Handmade Nashville Member Biographies: Lokker of Love

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.

 Joyann’s favorite quote:  "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23)

 

You can find Joyann online here:

www.etsy.com/shop/lokkeroflove

 www.facebook.com/lokkeroflove

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)

Handmade Nashville Arts & Crafts Fair at Curvy Yoga 5/16/15 – Rain or shine!!

Here in Nashville we’ve had eleventy-billion* days without rain, but according to our wise and learned weathermen and ladies, we may be in for some stormy weather this weekend.  Well, it was supposed to be that way according to the long range forecasts, but now it’s looking more like “spotty” or “scattered” showers and/or thunderstorms…pretty much normal for a Spring weekend in Nashville really!

There’s a saying around here that goes something along the lines of….

 

 

We’re thinking it will be just fine and we’ll be out at our usual spot at Curvy Yoga in East Nashville for our Handmade Arts & Craft Fair  come rain or shine, or rain AND shine or whatever Mother Nature throws our way!   Most of us are inside anyway and the ones who are outside have made plans to deal with the weather if it changes.

This is going to be our first EVENING show (4-9pm) and we’re excited to be part of the East Side Art Stumble!  East Nashville is a really interesting place on Saturday evenings and we’re thrilled to be part of that action, so make plans to swing by and #shoplocalandsmall with our #handmadenashville artisans.  Everything is 100% handmade in the local area!

Here’s a listing of our vendors:

Kristi Bennett, Step On It Art -

 Dee Cheek, Cheek Arts -

 Jessica Mullins, WithLove Accessories

 Tina Diaz, AngelkissCrafts

 Michelle Irwin, Created by MI 

  Ila Wilson,  Out Back In 

 Karen Kirscht, StatementPeace Jewels

 Jessica Wright, SeamsSew Wright -

 Karen Curry, KCCreations - 

 Cathy Laws, Simple Magic

 DeVon Austin, Tutusby Dai 

 Patterson Grant, Woodcrafting Patriot

 Renee Bussiere, Paisley Red

 Christina Johnson, Rustic Naturals

 Hope Blackman, Trucksand Dirt 123 

 Jennifer Bueschel, JBHomemade

 Tammy Traynum, WildEarth Apothecary

 Veronica Romero, Silver Bombon -

 Diana Foss, with felted creatures and art

 

We'll also have a lemonade stand run by Aden, and our Neuro sponsors will be there with drink samples.  See y'all there!

 

 

* over-exaggeration for dramatic effect….it’s really only been  11 days since it rained!!

News about our next AUCTION! Handmade BEACH-ville June 5-6

It seems like here in Nashville, we flirted with Spring; but it left us wanting more and Summer came early!  We’ve been having record high temps this past week, so naturally we’ve all got just one thing on our minds…taking in some great local music at an outside venue, an icy beverage in a cool downtown café, getting the heck outta Nashville and heading to the BEACH!!!

We showed off our beach-inspired color scheme items on our Facebook page  and we made an announcement about our next AUCTION!!!

 

We’re pretty excited about this and not just because we’d love to BE at the beach!  Our artisans are busy crafting away and we’ve already got some cute items lined up including beach-themed jewelry, candles and bags.

So whether you’re at the beach ( <3 Wifi) or just dreaming about the beach, join us for #HandmadeBeachville June 5-6 on our auction page.  It’s easy to join, just click the link and one of our friendly admins will add you right away!

 

***REMINDER: our next “In Real Life” event is this weekend May 16th Curvy Yoga!  See here for more info***

 

 

Handmade Nashville Mother's Day Auction! Come Join The Fun!

One thing is for sure, the members of Handmade Nashville love one thing and that’s HANDMADE crafts…oh and coffee and for some reason we also love #hashtags (#truestory, #wehearthashtags) …but we also love MOMS!!!  We love our own moms, we love ourselves if we’re moms, we love WAHMs, SAHMs, working moms, g-moms....all kinds of moms!  We have a whole lotta love for crafts AND moms!

