I guess I've always been an entrepreneur. I hauled vegetables around on a cart through the neighborhood to sell when I was very young, and I sold worms and nightcrawlers the summer I was 11. However, as much as I enjoy being an entrepreneur, I've always been drawn to creating something. Doesn't matter whether it's with fabric, yarn, pencil or paint.

Grandma taught me to crochet when I was four or five, and around the same time my Aunt Tillie taught me to knit. My mom started taking me to ceramics classes when I was only six. I don't remember not drawing or painting, and my dad would take my little sketches to work in his lunch box to show the guys at the aluminum plant.

I began taking oil painting class with local artist Opal Brooten when I was 15. I got my first real taste of being a painter - and I mean that literally. I still can taste the turpentine from holding my paintbrush between my teeth. I moved from oil to acrylic and finally to watercolor and mixed media.

I also began sewing at a very young age, and by the time I was 11 or 12 years old I was making my own dresses, shirts and skirts. I learned to sew on my mom's little black Singer Featherweight, which I still proudly own. I took advanced courses in tailoring and did a stint as a costume designer for a local ballet school. I also did custom alterations during a time when I was unable to work.

Grown-up life and commitments saw me setting aside most of my crafty activities for a number of years, but I've had the time to re-connect with my creative muse over the last few years. I discovered Etsy and instantly knew I was home.

I'm currently focusing on custom machine embroidered gifts, and I've started doing painted china gift-ware as well. My evening television time has found me with idle hands, and I've already made a life-time supply of crocheted place mats and dish cloths. So, recently I've been crocheting rag baskets. I'm trying to reduce my stash of fabric, and these shabby and colorful baskets are really starting to make a dent in a world-class closet of cloth.

As I retire from the business I've owned for the last 20 years, I'm hoping to get back into painting and drawing. Check back in over the coming months to see what I've come up with!