Crafty Roots

Before and after paint cleanup steps. As a maker, I tend to minimize the work I do behind the scenes when people ask if I made these. “Yep. It’s a type of clay, so you just roll it out and shape it how you want and then bake it and it turns into a type of plastic,” tends to be my response. In reality, there are so many more steps that I take these guys through. There’s conditioning the clay until it s workable, mixing the color you want and rolling the clay out, removing air bubbles, cutting shapes, baking, painting details, cleaning up mistakes, gluing on posts, embedding them in clay so they’re sturdy, baking them a second time, sanding off imperfections, washing, and deciding whether they’re complete or need to back up to one of the prior steps. I can’t help it—I’m my own worst critic, as far as quality goes! There’s deciding whether they need a finish, often requiring a third bake, and then assembling them onto cards, each of which is hand-stamped with love. Fact is, there’s a lot you don’t see that go into the little $8 studs you buy from me. But I love it so much!

Just a couple of cuties for the Apple Popcorn Fest—next month! Which would you wear this fall?

If you’ve been paying super close attention to our Facebook and instagram, you might have noticed some subtle changes slowly happening on our accounts.

When I started this little business of mine, I wanted to propagate and sell cuttings of plants, so “Rooting for You” as a name made a lot of sense, and I liked that it had that little dose of positive vibes mixed in.

I got my business off the ground. I built my own little greenhouse and accumulated my own collection of plants to use as stock plants, but until they got large enough, I decided to take some of my other hobby at the time with me to my first markets, polymer clay earrings.

As time went on, I realized that I really enjoy the making and selling aspect of this business, and I realized the stress that came with balancing my own life with my family with trying to keep my plants healthy and happy. Meanwhile, I spent a lot of time talking to customers, learning their interests, and adapting what I made to meet those interests, and seeing the excitement on faces of the people I sold to, I realized, was enough for me. I could make earrings, even with my kids, and with those earrings, I could make smiles. I could bring joy and make beauty, and could still spend time with my family. I started seeing the potential in shifting away from plants and into a more flexible aspect of my life—my hobbies in making.

My name, Rooting for You, didn’t have much to do with earrings or crafting at all, and I’d started to have plans to expand my business to include other items for sale. I started to think about names, and I liked the idea of my new name still being at least a little connected to my original name…I wanted to keep my roots the same, but allow myself the flexibility to expand and grow in whichever diection I saw fit. I realized that my roots are in crafting and making, and they always have been.

I’ve been crafty my whole life. My family was a family of do-ers, of make-do and improvise. I’ve been making my whole life…making art, making crafts, making music, making a family, making the life I wanted. It’s who I am. I’ve got crafty roots. I was raised on making.

…and there it was— my new business name—Crafty Roots. 🩵 Thanks for supporting me along the way—I can’t wait for what the future holds!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Whether you’re feeling flirty or playing hard-to-get, you can mix and match your own custom pair of conversation heart earrings! These cute little hearts are about the size of the holiday candy and look real enough to eat!

$8 per pair, pick your color and your phrase. Local meet up only this round. Comment your colors and phrases to claim.

Colors: pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple
Phrases:
LOVE U
XOXO
WINK WINK
TEXT ME
BE MINE
KISS ME
BOY BYE
NO THX
GO AWAY