I have been working on my charm swap for Silver Bella and having a ball~I started reflecting on how leading a creative lifestyle is so important to me. 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 women who had started her own company making glass memory charms encased in silver~Wells.Ware 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 folkart. I once again filled charm orders in my little studio and sold them at local shows.
(Please excuse my charm photo's they were taken around 2000 before my digital canon:)
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. So that brings me back to Silver Bella, just being able to meet and take classes from some of the most creative Women across the country is exciting and another path down my creative life journey.
Please visit Artsymama blog today~Kari is hosting a fabulous party in honor of Stampingtons Artful Blogging magazine in which she is featured~you will love it!!!!
