Hi and Welcome!

Hey all,

I'm really excited to be opening my Etsy shop in the next few days. I've been thinking and crafting for this for a couple of weeks, and I'm really looking forward to finally getting it up and going. I've wanted to sell my crafts for a long time now, and hopefully it'll go well.

I've been crafting for as long as I can remember. I've made more things than I could ever list out of paper and cardboard, bottle caps and pipe-cleaners, especially for one of my oldest and dearest friends, Iris- who, as far as I know, has kept everyone of them.

I was always one for drawing, though some of my childhood attempts seem embarrassing at this point. I think my best memories of drawing and creating when I was in elementary and middle school was when I made things for my grandpa. It didn't matter how things turned out, he was always so proud of me. He always believed in my artwork, and although he passed away when I was in 10th grade- before most of my better pictures were drawn- he is still one of my biggest encouragers. When he was in and out of the hospital and even temporarily in a nursing home type setting, I rarely visited him. I couldn't stand to see him hooked up to machines and not in his favorite recliner in the living room of the house he built and I do regret not visiting him then. But I was always sending him pictures. And he proudly had them hung on his wall with sticky-tack, wherever he was, and pointed them out to his nurses and visitors. To the very end, he loved my artwork, and that is one reason I create. This is one of the few pictures I have of him with me. I'm the one on his lap, though I don't know exactly what age I was at the time.

I learned how to knit and crochet while I was in high school. I "learned" to crochet in my high school textiles class, but I didn't know I was doing it incorrectly, and my teacher must not have realized it either. It was quite frustrating and after a while, I gave up. My mom then taught me to knit so I could help make dishcloths for my the penny social at my grandmother's church. I liked it, but I never got much farther than knitting and purling in straight blocks, and eventually, I wandered back to crocheting , where I found a real passion (I taught myself how to do it correctly with one of the crocheting books my mom had gotten me when I had first begun to show an interest).

Over the years, I've dabbled in all sorts of crafts- knitting and crocheting aside, I've done handmade cards and scrapbooking, embroidery, friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss and jewelry out of hemp, drawings and paintings...I've tried basket coiling, making figures out of clay (not my forte!) and even copper enameling and basket weaving while counseling at a summer camp. When my grandmother's eyesight began to get worse and she couldn't thread the needle on her sewing machine anymore, she had me thread it for her so she could finish her last project and then gave it to me, knowing it would get put to good use. And boy was she right! Over the last 2 years I've sewn 5 or 6 baby quilts, curtains, a tree skirt for our Christmas tree, pillows galore, and a gigantic double thick Steelers blanket for my husband, as well as clothing and a costume or two, and many other things.

If I have an opportunity to try a new craft, I usually will. I'm so thankful for all of my talents, and I really want to give God the glory for everything I create. He has made me who I am, and given me what I have, and I am thankful.

Thanks for visiting me here, and I do hope you'll stop by again!

Blessings,

~Loni