An introduction to my life.
By Home Spun Charm, posted September 20, 2013|
I must ask for your patience and understanding with all of this. I am not familiar with how this works and well, I guess you can call me a "Virgin Blogger", LOL, as well as a "Virgin Shop Owner". Alright, here goes nothing. My name is Gail Willson. I just turned 50 in July. Boy, time sure goes by fast. My children are grown and on their own, so I am also an "Empty Nester." Anyway, I will attempt to give you some idea of my background and life story. Hopefully it won't put you to sleep. When I was growing up, my Mother was a big crafter. Everything from sewing, crocheting and ceramics to cake decorating and designing and making table centerpieces. You name it, she did it. And she took me along for the ride. LOL I loved every minute of it!!! By age 4, she had me making my first homemade apple pies and my Father had me fishing. LOL I think he wanted a son. LOL But I loved hanging around and learning from him just as much as I enjoyed my time with my Mom. I started drawing at a young age. I can remember drawing the pictures from coloring books onto paper instead of coloring them. And my Mother encouraged me to continue to expand my drawing skills and anything else I had set my mind to try. From Tap dancing to dancing on roller skates and learning to sew right beside her. So, I give all of the credit to my Mother for my many skills and craftiness and the imagination to try new and exciting ways occupy my time. At age 15, my Mother was killed in a car accident. I felt so lost without her. As did my Father and younger sister. My Father's loneliness pushed him to re-marry too soon. But I wanted him to be happy again, so I went with the flow. Anyway, upon returning from his Honeymoon, I was given some ultimatums (unpleasant ones). I was forced to leave home and was legally emancipated and disowned by my Father at age 16. I watched my whole world crumble around me. It took a bit to pick myself up, dust myself off and try to find my way through life on my own. But, as they say "what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger." I found a room to rent in a boarding house and worked half the day and went to school for the other half. I was determined not to let my Mother down and made sure I graduated. I firmly believe that God doesn't throw anything our way that we cannot overcome. And that I wouldn't be the woman I am today if not for my upbringing and the trials that God placed in my path. In 2005, I was diagnosed with a debilitating and incurable bladder disease and by May of 2006 I was declared permanently disabled, my husband decided he didn't want to be married to someone that was ill and decided to leave me. I lost everything once again, including the home we had just built the year before. It took 3 years to finally get my Disability Income. Boy, was that ever a challenging time. LOL While going through my divorce, and many surgeries I needed to find something to do to take my mind off the pain, so one weekend my daughter and I picked up a small jewelry making kit at a small local store. We thought it would be fun to learn how to make a couple necklaces. And that is how it began. As time went by, I expanded my skills. I went from making glass pearl necklaces to designing and making one of a kind precious metal and gemstone jewelry pieces and purses, as well as, sun catchers and wind chimes. I recently had my first booth at a local Harvest Festival. I was curious to see if other people liked my designs as much as my family and friends did. BOY, did I ever get a surprise!!!!! Everyone there was wonderful! And the compliments and acknowledgements about blew me away!!! Everyone loved my designs and told me that I should keep it up and continue to do other events. One of the vendors next to me (Shelley) told me about this website and said I could find out about other shows and fairs here. So, here I am!!!! I was also asked if I would consider doing home shows...I jumped at the chance. LOL All of this couldn't have happened at a better time....I'm hoping and praying that this will help supplement my Disability income. Lord, knows I can use it. LOL Anyway, I can only show 5 of my pieces for sale at a time on this site, but photos of my other works will be available on my Facebook page. Perhaps someday, I will be able to afford to have my own website. But, in the mean time, whether or not you purchase anything from my shop, your comments and input would be greatly appreciated!!! So, please check out Home Spun Charm's shop here! And let me know what you think. Hope to see you soon! And I will keep my blog page updated as best as I can. Thank you for your time!!! Gail |
