the long version

I was born in a small town...

Ok, I won't make it quite that long...

I am the wife of an amazing man.  I am the mother of two inspiring boys.  I am waiting for our family to grow through adoption.  I am trusting God to bring our baby-child (children?) home in His perfect timing.  Both of my boys are in school all day, so while I am waiting, I've asked God how to use this time...  He answered by asking me to step out courageously and use the talents He has given me to make a difference.

So, I'm making stuff to sell. And I'm going to teach others to make stuff to give - or keep, its up to them ;).

I have always loved making stuff.   I remember thoroughly enjoying the sign-painting part of cheerleading in high school and decorating lockers for game days.  I loved when I was a Resident Assistant in college and got to decorate the doors & hall in my section of the dorm.  And when I was teaching, oh how I liked making bulletin board stuff!  I liked looking at the teacher stores for inspiration, and loved making my own stuff with the materials I could scrounge up!

I began sewing when my husband was deployed for 15 months.  My momma handed over an old sewing machine of hers and I, more or less, learned by practice.  The evenings during a deployment are the hardest.  Watching TV and surfing the Internet only gets you so far.  So for me, a new hobby was a perfect outlet.  And because God had already wired me to enjoy creating, well, it was a good fit.  In many ways, I'm still learning.

I've had a love/hate relationship with the idea of selling stuff I make.  I love to make stuff, I hate to ask for money for it.  God has been teaching me more and more about how to use my talents for His glory.  I'm a slow learner so it has taken some time, but over the course of the last year or so, I've learned a few things about myself.  I prefer to make things as gifts.  I don't enjoy sitting down and making 12 of the same thing at once with an unknown purpose.  Now if someone asked me to make 12 of something for a party... I'd love that!  I've been selling stuff for about a year now at a gift shop on post .  I've sold crayon rolls, pillowcase dresses and coffee cozies there.   I also have a couple sample super hero capes that are available for custom orders - which are my favorite kind! It has been a good starting place for me to sell to a small market.

But its time to branch out.  I'm going to start by selling on facebook and/or through this blog.  I hope to do mostly custom orders with the occasional ready-to-ship items.  25% of the purchase price of every item will be donated to a specific organization.  My first goal is to purchase a sewing machine for a project in Guatemala.  Read more about it here.

And about the teaching others to make stuff...  Well, that also goes along with my wiring.  I love to learn new things, and I love to teach others the things I learn.  Originally, I had wanted to get together with some friends and teach them how to make pillowcase dresses to send to Guatemala (full story here), but God had a different direction in mind.  So I'm going to do a series of project-classes.  At each class I will have a jar for donations and 100% of those donations will go toward that same specific organization.  Which right now, is that sewing machine.