The Freedom I Felt

“NO!! Don’t use those scissors! They’re only for cutting felt! NO! Not those either. They’re for leather. Those? No. They’re for fabric. Use those. They’re all-purpose.”

Non-crafters just don’t understand.

I own 12 pairs of scissors, each with its designated use, and over the last few years they’ve taken me from a hobby crafter to a (very) small business owner. Don’t try to make money from your hobbies. It will suck the joy out of them, people told me. They were wrong. It opened up a big, wide world of new joys.

It started small. Just a few tiny, felt flowers to adorn the cactus pincushions I was crocheting. In the highly competitive world of Etsy crochet cactuses you need something to elevate and set your products apart. And I was used to starting small. I’d been doing it all my life.

I was taught to read, and crochet, and craft, at a young age. Stay busy, stay out of the way. I became resourceful because the materials I wanted were rarely available. I fabricated a sad childhood into a resilient adulthood and I am starting to reap the benefits of the work of a lot of hard years.

The tiny, felt flowers turned out really well and the cactus pincushions flew off their virtual shelves, so my ambitions grew. Bigger flowers for my crochet scarves! Bouquets of felt flowers! This is going to be so fun! My hands thanked me when I purchased some small-bladed, spring-loaded, micro-tipped, extra-sharp scissors that made those hundreds of tiny cuts in thick wool felt a lot less arduous. At this point in my quest for financial freedom, special die-cutting machines capable of cutting felt are out of my reach.

Now, all quests worthy of the name travel some bumpy roads and face roadblocks, and mine is no different. A job loss at a particularly bad time meant redoubling my efforts. Quadrupling, really. I had young people to feed, no one else to help, and the holidays were fast approaching.

So I turned a random doodle into a felt Christmas tree plushie, added a tassel, and the holidays were saved. I’ve cut hundreds of Christmas trees out of wool felt by hand, embroidered, stuffed, sewed, and glued them, and have worn out two pairs of hole punches. Some get ornament hangers, and some get clothespins and cotton cords to be turned into garlands, and they all bring me immense joy every time I package them up and ship them off. This business thing might actually work out.

But, since it was the holidays, I also felt the need to do some fun things just for myself.

So, flowers and trees are fun, but sipping (gulping) my coffee one morning, I realized I needed some new coasters as I set the cup down on its usual bed of coffee stains and water rings on my long-suffering desk. Time to take another time-out and do a project for myself. Except that the extra-thick, color block, pure wool felt coasters with cork backing turned out so beautifully I thought I should try to sell them.

It turns out I can hardly keep them in stock they sell so well. Who knew that pink and mustard would be such a winning combination? Okay, fine, I did my research and had a pretty good idea it would go over well. The popularity of these coasters is the reason I really believe my total freedom is just around the corner. I keep adding new color combinations and will be expanding the line.

In the meantime, my happiness and sense of fulfillment is also expanding, and I am feeling pride in my accomplishments. I may not create a crafting empire and I may never be wealthy, but I am pursuing my dreams. I’m well over 50 and reinventing myself, turning my hobbies and passions into a business.

There are simple joys, and there is deep happiness, and then there is profound bliss, which encompasses the first two but adds up to a whole that is greater than the sum. I don’t think anyone can live in a state of profound bliss all of the time because life throws monkey wrenches at us and puts up obstacles and sometimes makes us sad. But that makes moments of profound bliss all the sweeter and more meaningful, and I will be forever grateful that I have been able to combine my creativity and craft into a career with the potential for many of those moments.

I make most of my living arranging words on pages in ways that clients want and employers expect, but my Etsy shop and crafting business is growing and the creative freedom that comes with it is priceless. Please feel free to visit my Bauble & Verve shop and see all the things I do.