Brats and Crafts Festival August 16, 2010

The Brats and Crafts Festival at St. James Lutheran Church (our church.) was our FIRST EVER craft show.   It was an exhausting endeavor but a lot of fun.  Friday morning we both went to work until noon and then I headed over to the church to set up while Sherri took care of an appointment.  We introduced ourselves to some neighboring crafters and got comfortable.  Overall, we had a great weekend of selling and even though we were told the show was slow this year (craft sales wise) we thought we made a good amount, all considered.

Here are a few photo highlights.

Overall booth.

Right side of booth.

Left side of booth.

OSU products (and Finnius the Fox)

Jewels and such.

Breast Cancer Awareness items.

Last day of the show and havin' fun!

The crafter next to us, Carol, was our buddy all weekend.  We bought a few items from her and we all chatted all weekend, it was really nice.  She wanted a few photos of her new items.  These are so cute and VERY reasonably priced.  I believe these were $35 and $30.

Carol's lovely items.

Closer up of Carol's items.

Detail on the biggest tree.

Oh!  And let us NOT forget the most yummy food I’ve had all summer!  Absolutely delicious!

Brat covered in sauerkraut with more sauerkraut and german potato salad.

An absolutely wonderful weekend!  Thank you to everyone who stopped by to see us!

My Life, Ten Years From Now July 8, 2010

I hope my life will be fulfilling, independent, provide a higher income so I can live more comfortably, I hope there will be children playing, family and friends visiting, my hands are still making things and a high degree of love and respect.

Two Sides to Every Story June 25, 2010

Just like a coin or a story,  my life has two sides.

1. Scientific

2. Creative

At first glance one might think those two concepts don’t jive but they make me who I am.  When I was a little girl I went from wanting to be an archeologist (yeah, of dinosaur bones.), to a writer (yeah, of novels), to a criminal prosecuting attorney, finally to a police officer (homicide detective, in particular).  I interned in high school with a local law enforcement agency and sealed my fate.  Police officer it was.  I went to college, received a bachelors of science in Forensics with a concentration in Crime Scene Investigation (yes, like the show CSI but really, not at all like it.)  I completed another internship in college with a law enforcement agency in Virginia and had an amazing time.  I gained employment with them as a Forensic Technician II and was miserable.  (But that’s another story all together.)  The main thing is, I *love* figuring things out; why they happened, how they happened, who did it, and so on.  It is a rush when you put all the pieces together.  I love, love, love investigative work.

I moved back home, to Ohio and after an adjustment period, I fell in love with crafts.  Sure, throughout my life I had done crafty things here and there, like scrap booking and while in Virginia, I even started painting wine glasses but nothing that warranted a craft room. (Which I now have.  I’m lucky, I know.)  There’s a part of me (and it’s a huge part) that cannot wait to get off work because my mind has been reeling all day with new ideas for wreaths and my hands long to get that crochet hook in my hand and create something.  This creative side of me puts a plethora of beads together to form a necklace that I love.  (I’m not sure about others but I think it’s rad.)  This side of me gets excited when an idea blossoms into a finished product.

Then there is where the two sides of me meet.  They see an anatomically correct heart and think of sayings like “Heart Strings” and then work on a painting that depicts just that.  This always makes me giddy.  When I express my ideas for new art or a new project to my co-workers/friends, some of them just nod their heads and away they go, not really understanding at all where I am coming from with this idea.  I do hope that there are at least a few other people out there who look at one of my paintings or my more quirky work and get some enjoyment out of it.  I know I do.

I am really enjoying watching these two sides of me meld into one more cohesive being.  So, what’s YOUR story?

-Heather

Going, Going, SOLD!! June 21, 2010

Yes, when Heather called me, I almost did a happy dance! But I was in Kohl’s and remembered my age.  **SIGH** It was a joyous moment though! (One day, I’ll forget that I am a mature adult!)

Opening the etsy store was a big step…something I had always wanted to do but “What if I failed?” I asked myself many times: “Self, (I do that a lot) is it better to wonder what might have been or try it and see what might be?” That question  is much harder to answer than you might think at first reading. If I try and fail, there goes my dream and I’m a failure in my own mind. If I don’t try, then I have no right to gripe and whine…and on and on and on. So, we opened “We Are Something Else” on etsy. Having our very first sale makes our venture a success in my eyes. Together, we can do anything! Thank you, Heather, for giving me the courage to grab my dream with both hands. Come what may, we are something else.

