A little bit out me . . .

I come from a long line of artists. My maternal grandmother was an oil painter. She passed her artistic genes onto both of her children: my mom who is a talented painter and my uncle who is a studio art college professor & professional artist. My paternal grandmother was a serious crafter – and I cherish the handmade Christmas ornaments she made for my twin sister and me.

I’ve been creating since I was a little girl. I would sit on our orange and brown shag 70’s carpet and draw with my crayons and markers for hours and hours. In college I majored in Chemistry, but took as many drawing and painting courses I could fit into my schedule. Even in graduate school, as I was getting my PhD in Chemistry, I’d paint during every snippet of free time I could find. While I put my chemistry career on hold to care for my 3 little boys, I took graphic design courses at RISD. Now that my kids are in school full time, I decided it was time to finally give in to my artistic side, and that’s how I ended up on Etsy.

People are often surprised when they meet someone who has an interest in math & science and art. The scientific part of my brain helps me to engineer a functional iPad Case or a bag that's perfect for a real woman. And the artistic part of my brain helps me to make it pretty. I think it works out pretty well!

Using my chemistry knowledge, I’ve been having a lot of fun dyeing fabric to come up with the perfect color combination or a beautiful ombre gradient. My little boys get to practice a little chemistry and math through my work. They sometimes get a chemistry lesson in the kitchen as we dye fabric. We count the strange looks that we get in the grocery store when we are filling our cart with salt for the dying process. I’m drawn to simple clean designs, but my kids wish I was more of a bedazzler – they love sparkle (I’m sure they are pooling their money to buy me a bedazzler for Christmas).

Along with clean minimal designs, I’m drawn to natural fibers like linen, cotton & silk. I use a lot of linen in all of my shops. It’s my favorite fabric. It soaks up dye beautifully, it gets softer with time and more washes. Linen's long fibers makes it more durable than cotton and it has a casual, yet high-end look to it. It’s definitely my go-to fabric for soft home furnishings and for apparel.

I love that Etsy gives me a place to sell my handmade work. There is a wonderful community of artists here. Feels like home.

I have Four Handmade shops on Etsy:

My Handbags & Accessories Shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/helpandhold

My Linen Scarf Shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jardinjoli

My Pillow Covers Shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/JustDwell

My Men's Accessories Shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MJWthreads

and I also have a Fabric Destash Shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheFabricFind


Thanks for stopping by, and happy shopping!
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All of the beautiful photography using a live model was done by the talented Sally Stone of A Bit os SAS Photography. Thanks Sally!!!

https://www.facebook.com/abitofsas

^^^ Etsy won't let links outside of Etsy be clickable, so just copy and paste this address into your url bar to see more of Sally's beautiful work - thanks!