Sharing Myself With You ~ Part 3

Welcome back friends,

This is the final installment in "Sharing Myself With You". Today I am going to share my Past, Present, and Future when it comes to the creative side of me. I have participated in many crafts and have excelled at a few of them. When I was around the age of 12 my sister taught me to cross stitch one summer. From then on I have always had a project in the works, if not many. I have dabbled in cross stitch, crochet, knitting, plastic canvas, beading/jewelry making, quilting, lamp working, and currently my passion is for paper crafts.

Here is a photo from a calender sold by Hancock Fabrics in 2003. My very first quilt is pictured here. I made this quilt with a purpose. My Aunt passed away in 2001 and she had a special place in her heart for St. Jude. When I saw that Hancock Fabrics and St. Jude were teaming up for the first annual "Quilt of Dreams" contest I knew I had to design and submit a quilt. Over 700 quilts were entered nationwide. I submitted mine on the 1 year anniversary of my aunt's passing. Making this was like therapy for me. Our quilts were suppose to answer the dreams of the children at St. Jude's Hospital. So I designed this quilt with that in mind. My thought was, no matter what, every child just wants to go home. So my "Welcome Home" quilt has homes...some with children in their windows and some waiting for the children to arrive home. My quilt was the 2002 National Winner ~ Most Original and was displayed at a museum in Tupelo Mississippi. I was asked by Hancock to attend the opening night and got to go see my quilt on display. From there it toured the country before being donated to a child at St. Jude's Hospital. It is one of my most proud moments and I know my aunt would of just loved it.

 

Above shows you my lamp working workbench along with jewelry and beads that I have made. "Lamp work" is similar to glass blowing only without the blowing ;-) I used a 2000 degree torch to melt glass rods over a mandrel to create the large beads shown in the above pieces. My favorite piece is the one in the top right. I just loved the colors and I carefully drew roses onto the bead with thin pieces of glass. Once crafted the bead goes into the kiln for many hours. Usually by the next morning I would get the beads out of the kiln, take them off their mandrels (which created the whole in the bead) and then I would carefully clean the bead so it is ready to use. I sold many sets and focal beads on ebay back when I had my online bead shop.

 

Here is a glimpse into my crafty world. I love to create and share my love of crafting with others. That is the reason I participate in design teams and why I love sharing Stampin' Up! with my following of friends. Getting together with friends no matter if it is locally or online bring me so much joy. My blog moto is "A Whimsical Place Where Paper and Ink Become One" This pretty much sums me up. My future is yet unknown but at the present moment I feel like design team work and growing my Stampin' Up! business will continue to help me grow as an artist. I hope you all have enjoyed learning more about me. I would love to learn more about each of you.  Feel free to contact me anytime using the "contact form" option on the left side board of the blog. I would love to share crafting with YOU!

Melanie