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  • Case Study: How One Reddit User Turned AI Clip-Art Into a $2,000/Month Etsy Side Hustle

Case Study: How One Reddit User Turned AI Clip-Art Into a $2,000/Month Etsy Side Hustle

Author

Samuel Ng
June 23, 2025

Hello,

Have you been trying to make money online but don’t know where to start?

You’re not alone. Many people feel stuck, unsure what really works or if they even have the right skills.

If that sounds like you, this story could be the motivation you need.

You’ll see how a complete beginner built a profitable Etsy store using AI-generated clip-art, starting with no budget or special skills, and reached $50 to $70 a day in pure profit within a few months.

The best part is, this method is simple, low-cost, and easy for anyone to follow. Let’s dive in!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up or make a purchase through these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support my work and allows me to keep sharing free content with you.

The Backstory: How It All Started

This whole journey began around November 2023. After making his own research, this Reddit user decided to give Etsy a shot.

He set up a brand new Etsy store and aimed to sell digital clip-art, cute little graphics people use for crafting, scrapbooking, and printables.

The store wasn’t limited to any one country, they sold to Etsy shoppers worldwide.

The plan was to create clip-art in popular, always-in-demand themes like flowers, animals, and holiday designs such as Christmas.

The Simple, Proven Money-Making Model

The idea was refreshingly simple.

  1. Use AI tools(Midjourney) to generate high-quality clip-art based on popular themes like gnomes, animals, and Christmas.

  2. Polish and package these images using Canva, turning them into small or large bundles that customers could buy and download instantly.

Here’s how the pricing worked:

  • Small bundles: 10 to 20 images priced at $1 to $2. These were designed to attract more visitors and encourage easy sales.

  • Large bundles: 100+ images priced at $15 to $50. These were aimed at serious buyers and helped maximize profit.

Because these are digital products, there were no shipping costs. The only expenses were Etsy’s selling fee (6.5 percent) and an AI subscription (around $10 to $20 per month).

That kept overhead low and profits high.

So how much did this new store make?

  • First month (December 2023): $568, with nearly all of it as profit after Etsy and Midjourney fees.

  • After a few months (early 2024): $50 to $70 per day, which works out to $1,500 to $2,100 per month.

Not bad for a business that costs around $30 a month to run.

The Tools That Made It All Possible

Here are the exact tools used to make this happen:

  1. Midjourney: This AI art generator created all the cute, high-quality clip-art in various styles like watercolor or cartoon. With the /describe command, the seller could analyze bestselling images on Etsy and recreate that style to match what customers wanted.

    • Pros: Stunning detail, endless style options, perfect for Etsy’s “cute” design trends.

    • Cons: Can’t add text to images.

  2. DALL·E 3 via ChatGPT-4: Used to make image variations and to add text when needed. It’s available for ChatGPT Plus users.

    • Pros: Precise and integrated inside ChatGPT-4.

    • Cons: Requires the $20 per month premium ChatGPT account.

  3. Canva: The all-in-one design tool used to remove backgrounds, upscale images (to about 3,000 x 3,000 pixels), and make attractive product mockups.

    • Pros: Free, beginner-friendly, no Photoshop skills needed.

    • Cons: Upscaling isn’t perfect, some slight blurriness might appear at pixel edges.

  4. EverBee: The Etsy research tool that helped find top-selling products and trends, like “pink Santas” and “Christmas gnomes.” It was essential for deciding what niche and themes to focus on. This tool gives you great data on bestsellers, guided product creation.

    👉 Sign up for EverBee for free to research Etsy trends

The Exact Step-by-Step Process

Here’s how this person actually built the store, week by week:

Stage 1: Market Research (Weeks 1 to 2, November 2023)

  • Used EverBee to scan Etsy for the hottest selling clip-art bundles.

  • Spotted strong demand for Christmas, animals, floral patterns, and gnomes.

  • Noticed a trend, combining “pink Santas” with gnomes was surprisingly popular.

  • Decided to make unique “pink Christmas gnomes” to stand out.

Stage 2: Create and Edit Clip-Art (Weeks 3 to 4, November 2023)

  • Generated images with Midjourney using prompts like “cute pink Christmas gnome, watercolor style.”

  • Used Midjourney’s /describe to capture and replicate the style of top-selling designs.

  • Edited each image in Canva by removing the background and upscaling for clarity.

  • Cleaned up small flaws like blurry edges or extra details to keep quality high.

  • Packaged products into two types of bundles:

    • Small bundles: 10 to 20 images, priced $1 to $2 to drive traffic.

