truLuxe's Profile

Bio

Several years ago, a friend of mine was wearing a beautiful felted
scarf. I had never seen anything like it and I was fascinated. I turned
into Nancy Drew trying to find out about the process and eventually
stumbled on a starter kit for needle felting. That did it... I was hooked! I injured myself repeatedly making flowers, dolls, scarves, all kinds of things with those vicious little barbed needles. But it never occurred to me to sell them! ....And then I put my needles down.

Three years ago I found a lump. I was in the shower. It
was under my arm but I had just had my first mammogram 2 weeks earlier
and it was clean. I didn't find any other lumps - so I wasn't worried.
But, just to be safe, a few days later I got it checked out. The diagnosis: Breast
cancer, stage 2B. It was my 39th birthday.

The hardest part was telling my children. My twin boys were 8, my
daughter only 6. When I lost my hair, my daughter would hold her
hand up so she couldn't see the hat on my head. It broke my heart.
I participated in a drug trial so I had more chemo than the standard.
But it took a toll on all of us. And in December of 2007 the cancer came
back.

I am so grateful for the community I live in which offered an
overwhelming amount of support. A parade of people came to our house
with dinners. As a single parent, this was more helpful than I can
begin to explain. It was simply one less thing to do on days when
brushing my teeth was hard.

Last year I started felting again and opened my truLuxe shop on Etsy.
It's been like therapy for me. I had a "scare" last year around this time and at
the very same time I was featured in The Storque twice. I didn't even know what the Storque was! Somebody sent me a convo with congratulations and I had to ask her what she was talking about! I was completely honored and very proud. My shop was wildly busy and it was the best thing for me. I had so much going on, I was felting like a crazy person and had little time to worry. That's when I fell in love with Etsy, it truly kept me sane during a very stressful time.

Today, I have a great business on Etsy and a fantastic pair of new
knockers! There's no sign of cancer but I still spend a great deal of
time at Massachusetts General Hospital - which I think is the greatest
place on earth. I love everything about having my own shop. I love
the felting craft, the photography, the business aspect, flexibility and
the incredibly kind people I've discovered.


I'm a single Mom and cancer survivor with her fingers crossed! And all of you, well, you're simply wonderful.

xxoo
Terri

Female, Born on February 22

Favorite Materials

paper, wool, glitter, postage stamps, pine cones