Having come from a long line of makers-- including ceramicists, woodworkers, painters, quiltters, and seamtressers--I naturally followed suit. Since I was a child, perhaps even earlier, I've been a tactile person. When I was barely four years old, I told my mom I'd left my art supplies in her belly and I'd like them back. Whether it was drawing, painting, cooking, building, or taking something apart, I always had, and still have, my hands in it.

After five years of majoring Art in college and learning so many amazing art mediums, I remember being struck with the fear when I finally graduated that my learning days were over, and I now had to pick something to do for the rest of my life in the stressful concept of a "real job".

I painted for a bit and tried the real job thing before moving to Portland, Oregon to attend Culinary School, where I hoped to fufill my desire to keep learning and making things. I worked as a Pastry Chef after I graduated, making fancy desserts down in a tiny basement all by myself with no windows, where I turned foie gras into ice cream next to a hot oven. When I wasn't expressing my disdain for the situation with Sylvia Plath references, I was thinking about making my own creations, and not just edible ones, sunshine, freedom... being my own boss.

So I quit. I moved back home to California where my creative ventures had first begun. I did a bit of traveling, took some food styling and photography workshops, learned to use my grandmother's old sewing machine, started picking my dad's brain about woodworking and working with leather. I even started playing the mandolin ( I can only play the well known Deliverance jig). My hands were busy, and I was content. I met so many creative, like-minded, inspiring people along the way, who were doing exactly what I wanted to do. The bits and pieces started coming together, and so Toot and Toot was born.

Toot and Toot is a little place to share the treasured bits and pieces that find their way into my life either by chance or good fortune, or by an idea that won't let me sleep at night.

When I'm not creating my handmade items or customs paintings, I'm searching for vintage treasures. I love the stories, character, and quality that old objects and vintage materials have, and I am always excited by the opportunity to give new life to them in my own creations, or share them just the way they are.

In my handmade products I like to mix old and new and to explore contrast in textures and function. Color is a constant attraction for me in both my work and my vintage items. The natural world has been a great source for ideas and materials and continues to influence my process.

Thanks for stopping by!


Check out my blog, for peeks at my work, the occasional funny anecdoteof and sweet creations.
http://www.tootandtoot.com