Meet the Maker: Rebecca Hang

How is your springtime going? Have you done any fun springtime activities? We have done some yard work and are now on a staycation, enjoying family time.

I am super excited to continue on with our series "Meet the Maker"! 

Today's Meet the Maker is Rebecca Hang from Ava and Ari. It is so fun to learn more about the people behind the small shops. When you buy from them, you are truly investing in their lives. It is such a different experience from buying something at a big box shop. It's not only a quality product but so much heart is put into making each piece. I have heard it said that each time you buy from a small shop, the owner does a happy dance. Let's get to know Rebecca.

Rebecca is from and continues to live in lovely California. She has been crafting since she was old enough to talk. She told me that "I always wanted to be a fashion designer or an artist." Rebecca mentioned her family didn't have much growing up but one of her fondest memories was designing her sister a dress out of wallpaper samples. Rebecca's remembers the dress "was not comfortable but mind you, it looked amazing." ;-)

I asked Rebecca what drew her to a particular craft or what inspired her, she shared: "An idea just popped into my head one day and I went with it. I don't overthink I just do. Unlike many people who can choose one task and say that's what I'll do, that's what it'll look like and then do that... I am the kind of girl who would sit in an art class and begin sculpting a flower but eventually have it turn into some type of crazy detailed sea monster. I like to let my imagination take over and lead me. I don't want to limit myself."

Amazingly this talented lady only started selling online about one month ago. She was drawn to sell online because there were so many other makers who inspired her and encouraged her to do so. She told me "I was painting the dolls and giving them away because I loved doing it and kept getting asked why I wasn't selling them, and so it was begun." We are certainly glad that you have begun this new adventure, Rebecca.

What hopes does she have for her business in the future? Rebecca says, "I'd love to be able to quit my day job one day and do this full time. It's always been a dream of mine to do something I loved and make money doing it. Most importantly though I hope to continue to make unique pieces that people love and slowly add more items to my shop. I have tons of wild ideas." Rebecca, we can't wait to see some of these wild ideas you have in the future.

Rebecca has a hard time picking out what her favorite piece has been; "I put so much time and detail into each doll and every doll is unique. At the moment though I'm getting to ready to launch my new line of mommy and me dolls which I'm pretty excited about. Those may be my favorite yet."

One thing she would love to share with others who are considering going into the handmade business, "Try it, you may just love it. I'm still sitting here wondering why I waited so long. It really brings me so much joy."

I am so glad that it brings you so much joy, Rebecca. I can't wait to see some of these wild ideas you have brewing and your next adventure of  "Mommy and Me" dolls you are working on.

Mommy and Me

Head over to these links to find Rebeccas' shop instagram.com/ava.and.ari.shop/ and her brand rep account for her kids instagram.com/ava_and_ari

The Direction I hope to Take Our Blog.

Hi, my friends. Hope that this finds you well. For some time, I have been thinking about what direction I would like to take our blog. Where is our niche? What would we like to do with this space?

As I have gotten more involved in the "maker world", I knew that incorporating more of the "maker world" into my blog, was the direction I was heading towards. I love supporting other small handmade shops. So I started a regular activity on Friday on Instagram that encourages other small shops to follow each other. It is called "Follow Friday". This is where we started out and then I had the idea from another maker, Emma at Double Stitch Creations, to have a contest to win a feature on my Instagram Feed. So a few weeks ago I began this endeavor. Shortly after starting these features on my feed I thought what better way to share small shops than featuring them here on this blog. Who wouldn't love to "Meet the Maker" behind the small shops? From the winners of my "Follow Friday" each week I began offering up the option to be featured on our blog.

So here we are. I have done three features so far if you would like to go back and check them out, please do. I am now creating a schedule of some new shops to feature each week. Not all of the details are worked out yet, but I am really excited for this endeavor. Those in these small shops have great interesting stories to share and I just can't wait to introduce them to you all. Maybe you will find some handmade goodies you would like to buy in the process.

If you know any small shops out there looking for new and fun ways to promote their shop, point them our way. Our Insta feed is Instagram.com/mtnittanycreations

We will continue on with our craft challenges on a seasonal basis. The next one will be the Christmas in July Craft Challenge. So stay tuned for upcoming details.

Also, this Spring our small shop Mt Nittany Creations will be at two craft shows. Pixie Dust Wishes Sunday, April 23, 2-4pm at St Joseph's Catholic Academy in Boalsburg. And, Crafty Mama's of Centre County Saturday, May 13 9 am- 1 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church, 2221 North Oak Lane, State College, PA 16803.
Come out and visit our booth, it would be great to meet you in person.

Meet the Maker! Sunday Maker Shout Out Winner.

Hi, friends. Hope that this finds you well and that you had a nice start to your week. On our Instagram account @mtnittanycreations, we started doing features of four shops who post on our Follow Friday posting. It is fun to support other handmade shops and blogs each Friday by hosting a Follow Friday. What is this you may ask? Virtually I post a fun picture like:

Then I tag some people and ask them to share about their shop and tag some of their favorite makers or bloggers. 

Out of all the people who share, I randomly select four makers to be featured on my Sunday feed, #sundaymakerso. The last two Follow Fridays, I have offered the opportunity to be featured on my blog. 

The first feature from Follow Friday is Brittany from We R Crafts!

