Handmade with JOANN

I have HUGE news I’ve been keeping since the beginning of the year…

JOANN chose me as a Handmade Hero! Pinch me (no wait, don’t…I don’t want to wake up). I can’t even begin to tell you how humbled and honored I am to have been asked to be featured in their handmade with JOANN segment.

See the JOANN segment below:

Growing Up A JOANN’s Girl

My siblings and I practically grew up in a JOANN fabrics & craft stores when we were kids. My mom is a maker whose happy place is at her sewing machine, my dad is an artist…in such a creatively inclined family, hours of pouring through JOANNs was bound to happen.

Thumbing through the pattern books and zig zagging through the bolts of fabric are among some of my earliest memories. So when JOANN’s reached out to feature me as one of their ‘Handmade Heroes’, to say I was honored would be an understatement. I was completely felled.

What, Who, Handmade Hero? Well YOU Are!

When you hear the term “handmade hero”, you say wow that’s incredible and inspiring, but that’s not me…I’m just someone who struggles to create the things I envision. Or I create because I don’t have the money to buy it, and I love to work with my hands. Or any of the other reasons we give to think we couldn’t possibly inspire someone else. Then I had a moment of realization…

As a maker, you ARE a handmade hero. Maybe it isn’t to a crowd of millions like incredible people such as Chip & Joanna Gaines… maybe it’s just to an audience of one. I’m happy if it’s just to benefit my little audience of my three daughters. I’m thrilled when my husband says “well done woman”. That’s all it takes to know it was worth while.

We all have our circle of influence that is is our duty to inspire, encourage, and create a life filled with beautiful things for. So to all you handmade heroes out there, keep on creating, loving, and making life beautiful for your loved ones.

Behind The Scenes With The Crew

The crew came to my house to film back in March. At the time my main house didn’t even have a single room that was complete…there was partially ripped off wallpaper, and paint swatches in every room. Thankfully my guest house was mostly complete and the perfect space to film.

These guys are total artists! For this one minute segment they spent the entire day filming a ton of gorgeous b-roll. I wish you could see some of that unused footage, because it was amazing. I admit I totally hung over their shoulders the entire time ooohing and aaaahing. I need to up my videography game ya’all.

I was super thrilled to spend a little time with a blast from my Ohio past! I actually met Val (who leads this project) back when I was still in Ohio at a local blogger meetup. Who would have thought that one moment all those years ago would lead to this moment. I had no idea she would follow my little blog through the years, and we would be able to hang out in my North Carolina kitchen on such a fun project.

Being behind-the-scenes of the filming of a segment like this made me realize how much I love the art form behind all of it. It is something I definitely hope to learn and grow from in my own skill set in the future.