My name is Erin. I'm an actor and singer in the NYC area. Auditions, Rehearsals, and TV shoots are sometimes filled with a lot of wait time, so I would always bring my punch needle projects to work on. Fellow cast mates would tell me I should sell them, so in 2010 I took their advice and opened up shop here on Etsy. My husband Corey frames, photographs all the merchandise, and ships the items. We're both theatre nerds, we met on a touring show 20 years ago. I was in the cast, he was the show's Technical Director.

I'm of Irish descent, he's of Scottish - so the Harp is me and the Thistle is he! :)

Punch needle, or Needle Punch, is an ancient rug-hooking technique shrunken down onto a much smaller scale and uses a special twice-threaded hollow needle, embroidery floss, and weaver's cloth. Each piece I designed, and each tiny loop is painstakingly and meticulously hand punched with love by me. My Mom introduced me to Punch Needle Embroidery almost 15 years ago. I've been hooked ever since! (Ha! Get it?)

My punchneedle creations have been featured on The Martha Stewart Show, marthastewart.com, Apartment Therapy, Apartment Therapy's Re-Nest, www.mrxstitch.com, Plus Model Magazine, RogerandChris.com, Going Home to Roost, SheKnows.com, Paper and Stitch Blog, Stitches Magazine (Gold Needle Award in 2012!) Ponderandstitch's blog, Etsy's Front Page (back-in-the-good-old-days), Etsy's Blog, Etsy's account on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram and the Etsy Finds.

Corey and I are having a blast working together - we have several silly rituals. For example - slow in the shop? We send "vibes" through the computer together and say: "sales.... zap!" We have been known to do a Sales Dance or two before a big festival or Cyber Monday. Getting the booth and merchandise ready for shows or the holiday season usually means a Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Downton Abbey marathon on Netflix at our house. Yep, we know. We're dorks.

Check out all the delights here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/HarpandThistle