We just jumped into this blog without giving any background about how we got started on our handcrafted journey.  Where did our journey begin?  Well, it really started when I was a little girl and a “crafty” kind of kid.  I remember having a friend when I was five whose family had made an “art” room at their house.  It had everything imaginable to create fabulous crafts and priceless artwork.  And…as a five-year-old, I thought it was the most exciting place to be.  Interestingly, I now have an “art” room of my own.  I guess it’s true how we come full circle to what we knew and loved first.

BASSET HOUND DOG FRAME

But…now…fast-forward about 40 decades and here we are working to build our  handcrafted   business.  The dog frame idea came to me in the mid-90s while living in Ohio.  I have always loved dogs – showing them, training them, having them as a part of our family, but the dog frame idea just percolated until finally after many years and several moves, including moving home to Washington State, I finally pulled it all together.  In 2005, I made my first very rough frames and went to my first show.

However, as fate had it, the very day I returned home from that show there was a message that I had a job. (You know one of those “day jobs” that pays the bills until you’re able to leave your day job to do something like the dog frames.)  I was in agony.  I weighed the pros and cons.  The show went well.  I knew people were interested in my product, but money was running out and a good-paying job would certainly be helpful.  Money, frames, money, frames? In the end, money won.  I have been dirt poor before, and I didn’t want to be there again.  I reasoned with myself that the job would help to finance my handcrafted business…and it did.

 I have been slowly building the business since that time.  A couple more moves, a different job, finding the love of my life (who is my partner in this business), and now we’re up and running full-time with our shop on Etsy.  At times we still struggle with finances, time management, and working so many hours that I have to make myself take a day off now and then, but in the end, we’re getting ahead, figuring things out and I know this is where I’m supposed to be.  Every time I create a dog frame and our upcycled jewelry, or a customer sends a heartfelt note and feedback, it makes me stay the course and continue on our handcrafted journey, and what a journey it is.

TESTIMONIALS