We  recently decided to combine some of our loves and we came up with the #HandmadeNashville #MothersDay #auction (see what we did there with the hashtags!)!  During the auction you’ll be able to #shophandmade for your mom, wife or grandma while sipping a cup of your favorite coffee* from the comfort of your own home, workplace...wherever there’s internet! 

 

 

Dads, you can shop “on behalf of” your kids [hint, hint…someone please show this to my husband!!] and each and every item is totally handmade in Nashville!  Most of the vendors will be happy to ship and all items will be delivered no later than Friday May 8.

The auction will be live May 1^st and 2^nd in our Handmade Nashville Auction group.  If you join the group before the beginning of the auction, you’ll be eligible to win credit towards a winning bid – so you could get your mom a gift and not have to pay anything at all…but don’t worry, we won’t tell her! 

Invite your friends to our group so we can give away EVEN MORE prize money!!

 

 

Our crafty group members are hard at work making beautiful items for the auction, but we are able to share a few of our early bird submissions already!  Check out the amazing handmade jewelry, candles and bath products to make your mom feel special and loved.

 

Just click here to request to join the auction group and don't forget to invite 300 of your closest friends!! 

We’ll see you there!

#joinhandmadenashville

 

 

 

*As far as we’re aware, you can’t get coffee via internet yet, so you’ll have to BYOC: Bring Your Own Coffee!

 

Meet Michelle from Created by MI

Hi Nashville!  Today we’d like to introduce you to one of our new admins of our Facebook group, Michelle Irwin.  Her business name is Created by MI...let’s meet her!

 

Michelle is married and she’s full-time mother to her two children, both boys, as well as the family dog.  In addition to family and crafting, she is also a part-time Registered NICU Nurse. She’s originally from Worcester, MA but now lives in Nashville, TN.

Michelle does all kinds of crafts, but her passion is for embroidery. She loves to embroider children's shirts and items on burlap. She’s confesses to not being a great sewer but she’s learning!  Michelle also makes wreaths, seasonal items, and other items with wood and vinyl.

 

Like many of us crafty types, Michelle comes from a crafty family. Her mom paints and sews so she learned from watching her as a little girl. Sometimes her husband and mom help out with prep work.

 

After Michelle’s first son was born she started having other people make him embroidered pieces. In 2012, her boys got her an embroidery machine for Mother's Day. More and more people started asking her to make items for them and within a year it turned into a small business!  Her favorite part of crafting as a business is making custom items for people and her favorite items to make are her embroidery on burlap creations. Children and weddings have been the inspiration for most of her creations.

 

The tools of Michelle’s trade are embroidery and sewing machines.  She loves to work with burlap, t-shirts, felt and fleece... and she loves all colors!

Michelle mostly sells online, but she has recently started going to craft events.  Her goal is to craft for fun and make some money on the side.   She’d eventually love to open her own (online) fabric store.  While she doesn’t offer classes, she’s always willing to help anyone out that has a question.

 

In order to broaden her crafting repertoire, Michelle would love to improve her sewing skills so that she could eventually make pants or sets for babies and children.

 

And lastly, Michelle’s favorite phrase is ‘Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Check out Michelle here:

Shop- www.etsy.com/shop/createdbymi

Facebook-www.facebook.com/etsycreatedbymi
 

Twitter- www.twitter.com/createdbymi
 

Crafty Fun with the Handmade Nashville Crew @ Curvy Yoga in East Nashville!

Guest Post by Becky of Becky Sue’s Bow & Sews

Let me start by saying that I’ve heard lots of bragging on Facebook about the “cool” and “hip” East Nashville area.  I live on the west side…waaaaaaay west…and so far I’ve never had any compelling reason to drive over an hour to find out for myself, but that all changed when I heard that our fearless leader Dea was planning to organize a series of craft fairs in that neighborhood for members of our the Handmade Nashville Facebook group.

 

So, I loaded up my army of little people (AKA “The Munchkins”) in the minivan and set a course for East Nashville, via the downtown library, a misadventure with the GPS involving a detour around parts of downtown previously never before encountered and Riverfront park, for the first monthly Handmade Nashville Craft Fair!

