She’s Crafty

Jul 16

Artsy? Not so much!

Mea Culpa:

I have far too many craft supplies.

The following post is regrettably - but also necessarily - much more text-heavy than usual. I’ll throw some random craft images to break up the text.

It’s also looong over due.

Making pretty things has always kinda been my thing. This being said in full awareness of the fact that “pretty” is highly subjective.

I’m not even a tiny bit artistic.

Nope. I’m crafty. In fact, I once had a website called Craftsy Not Artsy. And another called Make It Mercantile, where I sold pre-owned craft supplies.

NOTE: I am not a CRAFTSMAN / woman / person. Those folks have legit skills!

Random crochet image licensed from Adobe Stock Photos

My Crafty History

Chapter One: Kitsch

My first crafts were latch hook rugs / pillows in middle school.

I’m pretty sure I made THIS glorious . . . wall-hanging? . . . or pillow??! I honestly don’t remember.

Next Up: My brief interlude with tole painting.

Once upon a time in the 80s, I took a tole painting class in St. Marys with a friend and her mother, resulting in dozens of poorly painted, thin wooden shapes that had no real purpose beyond kitschy Christmas tree ornaments.

They have all disappeared, which is for the best (trust me), because they generally resembled these geese . . .

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Tole painting can be lovely.

Like THIS tray . . .

Chapter Two: Sewing and Cross Stitch

In high school, I decided that I would make my own clothes, languishing under the impression that it would be cheaper.

Nope!

My Gramma Bauer was an excellent seamstress, and she taught me (and my cousins) how to sew.

Gram was endlessly patient; I was not. She insisted that I hand baste every single seam before I took to the machine, which seemed totally unnecessary (see what I did there??!). But given my non-existent attention to detail, it was 100% necessary.

Despite Gram Bauer’s instruction and encouragement, every garment I ever made sucked.

But it did leave me with a life long love of hand-stitching.

Which led to a brief interlude with cross stitch. Specifically THIS cross stitch pattern.

Chapter 3: Paper

Paper has been my medium of choice since the late 1980s.

And it’s Gram Bauer’s fault.

I should probably just rename this entire post, “An Ode to Gramma Bauer,” because she’s really at the heart of my crafting.

Gram Bauer always wrote letters and sent cards to her vast network of friends and family. She would - without fail - use the prettiest postage stamps and stickers. And she would include little cut outs from the newspaper: jokes, cartoons, articles.

But always the stickers.

So00 many stickers

Gramma also loved office supplies: notecards, colored pens; index cards; rubber bands (which I have an incredibly funny story about!); little bits of paper to write notes on.

The prettier, the better!

Needless to say, I too developed a love of interesting office supplies. AND Hallmark cards and stickers.

When I worked at Wertz’s News & Gifts in high school, I had access to all these things.

I also discovered Hallmark scrapbooks, into which I glued photos, magazine pages, newspaper articles; greeting cards . . . absolutely anything glue-able.

Chapter Four: Scrapbooking

As soon as Emma was born, it was all scrapbooking, all the time.

No more magnetic albums - those weren’t archival quality (gasp!)! I very carefully pulled photos out of those criminally dangerous books in order to preserve them safely in an acid and lignin-free environment.

Yep. I was THAT obsessed!

When I was in college, I discovered Hobby Lobby.

Hobby Lobby was very, very dangerous!

They had real scrapbook supplies, which had theretofore been unknown to me. Die cuts; themed stickers; patterned paper; all the pretty things.

And I NEEDED all the pretty things.

And I started accumulating all the pretty things.

Must. Have. Craft. Supplies.

As scary as Hobby Lobby was, I found something even more menacing when I was stationed in California: Scrapbook Stores!

They had even better stuff. In every imaginable theme!

I made any / everything into a photo-op to justify buying themed products.

My poor kids had their own, personal paparazzi.

I became a Stamping’ Up demonstrator - not because I loved making cards. Nope.

I wanted rubber stamps for my scrapbooks.

Chapter Five: Everything Else

Pinterest begat an obsession with making all sorts of cool stuff!

Inspired by Pinterest, I learned to crochet, quilt, decoupage, needlepoint.

Not knit. I cannot knit.

As I learned new crafts, I accumulated more pretty project ingredients: yarn; embroidery floss & hoops; acrylic paint in every color; books and patterns.

Chapter Six: Currently

Now, I have two crafty passions: glue / collage / smash books and quilting.

Once upon a time, I thought paper supplies were expensive.

They’re NOTHING compared to quilt fabric. Yikes!

I’m not a great quilter, but I really want to get better!

A Crafty Mercantile

I now find myself with a TON of craft supplies that I will never use, which brings me to the point of this post.

When I created Make It Mercantile - the precursor to Cameron County Mercantile - it was to connect with people who wanted to dabble in a hobby without spending a fortune.

Many of the supplies I have are retired or hard to find. And I just KNOW someone out there is looking for them.

Other supplies have only been slightly used. Like a set of alphabet stickers with only two letters missing. Or a tablet of patterned paper with just one page missing.

This in mind, we will be rolling out more and more discount craft supplies at the Mercantile. Some will be sold individually. Others will be part of themed ephemera packs.

Crafty Videos

I’ve been making short crafty videos to inspire all the makers out there and show different ways craft supplies can be used.

My videos are authentic but far from professional; There’s no production value. They’re fun and imperfect and often cringey. Like THIS one.

Watch more HERE. Or on our YouTube channel.

Now back to our normal programming!

Palette

Lovely scrapbook album. Lovely colors.

I don’t think I would put photos on those pages; they would compete with all the pretty paper and embellishments. 😊

Mix-Tape Must-Have

The only thing relevant about this song is the title. The lyrics are not relatable.

At all.

Be sure to stop by the shop to see all of our new products: crafty and otherwise!

Denyse Carpio https://cameroncountymercantile.com