Sunday Spotlight…GeminiRed Creations

Well folks, today I am putting myself in the spotlight! If you are new to my shop and my blog I must send out a loud and proud “Beware…I run with scissors, play with hot glue guns, and I’m dangerous with pins and needles.” My name is Heather A Stafford and I’ve been clumsy since, ummm, forever!  So, I often wonder how I survive in my sewing and crafting room, but somehow I manage.

As a young girl I remember sewing with my grandmother Stafford. She used to let me help her make little dresses for me to wear at the roller rink. And I remember one year around Valentine’s Day when she helped me sew a long skirt made out of red fabric with little flowers or hearts on it and we made a white shirt with a red heart embroidered patch on it. That started me on my journey of being creative!

Here I am circa 1980 in one of my roller skating dresses!

I will admit, however, that I failed miserably in Home Economics in middle school. 1st and foremost…I cannot cook (nor do I like to – raw food is gross) and 2nd my project for sewing was a stuffed animal. There are just too many small parts and for some reason I’m not good at sewing them. I’ve had a few failed attempts recently as well. Oh those poor little teddy bears that died a horrible death in my sewing room! I have one without a head to this day (and no arms – oh my!)!  The other little guy who is complete has a silly looking deformed face and I put his ears on backwards. Hanging my head in shame!

When fabric covered frames and photo albums were all the rage I was right there along with everyone else creating them like crazy. Why did that phase go out of style so quickly? There are so many cute fabrics these days and they were so easy to make! Much easier (to me) than stuffed animals.

I also had a brief love of basket weaving – you, know – I would do that today if I could find a place to do it. It was fun and relaxing. I still have one of my baskets that’s being used for odds and ends right now (and by odds and ends I mean a bunch of rocks I thought about using in my photos of jewelry, the arms to the headless bear (whose ears are also backwards I noticed in the photo) a little suede wallet I made and a headband I made).

In the past few years I got to where I am with my little biz because I was helping a friend with her business (Rinse Bath & Body – more to come when they are in the spotlight) at the local farmer’s market and decided I wanted an apron to wear to keep my money in. My intention was to make ONE cute apron. One apron become, oh say, 50 aprons. Yeah, yeah, I said it – 50! Goodness! I sold quite a few of them, but I also donated 10 aprons (see picture below) to a project called Aprons for Haiti through Craft Hope. They just announced Project 20 has just been announced and they will be collecting handmade bibs for babies in China! If you know how to sew this is a great way to put your work in action to help those in need!

After the run on aprons I started mixing all kinds of crafts up in the craft room. I’ve made baby shower corsages, Minnie Mouse heads for centerpieces, tote bags, a wine bag out of fabric yo-yos, jewelry, invitations, felt flower hair clips, headbands, ornaments, coasters, Christmas stockings, recovered a VERY large chair cushion, and most recently made a bunch of 20s style feather headpieces which I mentioned in a previous post (here). I still make aprons because they are cute and fun and you can do so much with mixing and matching fabrics you wouldn’t normally see together. But now I enjoy doing so much more.  My motto is “Making your Pinterest boards a reality.”

I hope you will visit my shop – if what you are looking for isn’t there – just ask because it’s possible I can make YOUR Pinterest dreams a reality!

And, perhaps I should mention where the name GeminiRed Creations came from. I was born May 25, 1970 and I am a Gemini (I believe I am truly a Gemini), Red is my favorite color, and clearly I’m creating. I would like to thank my friend Kristen of K.Leigh Creative for so cleverly designing the perfect header for my website and blog which shows a redhead (I prefer to be a redhead, but naturally I’m more on the brown side) with a sewing machine and a little doggy at her side. She also designed a beautiful logo and seal for me. She is very talented should you need any work done on your website or blog.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you’ve learned more about me and my business, and I hope to be able to create something for you soon!

If you would like to be featured in a Sunday/Small Business Spotlight – please fill out the Sunday Spotlight Form, which can be found on the Advertising & Sponsorship page.

* This Small Business Spotlight was originally posted on GeminiRed Creations