First and foremost, I want to wish Shelley Graham Turner of Tori Sophia and Fabric of My Life a very happy birthday!! She is the organizer of this very interesting and fun blog hop: What’s In A Name?? Shelley is a self-proclaimed nosy curious person, and during another blog hop recently came across blog names that intrigued her. I was one of the lucky people she asked to join her hop!

My story is two-fold, since I both keep this blog, AND have a website/business by a different name. I think I’m going to cheat in my story-telling here, by copying/pasting from sections of both my websites:

“I have always loved crafting, sewing, crocheting, knitting, jewelry making and on and on. Every time I would finish a project, I’d say, “why can’t I just do this for a living?” After my youngest baby came along, I wanted to be home with my children for awhile, watch them grow, and not miss a thing. I am grateful that we were able to make that happen, but I still feel a strong need to contribute more to our financial well-being. Since I am crafting anyway, and after years of being told by friends and family “you should sell these!”, Mama’s Craft Room was born. Why “Mama’s Craft Room”, you ask? Well, shortly after we moved into our dream home, the upstairs “bonus room” became my craft room. And every time we unpacked something that was craft related, my husband would say to one of the kids “that goes up in Mama’s craft room”! I had joked back then, that I should start a business and call it Mama’s Craft Room, since that’s where everything would be created. It just seemed to be a very logical name, given that I am a crafter of all trades-a “Crafthopper”, if you will, it wouldn’t have made sense to call it Mama’s Sewing Room, or Jewelry by Mama. Sometimes, though, I wonder if I should have opted for a more elegant, grown up sounding business name…? Nah… then it wouldn’t be *ME*!
Like my banner on my shops, and my website Mama’s Craft Room. The items in the header photo are little tidbits of my life. The bouquet I crocheted for my wedding, beads, yarns, threads, a tiny FUNCTIONING Singer sewing machine and chicken pin cushion I found in my gramma’s attic, the ceramic pot with two of my children’s handprints painted on the sides, the birds-because Valerie said the big bird was me, and the little bird her, the Dia de los muertes nurse, the cats, the R2-D2 I found in my dad’s house… All these things trigger a memory for me, they make me smile to look at them, they represent a tiny part of the many faces of who I am and what makes me the person I am. They are the many styles of *ME*.

I think I have CAADHD. Crafty Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Do you know how many half-knitted sweaters are up in my Craft Room?? How many crocheted lovies, waiting to be assembled so that they too may know the joys of having limbs?? How many baby blankies that need to be sewn-already cut out, just need to be sewn- so that they too may feel the love of a good swaddling?? How many beads I have had for over 8 years, wire waiting to be bent, twisted, molded and shaped?? I have books on all of the above, plus soap making, candle making, lace making-both tatting and spool, cross stitch, hand embroidery, plus countless yards upon yards of fabric that I’m going to sew clothing and other children’s and women’s items with. But lately, my heart rests on jewelry. Wire work, and metalsmithing have taken root, and I think I have found a profound passion. Not that I am any less passionate about the other things I do. No. When I create, I create with all my heart. I put my soul, blood, sweat and tears into things I create. Just ask L. She watched me lovingly knit a First Teddy Bear for a friend’s first baby. And while sewing his limbs to his body, I stabbed myself no few than three times, drawing blood each time to the point I had to stop and wait for the bleeding to stop so I wouldn’t get poor Teddy dirty! I have taken apart baby blankets 2 feet into it, because I notice a mistake in the third row. I have set aside sweaters because the sleeves continuously look ridiculous, no matter how many times I have remade them. I have take my super flush cutters to wire just before the bail is to be made to finish a piece. All because It. Just. Doesn’t. Look. Right. This is just a small example. I have been crafting over 30 years. I was seven years old when my grandma taught me to crochet. I was knitting at 12. Sewing, cross stitch and embroidery at 14-15. The rest is history.

Crafting opens my mind. When I am focused and creating something, even if I don’t plan, and I am letting the piece take control to see where it goes and what it becomes-I feel my mind expand by fathoms! It is a meditation, a supplication to my mental health. Centered on an inner focus that can be hard to reach during the hectic chaos of day to day life.  It is when I feel truly grounded. Whole. Complete. Solid.  I feel like I am taking root in the earth, a solid foundation, an old oak tree, thick and gnarly with age, the years giving her wisdom and a depth of knowing.. When I am there, it is an almost trance-like state, and I find it hard to tear myself away. Usually, only my children have the magic touch-a word, a sigh, mama, im hungry.

I am the Crafthopper. I bounce from craft to craft, wanting to do it all, know it all, to make beautiful things with anything I put my hands on. I want to be able to make people smile, laugh, and feel beautiful in a simple way. I want people to feel loved when they receive my jewelry as a birthday present from their husbands. I want children to feel loved when they are given a Teddy Bear I have created just for them. I want babies to feel loved and secure in the blankies I make. I want my children to see they can have fun, be creative, make beautiful things. I want them to see they can take a few simple materials and with them, create objects of wonder people can enjoy. I want them to learn the joy of self-satisfaction of a job well done, that a little hard work can reap rewards far greater than monetary. I want them to learn to expand their minds, the way I feel mine expand, so they too may know the peace and strength I feel. And I want them to always remember Mama’s Craft Room as a place of magic and wonder.. where they too can hop from craft to craft until they find the One that sets their minds ablaze and their hearts a-patter.

I hope you have enjoyed my little story. I certainly have enjoyed writing it-oh yes, another one of my passions is writing. But that’s a WHOLE ‘nuther blog 😉
Remember to always do what feels right, and when it starts to feel like fun, you’re there. Peace. =^..^=

Audrey Bélanger of Dreams of an Absolution