Today we’re chatting with one of Handmade Nashville’s lovely
newer members Joyann Lokker of Lokker of Love.
Joyann stands out from the usual crafter in that she’s not just crafting
for the love of making beautiful things, she’s also crafting for a cause. ..Let’s
meet her!
Background and Crafty Beginnings
Joyann is 24 years old and has been married for (almost)
four years. She has a beautiful daughter
who is about to turn two! She and her
husband are anxious to expand to a family of four and are currently in the
process to adopt domestically. 100% of every purchase of Joyann’s crafted
items goes to help fund the family’s adoption journey.
Originally from California,
Joyann has moved around a lot since being married, but she is now happily
settled in Nashville. She feels blessed with
the wonderful job of staying at home with her beautiful daughter, but loves her side projects
of sewing and crocheting.
Her favorite projects are inspired by quality time with
family. The idea of sewing baby doll slings came as she watched her daughter
play mom to her stuffed animals. Watching her daughter and husband play tag and
run the hallways of their house brought superhero capes to mind. Her latest project of matching mom and
daughter aprons makes her reminiscence on all the times that her daughter “helps”
cook (and make a mess) in the kitchen. Her crafts may not be completely unique in the
marketplace, but each one is made with love to raise funds for their adoption and
her hope is that they bring as much laughter into someone else's home as they
do into her own.
Her Return to Crafting
Sewing was a special time with mom and grandma when Joyann
was young. Although it had been a while since she had sat at a sewing machine,
the memories of it made her excited to dig into it again. Since she now lives across
the country from her family, Pinterest helped her re-learn the basic skills.
Joyann wants every item to be treasured by the buyers and, as
previously mentioned; one of the motivations behind her art/crafts is to make
items that promote "quality time" with family. Her favorite part is
reminiscing on past memories and day dreaming of “how to use each project with
my own family to create new memories” and
she hopes other families can enjoy similar times and make memories with their
own children too.
Inspiration and Favorites
All of her current items are sewn, although come winter, she
will begin crocheting again. While each item is unique to just boys or just
girls, she tries to make an equal amount of boys and girls items. Her own daughter
loves pink, so she tends to be drawn to this color, although she makes sure to
even it out with other colors. Joyann
makes all of her sewing and crafting projects, but her husband is a huge helper
and encourages every new idea.
Quality time with
family and memories with her daughter inspire each item. Seeing her creative
toddler’s imagination at work leads to ideas for future projects. Nothing brings
Joyann more joy than seeing her daughter and other small children having fun
playing with her sewing creations…and the most wonderful part is that it’s all
fundraising for the next child to join their family.
From Hobby to Fundraiser… Craft Shows
and Beyond!
All of her projects so far have been created as a way to
raise money for the adoption; however she is currently trying to expand her
crafting line into more than just a short-term fundraiser. She has recently increased
the amount of items for sale, and she is working to reach out to more avenues
for selling (Facebook, craft fairs, etc).
Joyann began selling at a couple of craft fairs last fall.
At the time she was only selling head wraps though and she’s eager to bring
some of her new products to market at craft fairs.
For now, her goal is to bring their adopted child home and
not have a penny of debt. She hopes to
continue to make new items after the adoption is final as a way to continue to
bring in income to the family and she’d love to expand her sewing skills to
work towards that goal.
You can find Joyann online here:
www.lokkerfamily.webs.com (Note: the purpose of this blog is
an update for her adoption journey, but the "Current Fundraisers" tab
is up to date on all of Joyann’s homemade projects)
