My Hands Dictate My Life

I always knew I would make greeting cards someday. Whenever a birthday or a holiday came about, I would cringe at the idea of giving a mere store-bought greeting card. Even a fancy one. I always wanted to give something I made. It had meaning to me that I would spend time to make something beautiful to give to someone, even if the message was generic.

In 4th grade, I taught myself calligraphy because the pretty writing and the art of creating it fascinated me.

All my life I just always did things with my hands.

My mom gave me piano lessons when I was 5, but I was never good at practicing, so that stopped. But I never stopped tinkering with it. I felt I always had a good ear for things. So at 5, I taught myself to play Do a Deer with both hands - left hand playing the bass line, and the right hand playing the melody.

Cut to my grown up life, as a mom.... almost a year after my son was born, I decided to become a massage therapist because I loved the idea of healing people. The typical life span of a massage therapist is 2 years. I did it for 6. I believe I was very good at it, but it got to a point where I was always tired, and my hubby didn't want me bringing all that extra energy home, good or bad.

My hands were hungry.

So I looked to YouTube to reteach myself how to crochet. And as an ambitious lefty, I also looked to YouTube to teach myself how to knit. That was fun for a while. I made scarves and hats, and a couple fingerless gloves, but that was the extent of it. I still have a supply of knitting needles, crochet hooks, and yarn that I plan to get back to... someday.

Finally when the babies were old enough and time for me to get a full-time job, I found that I had an instant market for my cards. I was never out of customers, working where I did. And that is also the case where I work now, though sales have gone down some. Now I give myself another medium to share my work with the world. Hopefully you all like it.