Meet Stephanie

I am a proud wife and mother of one very sweet little boy. I stay at home with our little one until he starts school in fall of 2012. I am also turning the big 3 0 in March of 2012. We recently moved back to the small town that I grew up in. I absolutely love living in small rural areas like this. It is so peaceful when you go outside. Most of my time is managed trying to take care of the house, our son, school, and CRAFTING. During the summer months we live for the outdoors. I love being able to go to the beach and clear my head by taking a ball of yarn and a crochet hook and just watch the waves come in. My husband and I love to travel to the different state park systems within our state. Wisconsin has some beautiful land if you can get out of the city and head north or west. A couple of years ago I became very sick and disabled and don’t have to the option of going out a lot. This is when crafting for me became more than just a hobby. This is my way of sharing with the world and being able to meet new people and new friends. I will never let what happens with my health stop me from being me and letting me be the best mom and wife I know I can be.

I started this blog because I wanted to show that my family is no different from a lot of families out there that are on 1 income that is definitely budgeted to the T. It’s a rare occasion if I would ask my husband to support my crafting habits. Over the past couple years I have learned how to recycle everything and to budget the pennies to get myself my supplies. I have to give a huge thank you to so many of my family members that helped get me started. Every Birthday and Christmas I always put on my Christmas list in big bold letters ***NEED CRAFTING SUPPLIES*** this seems to work because every year I get more supplies to work with. My husband does surprise me here and there with some special items he knows that I really want or would like. He loves garage sale time. This is one other time of the year where I usually get the chance to stock up on a few things. For instance this last summer we found over 50 crayola color wonder markers and 9 new books for $3.00 at a garage sale. I couldn’t believe it. This was perfect for my child who thinks he is Picasso and can leave his mark on any wall he pleases.

I just love to learn new and old projects. Every week I try to sit down with my son and work on a project with him. Then the rest of my time is spent working on projects for the house, gifts for others, or just for fun. I love to up cycle everything. There is so much you can do with an empty containers, bottles and boxes. During Christmas of 2011 my husband bought me my first sewing machine. Ever since we took it out of the box I have been hooked. With this in mind I have 2 new loves and I can’t wait to start building up my stock pile on Fabric and Buttons. I never in my 25 years of crafting had anyone that was really into sewing or quilting. My late Grandmother but she passed when I was younger and wasn't able to learn from her. The person that actually taught me how to sew was my husband. He showed me the few basic steps and I took it from there. I started looking at tutorials and watching YouTube Videos on the basics of sewing and the rest I have been figuring out by trial and error. I hope to have my first quilt done by April 2012 to share and show everyone.

I hope that you will enjoy everything you find on this blog and please if you have any questions you can always contact us at friendsofsmalltowndreamz@gmail.com. I look forward to meeting new people and hearing your stories. With the little one starting school this next year I know I will have tons more time for crafting and I have already started making a list.

2012 brought a lot of new changes already for Smalltown Dreamz and me, and it's only the second month of the year. As you can see we moved from wordpress over to blogger, this is a very exciting move for me. Mainly because of my background in graphic and web design. I also brought on a Co - Writer, we like to caller her Photo Jewels. She is also the owner and writer of EK Crochet. We actually went to grade school together and got reacquainted on Facebook while posting about nothing else other then crafts and kids. I am very much looking forward to working with her and collaborating to bring you some awesome Craft and Gift Ideas. We will be launching our first giveaway before the end of February. I learned how to sew this year and I am sure there will be many more great things to come. I hope you comeback to check out what we are doing. Have a great day and god bless.

Thanks for stopping in