It's All About Me! ...

And my Love for
Crochet, Embroidery
Jewelry Making & Other Crafts

Hi!

My name is Lisa.

I love to embroider, cross-stitch, crochet and make jewelry. I really like working with my hands. It’s neat to do some small movement, and create this great “what not” when you’re done!! When I cross-stitch or crochet it’s like my meditation time. It calms my mind. It also keeps my hands busy, and can sometimes help me work through my problems. To me, it is very relaxing.

Machine embroidery and jewelry making is what I do to get my instant gratification fix!! A cross-stitch or crochet project can take days, weeks, months, and sometimes even years to finish. But machine embroidery and jewelry making will give me an instant product!

I alternate crazily between my hobbies. My husband, with a deep, sigh, lugs my numerous totes up and down the stairs for me. Right now I have my cross-stitch project and a bunch of crochet projects sitting, half finished, in my living room.

(Oh ya, and in bags in my bedroom ... hubby’s side, of course!!)

My embroidery machines and accessories are threatening to take over my kitchen. I did put my jewelry making supplies away just before the holidays, but now I no longer have a basement!! I think at last count; I had 37 totes full of all my crafting supplies and projects stored in my basement... That doesn’t even count my two, full sized, craft hutches and what’s in the shed!!

(Good thing my husband is so patient and really loves me! Poor guy has lost his workbench...it’s hidden beneath my sea of totes!!
At least, I think it’s still there ...
He’s slowly losing his shed, too. It’s all part of my evil plan to cover the world in crafts!! Shhhh.....don’t tell anyone, K?)

I learned to crochet years ago. My grandmother taught me when I was 8. I remember as a kid sitting and watching her crochet for hours. It is such a part of who she is to me. You never see grandma without some yarn!! Even now, at 89 years old, having lost most of her sight to macular degeneration, she’s still crocheting!! I’m not sure how it happened, but she gave me the bug!! I love to crochet!! A lot of what I have learned has come from books and patterns.

(And of course, all those late night phone calls to Grandma!!)

In the past few years, I have noticed an increase in people wanting to learn how to crochet. I’ve had many friends ask me to teach them. For a while, my friends and I had a group that met once a week to crochet. For whatever reason, people have told me that the way I explain things makes it easy for them to understand. Personally, I don’t feel I can take complete credit for that. I just show others in the way I was shown. So the big thanks goes to Grandma.

“Thanks Grandma!!”

About 4 years ago, I got an embroidery machine for Christmas. It was love at first use!! The instant gratification was unmatched!! The quality of the finished work was incredible. The array of available machine embroidery designs was completely overwhelming! The simplicity of the process was fabulous!! I quickly embroidered towel sets for everyone I knew. But there were still so many awesome designs available that I just HAD to stitch out! I started making towels and other projects for no one in particular. (I figured everyone I knew was probably tired of all my embroidered gifts, anyway.)

And so the totes multiplied...

I’ve also been doing hand embroidery and cross stitch for just about as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I think about 10 or so, I learned how to hand embroider in 4H.

(I think 4H is a small town, farming thing.
You can learn how to raise cows and sheep and vegetables,
but you can also learn how to embroider and sew.
Very pioneer-like.
Volunteers from the community teach kids all sorts of skills.
Then they help you enter your creations in county and state fairs.
I was born and raised in a very small town,
if you hadn’t already guessed.)

I didn’t really “take” to the hand embroidery as much as I did to cross-stitch. Hand embroidery just seemed too “old-people-like” to my young brain.

(No offense Grandma!)

With cross-stitch, I could create incredible, “in style” designs. My imagination could only picture pillowcases and tablecloths when I thought about hand embroidery. (Ugh!)

Now, of course, my young brain has matured.

(No, really, it has!!)

I can see all sorts of possibilities for hand embroidery. Not to mention all the different kinds of it out there!! The most ironic part is, what I would love to hand embroider now, is much older than my grandmother!! I would LOVE to re-create some of the incredibly intricate, and extraordinarily beautiful, embroidery of the Elizabethan and Victorian eras!!

I would love to learn the art of bobbin lace making and tatting, as well. Those are both types of hand “stitching”. Guess that’s something I will have to do later...sigh... My husband says I have too many hobbies as it is. :0(

(I guess he figures he needs somewhere for his hobbies...
and here I thought the space under the seat of his truck gave him plenty of room for his fishing pole!!)

My love for crochet led naturally into wanting to try different mediums. I wanted to “push the envelope” so to speak. I started trying my hand at crocheting with beads. Then I thought I would try crocheting with wire. Somehow that turned into a desire to make jewelry.

So, a couple of years ago, I decided to try my hand at jewelry making. Some of the designs and beautiful creations I had seen at festivals were amazing!! These people had created these works of art all by themselves! I was intrigued. I bought a couple books, started watching jewelry making shows, did a bunch of research on the net and bought a ton of supplies. Next thing I knew, I was making jewelry!! It was so much fun!! Turns out I really enjoy that, as well!

(Sorry Honey! Deep breath....count to 10...)

I started making earrings and necklaces by the hundreds! I find jewelry making is almost as relaxing to me, as crochet. My completed craft projects had really added up.

(The tote multiplication was making me seriously
consider birth control measures!!)

Unsure of what to do with them all, I decided to open a craft business.

(I had found my form of birth control!!)

I had worked as an office manager in the swimming pool industry for over 13 years, and really wanted a change. Looking for something a little less stressful, I thought how fun it would be to have a booth in some of the Celtic and Renaissance Festivals we had been attending for years.

And so my dream was born...

My love for the “Mystical”, old “Myths” and the “Magical” took over.

Most of what I create now has something to do with that. Dragons, Fairies, Unicorns, Wizards, etc... Almost every cross-stitch design I have ever done has been in that grain. I am also drawn to the Tarot and Runes, energy healing and other things of an unexplainable nature.

I decided to take all those things and create crafts that were different, meaningful and unlike anything else I had seen. I opened my own business in 2006. I have been creating unusual and unique embroidery, jewelry and crocheted items ever since.

I love to mix my crafts together, too. I make machine embroidered jewelry, I cross-stitch and embroider on my crochet, I crochet my jewelry, and I machine embroider on abstract mediums. Anything that is out of the ordinary, or unusual, I will try. Some projects turn out better than others, but I learn something from every one!!

I got tired of people telling me how talented I must be to create such intricate crafts, and how they could never do it. Especially when I knew how simple it really was.

So, I decided to create a site dedicated to taking the “mystery” out of some of my crafts. I wanted to show people how they could create their own unique homemade gifts. How simple it really is!!

And so I give you....

uniquehomemadegifts.com.

The perfect stepping stone to get you started on your way to creating your very own unique works of art!!

I hope you enjoy your crafty journey as much as I’m enjoying mine!!

Lisa
:0)

(P.S.: Without the support and understanding of my wonderful husband, none of this would be possible. He stands proudly behind me and has always helped me make my dreams come true. Thanks Honey!!)

(P.S.S.: He did finally find his workbench!! It really was still there!!
...So much for the extra bedroom....)

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