Going, Going, SOLD! June 21, 2010

We had an eventful weekend!  On Saturday, Sherri and I spent the morning and afternoon shopping.  We went to the Village Merchant, a lovely antique store in downtown Grove City.  Upon walking in we made the wonderful acquaintance of a friendly feline named Dexter.  He gently purred while rubbing up against our legs, while the sweet shop worker told us about the store and offered any assistance we might need.  We spent over an hour browsing through the packed house of treasures and I left with a divine smelling candle, wall hanging and an antique ladder to hang my magazines on.  (Want a photo?  Let me know and I’ll post one!)

We made our way to lunch and then of course to Michael’s craft store where we hit up some yarn sales.  (You’re shocked, I’m sure!)

I came home to spend an enjoyable, relaxing weekend with Matt (he’s the boyfriend) and decided to check my email.  Much to my surprise, I had an email from PayPal.  I thought it was spam.  I opened the email and the pieces started to come together – we had our FIRST sale!  Thrilled to pieces, I loaded up www.etsy.com, to see what we sold.  It was my Breast Cancer Awareness bracelet.

Matt and I were just about to head out the door to get a bite to eat for dinner and when I walked out onto the deck (where he was watching our pups run around the lawn), I did a little dance (quite literally) and shouted the good news!  I called Sherri while in the car and Matt asked if I had everything I needed to make the bracelet.  Well, no, no I didn’t.  Off to the store we went, his idea!

I’m crocheting a pink and white dish cloth for my wonderful first buyer to include in her package as a freebie.  I hope she enjoys it because she put my on cloud nine.

I love logging onto www.etsy.com and seeing that little “1 sale”.  Here’s to many more.

Cheers.

World: We Have Arrived. June 16, 2010

We = Sherri and Heather.  I am Heather, Sherri is my mom.  Please forgive me if I ever call her mom in these posts, as I am not used to calling her Sherri.

Crafting is what we love.  It really does not matter what kind of crafting it is.  Sherri’s passion is crocheting.  Her grandmother taught her how to crochet when she was a young girl, 9 years old to be exact.  Her grandmother taught her to make a rose with thread.  I am amazed.  I cannot even imagine learning to do something so intricate at such a young age.

Sherri tried to teach me when I was 16 years old.  I was fascinated by her crocheting and I wanted to learn, badly.  It was around Christmas time and I thought what better way to learn than to make a stocking for my Dad!  Well.  I soon found out just how ambitious that was.  I grew frustrated with myself because I was not catching on like I had hoped.  I know I was being ridiculous and I’m sure sassy to Sherri but she continued to teach me and soon my stocking turned into a medium sized sack.  I have no idea how it came to be so far off but it did.  I was furious.  (And at that age when I was that upset with myself, the feelings came out in tears and sass.  Not a good combination.)  I ran upstairs to my room and slammed the door.  Sherri was not having any of my behavior and that my friends is when I got my last spanking.  At 16 years old.  We can laugh about it now but I, of course, did not find it funny at the time.  I didn’t pick up another crochet needle until I was 24 years old.

Earlier this year, I fell into crafting and my world changed.  Suddenly, I was buying paint, yarn, canvas, beads and so on, instead of clothes and purses.  And the best part is: I am happy.  Crafting provides me with an outlet for my creativity, a way to express myself, to unwind after a long day at work.  I find myself daydreaming of new wreaths to make or new paintings to get on canvas.  It is an amazing feeling.

Sherri is always and I mean always, crocheting.  She amazes me with her designs and the amount of pieces that she can crank out.  It seems that every time I see her she has more stock to give me.  (I take our photos at my house – that’s another thing all together, they need to get better!)  If Sherri could quit her job and crochet all day, I do not doubt that she would.  It is her passion, her love and she is spectacular at it.  Some of my most treasured items are pieces she has made for me.  I do not know how many times I have asked her to make me something that she has never made and just by simply explaining it to her or handing her a photo, she can produce this amazing product that is better than I ever could have imagined.  Simply extraordinary.

It was a no brainer for the two of us to combine these passions and make one entity.  We love each other, we love our lives as crafters and we love creating new, beautiful handmade items.

This is the good life.