Brittany is originally from Pasadena, MD and currently resides in Elkridge, MD. When she was really young her mom taught her to sew and she has been crafting ever since. Brittany was inspired to start her business with her mom because crafting and sewing are such a love of hers that it helps to relieve stress and she finds it very calming. In 2015 Brittany lost her father, having the craft business really helped her and her mom through this difficult time. It was a great way to keep them busy as they mourned.

Brittany and her mom started selling online just over a year ago. They started selling online because it afforded the opportunity to sell their products to anyone at any time of day. They hope to one day make their business into a viable income. Who wouldn't want to do what they love all the time? One of Brittany's favorite pieces is their "Rags" Princess outfit because "it is not the typical puffy princess' outfit." 

Brittany wants all of the inspiring makers out there to know that if you are looking to go into selling online "Pick something you love to do if you are not passionate or inspired by your craft you won't have fun creating like you should."

Congrats again Brittany and thank you for sharing about yourself and your business.

Places to find We R Crafts online are:

Website: http://wercrafts.storenvy.com/
https://www.facebook.com/WeRCrafts
https://www.instagram.com/wercrafts/
https://twitter.com/We_R_Crafts

Enjoy these photos from Brittany.

Brittany and her mom

Adorable crayon holder.

cape.

Kitchen towel and pot holder set.

And the Winner Is...

Thank you to everyone who joined in our crafting challenge.

It was a lot of fun. Enjoy these fun photos from the entries.

Congrats to Rosemary Gross on winning. She will receive a prize from Crystal at Wishy yo Washi.

Tiffany

Rosemary Gross' entry.

Work in progress.

Eileen

Krea

Meggan

Amber

Come join us for our week long Easter Party!

Day 3 of Spring Craft Challenge.

Happy Tuesday and day 3 of our craft challenge.

Have you had a chance to check out the crafts we have posted? Don't forget to head over to our DIY facebook page and post a craft you are working on this week. I had a lot of fun trying out the second craft today. I haven't finished it yet, due to doing it wrong... I will have to go back tomorrow and try again. :-)

It's ok if it doesn't work out the first time. There is nothing wrong with going back and trying again. This is how I have learned to create many things, by just trying them. It is also how I discovered that I have an ability to create jewelry. For one of my birthdays, I wanted to go to the local crafting place and try a jewelry making class. I fell in love. As a result, here we are today, making a run of jewelry making with a small business online. 

Maybe through one of our craft challenges or just a craft I post to the facebook group, you will find something that you really enjoy and want to see where it goes. How cool would that be?

Here is my first failed attempt at the second craft for our craft challenge. Have a great night.

Hopefully tomorrow, I will be able to post a more successful attempt at this craft.

Day 2 of Spring Craft Challenge.

Happy Monday! I hope that you had a wonderful day. Have you had a chance to check out Day 1 of the challenge to see the fun crafts we have for this week?
If not head over there now, so you can join in on the excitement.

A shout out to Rosemary who was the first person to post a craft for the competition! Head over to our Facebook DIY group to share your crafts and see others creations.

I had fun creating one of the crafts today!

Who wouldn't fall in love with these cute bunnies!

You can make your very own! Come and join us and make some fun items for Spring and Easter.

Don't forget to also go and check out wishyyowashi.etsy.com to see the fun shop of our artist that is providing our prize for this week.

Come back tomorrow and see if there is any other fun news on the blog about the challenge.

Day 1 of the Spring Craft Challenge.

Welcome to the first day of our spring craft challenge. I am so glad you could join us today. Let's get some crafty fun going!!

Rules:

1. There will be two crafts shared. You may choose to do one or both. There are 5 extra bonus points if you complete both. Please post all of your entries to our facebook group DIY Craft.
2. You may choose to post any craft or crafts you are working on at this time. Each craft will count as one point.
3. There will be additional posts made every day of the contest. Watch out for these additional posts for opportunities to earn points, for example, coloring pages.
4. Comment on others crafts posts. Each comment counts as one point. Be kind and compassionate in your comments. (Inappropriate will be deleted)
5. Have fun.
6. The one with the most points at the end of the week will win a prize from our featured Artist Crystal from Wishy Yo Washi. A tie will be decided by a drawing of names from a hat.

Here are our two crafts for the week:

• First up we have our Easy Spring Art Piece.  

  

  Photo from Two-Twenty One Blog

Photo from Faeries and Fauna Blog

• Our second craft for the week is Easter Bunny Banner

Look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Remember to post your entries to our DIY and craft challenge group on Facebook. If you don't have Facebook you can email them to me at mtnittanycreations@gmail.com

One More Day! Meet the lady behind Mt Nittany Creations!

One more day!

Hi! My name is Amber. I grew up in a very creative home. My mom was always making things and encouraging us to do so. I can remember going with her to a craft fair at my elementary school, where she sold Cabbage Patch doll dresses and name bracelets. One of my favorite classes in school was art. 

In the last few years, I have been diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease and some other diseases as well. I went through a period of depression and anxiety. On coming out on the other side of this sad period, I found that crafting, especially making jewelry, gave me so much life. My husband and I decided to give it a go and open an ETSY shop. 

We opened back in September 2016. We have slowly grown a following. The whole family joins in, my husband, daughters and even my mom help to create jewelry for our shop. It has been such a blessing to run this shop and to do it with my family.

To share my love of crafting, we started the craft challenge. I hope that you will join us April 2 for the Spring craft challenge. All the best as you craft away and maybe you will win a great prize from Crystal at Wishy Yo Washi!

Me sporting one of our custom orders.