So this Etsy thing happened...
Long ago, in a childhood that seems so far away, my father bought me a cross stitch kit. He then nagged and nagged and nagged for...well, truthfully close to a year... until I finally finished my first piece. It was a kitten thingy of some sort, I was around 8 years old, and all I really remember is HATING back-stitches.
As I grew up, I kept coming back to crafting things. For me, crafting helps me to control stress, gives me a way to feel productive, and a way to keep my favorite decorations around my house. I've wiggled between fabric crafts (plushes and pillows and blankets), to chainmaille jewelry (OW!), and worked through so many mediums and materials that I simply couldn't list them.
But, every once in a while, I could ALWAYS come back to cross stitching. It didn't matter how long it'd been, or how far I'd ventured, cross stitching brings a level of comfort and concentration that nothing else seems to match.
Toward the end of 2015, I was involved in a D&D game full of people I'd never met before. I was going through a REALLY rough time at home and fighting to cut my way through depression and anxiety that was dang near debilitating. D&D was the only thing that got me out of my house. It was the only treatment I had access to. It was a saving grace at the time.
In D&D games, you have a person who runs all the rules and becomes all the bad guys. That person has a TON of stuff to plan and prepare and work for, and that person's work is what makes the game playable. So, I wanted to do something incredibly special for that person. And I went hunting, found his favorite My Little Pony, and made him a dice bag with leather braiding and a really adorable picture of Twilight Sparkle on the front. It took a couple of weeks from start to finish.
During those couple of weeks, I had a goal every day. I was starting to climb my way out of the hole that depression sucks you into. Without even noticing, I was finding a way. I brought that gift to our last game together. I was giddy and excited and proud of my creation. When I gave the bag to him, he was astonished.
He posted it on Facebook, and it went a bit nuts. Friends of friends were commenting to find out where he'd gotten the bag. And it all came back to me. I had a woman order a bag from me, and I worked closely with her to make sure she got exactly what she wanted.
When I checked with her after she'd received it, she asked what my Etsy website was. Well, I didn't have an Etsy page. So.... I made one.
And it all comes back to a group of people playing a dice game together.
