On her journey to rediscover herself, wife and mother Diana Kralovic took her creative hobbies and turned them into a business: Barn Cat Creations. Kralovic creates eco-friendly soap products that are good for the earth as well as our bodies.
After the birth of her second daughter, Kralovic found herself looking for a new creative outlet and way to spend her time.
“I like looking at something that I use and thinking, ‘How could I make that myself?’, or ‘Can I make that myself?’ or ‘Can I make that like how my grandma would’ve made it?’” Kralovic says. She is comfortable with projects turning out less than perfect so long as she had fun trying something new.
Barn Cat Creations is an eco-friendly, low-waste body and home products shop. All of the products and packaging are made as sustainably as possible, and every choice is made with the environment in mind.
“Very early on, I decided that I was really against the waste stream constraint and contributing to the waste stream,” Kralovic says. When she comes up with a new idea that can’t be executed in a sustainable way, it gets shelved until she can find a sustainable solution.
Before the pandemic, Kralovic enjoyed setting up shop at local farmers markets and craft fairs, spreading her brand through personal connections and word of mouth. Now, the main platform for Barn Cat Creations is their website, but you can also find products at Christianson’s Nursery, Perry and Carlson, and Tulip Town in Mount Vernon; Ramblin’ Rose in La Conner; Paper Dreams in Bellingham; and Seasoned Harvest in Sedro-Woolley.
“My biggest joy is just creating and trying different things and trying different techniques and pushing myself,” Kralovic says.
This past October, Kralovic launched a limited run of black cats and orange pumpkin soaps. The soaps were surprisingly popular and sold out almost instantly, allowing Kralovic to have fun testing out new seasonal options, without having leftover seasonal items that might go to waste.
With daughters ages four and five, Kralovic has the pleasure of sharing her creative passions with her girls. Her eldest daughter helped choose the fragrances for the October products and is fascinated with everything Mom is up to.
Kralovic is always working on expanding her inventory. Products range from soap grab bags and soap samplers, to solid bar soap, bar shampoo, and bar dish soap.
One of Kralovic’s original products and her favorite soap is the Pacific Coast bar. “I love the design of it and little seashells and anchors that are on the top. I think that’s just free fun,” Kralovic says. “It’s a really universal kind of sweet citrusy scent.”
Barn Cat Creations focuses on finding a balance between the intense artificial ingredients from the grocery store and the completely all-natural products from other stores. Kralovic likes being a middle ground where people can make small steps towards making their lives more environmentally friendly.
“If I wouldn’t use it on my kids or my mom, and if it isn’t easy on the earth, then I won’t sell it,” Kralovic says. barncatproducts.com
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