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As a young girl, I would make my own Barbie cloths with bits
of material my Mom would give me from her quilting supplies.
Barbie had to have some cool furniture too, so I made tables
and chairs for her and Ken to use out of jar lids and wire.
Newly married in the early eighties, I sewed curtains,
pillows and baby clothes on my new 6 stitch Kenmore that was
a present from my husband. Collecting antiques started in
earnest about this time ~ really just hand-me-down furniture
but it had the Country Living look that I loved and gave me
an excuse to hit all the Midwest auctions that I could with
three toddlers in tow. My decorating style was very
primitive, dark mustard colors and homespun made my heart
leap. I also loved to sew cloth dolls and Santa's and sold
these at antique and craft shows.
Around 1990 after seeing an article in Country Home about
collecting old German Santa's, I decided to start sculpting
my own Santa's ~ selling these to shops in Arkansas, Kansas,
Missouri and Illinois. I had a good following but was always
on a deadline and spent countless hours in my little
basement studio crafting and filling orders while still
trying to balance my Wife, Mom and Nurse duties. I had hit
the crafting brick wall, and for about 5 years, backed off
of the big orders and only did things for myself and an
occasional local craft show. Around 1998 or so, I was
watching Oprah and my creative fire was once again ignited
when she showcased a woman who had started her own company
making glass memory charms encased in silver.
WellsWare
was also featured in one of Victoria Magazines books about
women entrepreneur's. So, through trial and error, I taught
myself how to cut glass and solder. I was still in my
primitive style, and wanted to make my charms look old so I
hunted for old papers and buttons to use again combining my
love of antiques and folk art. I once again filled charm
orders in my little studio and sold them at local shows.
Once again I was in a full crafting mode so I started
concentrating on Santa's, snowmen and other Holiday folk art ~ I
loved the look of the old German batting ornaments and found a
way to replicate the look~
In 2005 my crafting
once again took a
backseat when I opened
Raised In Cotton with my
friends~ I always was
pulled to do "just
antiques or just crafts"
but I finally have a
place I can do both to
my hearts desire.
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