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.
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| 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.
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| TESTIMONIALS |
