Mama's got a brand new blog!

A month or so ago I entered a contest that has brought me lots of joy and a little bit of local fame. Dare I say changed my life? :)

Three weeks ago, in an effort to get online votes for my entry in the Great American Craft-Off, I agreed to be a guest crafter on KWQC TV6 Paula Sands Live...AND had a full page feature story about me printed in the Sunday Lifestyle section of the Hawkeye newspaper.

This is a link to the story and photos

http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Crafter_010608

I know you don't believe it but I was on LIVE television! I emailed PSL and told them I had an entry in the craft-off and wanted to tell people how to vote for it. When the producer of PSL called to ask me on the show, I tried to talk him out of it. I told him that I was hoping Paula would just show my little bag on TV and ask people to vote for it. No way. He wanted me to do a craft demo. Then, I told the man that I wanted to warn him that I was a "big woman". He said, "We don't discriminate" and I said, "You don't understand. I am THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY pounds of BIG WOMAN!" He laughed. So I told him,"Well, I guess I will really make Paula look skinny!"

There, I said I would do it! OK! I am going to be on TV! Just shoot me!

Link to PSL Site

http://www.kwqc.com/Global/category.asp?C=7943&nav=menu83_6

As anybody who knows me can tell you, I am a first class potty mouth. If I had been able to sleep, I would have had nightmares about saying crap instead of craft on live TV. The Great American CRAP-OFF! OOPS!

I only had a couple of days to prepare and they wanted me to bring a whole table full of stuff. I didn't get a wink of sleep the night before, I was up all night finishing another bag.

At the studio while I was getting ready for the show, I was very very nervous. Let's just say that I'll wear a Depends next time. It was an incredible experience. Paula and the whole crew work like a machine. Everything is Live. I was so awe struck by the whole process and chain of events you can see it on my face the first show. My whole beeing says "I don't believe this is happening but I'm gonna enjoy the ride!" All 4 1/2 minutes of it! I was a zombie but Paula made it really easy by asking all the right questions.

SHARON'S JUNKTIQUE LOGO

Two weeks ago I opened my e-commerce store on Etsy, Sharon's Juntique, and last week PSL asked me to do another crafting segment. I've been putting in some long hours. I work full time, too. PSL was lots more fun and less stressful the second time around. My segment brought my first custom order for an overall tote bag. The red and white ginham lined bag was delivered Tuesday and she made my week when she told me how much she loved it. I sold some tutorials too. I love selling those! This week my sister in Canada, who has worked her rear-dear off helping me this past month, sent me an urgent email for me learn how to make this cute heart shaped scarf she saw on Martha Stewart. I checked out the links and saw that the designer, Betz White, had been a previous guest on the show.

Betz is famous for her cute little cupcake pincushions and other felted wool creations. Martha made her Cup of Joe pin cushion on the show last year.

Last week, while Betz sat on her sofa at home watching TV, she saw Martha make her Heart Felt Scarf.

I WANT TO BE HER WHEN i GROW UP!

Betz has a new craft book out called Warm Fuzzies which is available on her Etsy store http://www.betzwhite.etsy.com/.

SO.....
What the hey, I contacted Betz through Etsy and ask her how she was discovered. She replied! So nice! Told me about how she was discovered by her publisher and by the Martha Stewart show on http://www.whipup.net/. She turned me on to blogging and podcasts and this great big network of crafters online. To hear more about her mercurial rise to crafting fame check out her new podcast on http://www.craftsanity.com/.

A week ago I didn't really know what a blog was, and now I have one! Thanks Betz!

Locally, people who meet me for the first time are asking me "Are you that woman who was in the paper?" and "Are you that woman who does the crafts on Paula Sands Live?" I am! Can you believe it!

MORE ON THE OVERALL TOTE BAG

The idea for the overall tote bag came from a project I planned for one of my four daughters, Liberty. Last fall she moved to Georgia from our home in Illinois to finish her degree and had to drastically purge her possesions. Sorting through the boxes of discards for garage sale items, I found her pair of Lady Liberty brand overalls. I thought it would be fun to make her a tote bag out of them and display the interesting bib as a pocket. The brand label on the bib says "Lady Liberty".
Soon afterwards, I picked up a copy of Adorn magazine for the first time and saw the advertisment for the Great American Craft-off. I just knew my overall bag idea was right on target for the grand prize. What is more american than reconstructed bib overalls from the Midwest?!
That was two days before the deadline for entering the contest. In the middle of a sleepless night of brain storming, I got the idea to make the bag's theme about immigrants who put down roots in American soil and bloom. I used red, white, blue and green as a color theme. The green stood for repurposing a pair of overalls that would have endedup in the landfill. The red white and green are also the colors of the Mexican flag. I worked it out and finished my entry a couple hours before the 12 a.m. PDT deadline. Luckily I live in CDT!

So that's how the overall bag was born. My fifth child. :)

Well, I didn't win the Craft-Off. Another bag made from recycled jeans with a red, white and blue theme won the contest. I was on the right track! The designer, Stephanie from Fort Hood Texas won. Her husband is in the Army and she got enough votes to be in the finals. Read more about her at http://www.craftoff.com/ What a whirlwind she must be living right now!

I won't be going on that vacation or apearing in Adorn magazine...yet. I have won in so many other ways.

My friends, my boss and my family have been SO super!!!

THANKS EVERYBODY!