    • Large bundles: 100+ images, priced $15 to $50 for serious buyers.

  • Made beautiful mockups in Canva to make the product listings irresistible.

Stage 3: Open the Etsy Shop and List Products (Week 4, November 2023)

  • Launched the Etsy store.

  • Uploaded 15 to 20 bundles to fill the shop.

  • Wrote optimized titles and descriptions loaded with keywords like “Christmas gnome clipart, pink watercolor.”

  • Ensured each image was transparent PNG, high resolution (about 3,000px).

  • Posted 2 to 3 new bundles weekly to keep the shop active and growing.

Stage 4: Promote and Expand (December 2023 to Early 2024)

  • Promoted the store for free on Pinterest using the clip-art images linked to the Etsy shop.

  • Took advantage of holiday and seasonal trends to catch shopper attention.

  • Continued posting new products weekly, always focusing on seasonal themes.

  • Watched daily revenue grow from $10 per day in mid-December to $50 to $70 per day by the end of December and into early 2024.

The Real Results

Here’s what this simple system produced:

  • Revenue:

    • $568 in the first month (December 2023).

    • $50 to $70 per day in early 2024, around $1,500 to $2,100 per month.

  • Traffic: Increased steadily during December, thanks to Pinterest and Etsy searches.

  • Products: Started with 15 to 20 bundles, expanded to dozens more covering themes like Christmas, animals, and flowers.

  • Other wins:

    • Built a brand new Etsy shop from scratch in just one month.

    • Created a digital product system that scales easily, especially in busy seasons like the holidays.

    • Proved that small bundles drive traffic, while large bundles boost profits.

Lessons Learned: What Made This Work?

  1. Smart Market Research: EverBee revealed the hottest themes like pink Santas and gnomes, which let the seller create products customers actually wanted.

  2. Bundle Strategy: Small bundles drew shoppers in, large bundles made the money.

  3. Free Promotion: Pinterest drove lots of free traffic thanks to its image-focused audience and holiday pin trends.

  4. Low Cost: With just $30 a month for Midjourney and Etsy fees, this store stayed lean and profitable.

What Made This Business Different?

  • Used Midjourney and Canva together to produce high-quality clip-art cheaply and quickly, perfect for Etsy shoppers.

  • Leveraged Midjourney’s /describe command to recreate the exact style of bestsellers and stay competitive.

  • Focused heavily on Pinterest, which worked great for this female-skewing, visual product market.

The Challenges (And How They Were Solved)

  • Heavy Competition: Solved by creating unique, trendy products like pink Christmas gnomes and carefully optimizing listings.

  • Image Quality Concerns: Canva’s upscaling was “good enough” for customers, no complaints so far.

  • Low Traffic at First: In the beginning, the store only made about $10 a day, which was quite low. But by posting new products regularly and sharing pins on Pinterest, they managed to grow daily sales to over $50 a day.

Bonus: Turn Your Designs into Physical Products with Printful

You’re not limited to just selling digital clip-art on Etsy!

You can also take your designs and sell them on print-on-demand platforms like Printful, which will handle printing, packing, and shipping for you.

This means you can turn your artwork into physical products like t-shirts, mugs, or tote bags without ever touching inventory or worrying about logistics.

It’s another simple way to turn your creativity into an eco-system of passive income!

Tips for Newbies Who Want to Try This

  1. Start Small: You only need $30, $10 for Midjourney, $0.20 per Etsy listing, and Canva is free.

  2. Pick an Easy Niche: Flowers, cats, holidays like Christmas or Halloween are perfect for beginners. Watch some YouTube videos on Midjourney for 1 to 2 hours to get the hang of it.

  3. Research Smartly: Use EverBee, free or $10 per month, to see what sells best. Or just search “clipart” on Etsy and spot trends.

  4. Make and List Products: Create 10 to 15 bundles with 10 to 20 images each. List 2 to 3 bundles per week, optimize your titles and tags.

  5. Promote for Free: Post your clip-art to Pinterest and link directly to your Etsy shop. Join relevant design or printables boards.

  6. Be Patient: It takes 1 to 2 months to see real traffic, especially during holiday seasons, but growth is steady if you keep at it.

And that’s the full story.

As you can see, this is a simple, realistic way to build passive income using AI and Etsy, even if you’re brand new and not a designer.

All it takes is some creativity, consistency, and the right tools.

Want to learn how to build your own digital product side hustle like this? Stick around, I’ve got more step-by-step tips coming your way soon.

Stay curious, stay creative!

Samuel