HandCraftedBy2

Hey Nashville!  Today we’d like to introduce you to Anne Baldwin of HandCraftedBy2.  Anne has been married for 18 years and has a 10-year old daughter Ella.  She was born in Kansas, but moved around a lot when she was young so she has lived in Oklahoma, Wisconsin and eventually settled in Chattanooga, but she’s been in the Clarksville area since 1990.   The “2” in their business name is best friend Renee Stocks who went to school with Anne’s husband from elementary all the way through high school.

When it comes to the history of HandCraftedBy2, it all started with papercrafting - scrapbook pages and hand-stamped cards.  Anne’s first project was a vacation scrapbook back in 2004.  She got back into it a few years later when she met some other moms from her daughter’s daycare that got together once a month to work on scrapbooks while the kids played.  That led to her introduction to “Stampin' Up!” and card-making.  The little mom group expanded and they did a card exchange for a year or so.  She wasn’t proud of her first attempts, but she got pretty good at it after a while!

Renee was into making jewelry, besides scrapbooking and cards.  When the ladies discovered Pinterest, they quickly expanded into other crafting genres, trying out different ideas to see what would sell.  Their painted wine glasses have been their biggest seller besides a couple of cards that have been a hit.

Although she enjoys creating Pinterest-inspired crafts, Anne still enjoys making cards and scrapbook pages the most.  Unfortunately the ladies are having a hard time finding a market for them so they are always looking for new ideas on how to sell.  HandCraftedBy2’s painted glasses are a big hit though and they are also fun to work on.

 

Anne does all kinds of crafts, but she does NOT sew - she knows a basic crochet stitch and can cross-stitch, but she does not use a sewing machine.  She got one for Christmas from her mom a few years back, but it’s only been out of the box once when her mom came over!  She bought a pattern and some fabric over a year ago to make a nightgown for her daughter– but it’s been so long that she probably wouldn’t have enough fabric to fit her growing daughter anymore!

She tries to stay faithful to her original medium of paper for her crafts as much as possible.  Even when making something not paper related - say reindeer nose candy treats - she’ll use stamps and paper to create a bag topper.  Anne loves bright and bold colors and her favorite is the color blue.

 

Like many craft businesses, the leap from hobby to business came about because of an accumulation of supplies!  Between scrapbooking and card making, both Anne and Renee had tons and TONS of stuff piling up – Anne’s work space went from a closet, to a corner of the bonus room, to now her own room in the house!  Both ladies had more supplies than could ever be used in their own scrapbooks so they decided to start selling scrapbook pages and cards online.  HandCraftedBy2 was born!

HandCraftedBy2 is just getting into the swing of things with craft shows.  In the summer of 2013 they did one craft fair - a local event in Pleasant View, TN called the Barrel Festival.  Everything else started to gain speed in 2014.  They created a website, an Etsy shop and started selling on eBay.  Renee discovered how to put a Paypal link on their website so they can now sell items directly from there.  The ladies went to a few events in the summer and fall of 2014 with mixed results.  So far they have attended craft shows in Dover, Clarksville, Pleasant View, Dickson, Springfield and Hendersonville, TN. 

 

Anne counts crafting as a hobby, a way to use up some of these supplies she’s purchased and recoup some of the money she’s spent.  For Renee, it's more a full-time job.  She stays home with a special-needs child, so she can really use the income. 

Anne’s dream is to run a scrapbooking retreat – she and Renee still go away 3-4 weekends a year with their original group to work on scrapbooks, cards, or whatever other crafty projects they can think of.  They sometimes have a hard time finding a reasonably priced venue with enough space!   She’d love to have a place just for scrapbookers-- maybe with a storefront to sell some supplies they just can't live without!

At this point, HandCraftedBy2 does not offer classes, but occasionally they post a tutorial on their website.  Anne and Renee are constantly trying/learning new things from Pinterest. :)

And lastly, Anne’s favorite phrase?  Cool beans!

 

Find Anne and Renee here:

Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HandCraftedBy2 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Handcraftedby2

Blog: www.handcraftedby2.com