays! :)

If you have any questions about my business or me, feel free to ask me via email!