I was born in August of 1980 in Columbus, Ohio.

In June of 1981 my mother and I, along with my grandparents moved to Florida.

In March 1984 my mother married my dad. I remember it like it was yesterday.

It was a beautiful sunny day in Florida. My family gathered on Sanibel Island in a small church called Chapel By the Sea.

We all dressed in our wedding attire. My mother looked like a vision of beauty, my father was super handsome in his tux, and I was dressed in an adorable white dress to walk down the aisle as the flower girl. It was so difficult not to get dirty and play in the sand, or not climb the trees!

Then it was time. The I Do's were said & back to my grandparents for the celebration. Finally, I was going to get that dress off and play!!

Food was consumed, the toast was said, and the cake was shoved in the bride and groom's face.

In August of 1985, I was anticipating a sister. I could not wait for her to arrive. It felt like it took forever for her to finally get out of mom's belly!

I slept in her crib for the last month before she was born. She couldn't arrive soon enough for me.

I had an ordinary childhood.

I played, climbed trees, learned to fish from my grandfather, and learned how to catch crabs using a fish head and string with my father and uncle.

In December of 1985, I received a Nintendo. I spent hours playing Zelda and fell in love with Mario.

This started my love of gaming. And even now I still play.

We went for walks in nature and learned to fly kites with a wooden spoon and string.

We went jet skiing for years every weekend. Searched for shark teeth on Venice Beach.

And who could forget the rock tumblers, growing crystals, lightbrites, and play-doh? I absolutely excelled in Play-doh Snakes.

In November of 1999, my husband and I Married. We had our first son in 2000. And this inspired me to become even more creative with gifts.

While growing up I always made gifts and loved getting crafty. From beads and string to puff paint and lots of tie-dyes. But I could not draw or paint. I do however draw awesome stick fish!

This left me frustrated. Until I discovered stencils and fabric paint.

I decided to make all of the grandmothers a sweater for Christmas. I purchased fabric paint and a big stencil with the alphabet. I took the stencil, and several file folders and trace out my quotes. I used a small craft knife to cut out the center. That took a lot of time! (I still have all of the stencils). "My grandsons walk all over me" or "My grandchildren walk all over me".

It took weeks to complete those gifts.

Everyone had to come by the house. I painted their foot and I had them step on the sweater. Children and adult feet vied for space on the sweater.

It was the best-kept Christmas secret ever!

In November of 2019, I needed more fabric for the gifts I was giving. GNOMES!

A gnome needs a beard. So off to Joann fabrics I went. Unknown to me, Joann's was having a grand reopening. I collected the material and supplies I had come for and left.

After returning home, I took my supplies out of the bag. And a paper fell to the floor. I picked it up to throw it in the trash but something made me read it. It was a contest. I thought to myself, "I never win anything. Why bother. It's just a waste of time." Well, yeah it's true BUT you can't say you didn't win if you didn't try, right?

3 days later I received an email and to my absolute shock, I won 1st place. I went to pick up my gift card and had to restrain myself from spending it on the spot.

I kept dreaming of the fabric and supplies I could get. And then something happened. I saw an ad for a Cricut. This caught my curiosity......What IS a Cricut? and what could I do with it?

I spent several days watching Youtube ads and tutorials (I had no idea the number of tutorials I would soon be watching).

Of course, they made it look easy to use. Beautiful cards and amazing crafts. I really thought about it. I mean I could make gorgeous cards, my own stencils, cut fabric, emboss, etch, and make decorations for the house? With THAT machine?

Decision made, I drove to Joann's and eagerly went home to start crafting!

What I didn't know was that I jumped down a rabbit hole. It was not as user-friendly as I had seen (Is anything ever?).

However, Youtube is full of tutorials. And this is how I started making tumblers.....youtube tutorials. Because I was researching how to use my Cricut.

I made 15-20 tumblers that year. All as an experiment. Could I do this?

And the more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. I learned graphic designing, website building, and how to create my own graphics and cut files.

I started my glitter collection. I found out I really love many font styles and I'm addicted to graphics.

I soaked up the knowledge like a sponge.

I learned to use Canva for my photos, Photoshop, Inkscape, and illustrator & recently started to edit videos.

I'm Definity not at a professional level, but I know enough to get by.

This definitely allows me to add amazing touches for some of the Dreamers.

This little machine changed our lives in a major way. But most of all, I finally am able to create what I see in my mind and bring it to life.

I am a mother of 5 boys. Our home is like a circus most of the time.

They love playing outside, scaring mom with frogs, fishing, and of course getting dirty.

They all enjoy watching tumblers being made, and will often help when they can. From shaking spray paint, picking colors for experiments, or being the camera guy.

It's definitely a family business.

My husband is more behind the scenes. He is one of my biggest supporters. (I am lucky enough to have the support of all my family.)

He makes and maintains all of my tools. The tumbler turner, the cover, and my spray booth are because of him.

Sometimes I have crazy ideas for gifts. The kids inspire most of them.

I've made stepping stones with their foot impressions (hubby made the squares and mixed the cement for this project), window clings with their foot and handprints, and even hot glue trees and snowmen to paint for Christmas tree decorations.

Every gift or creation I make, I pour my heart into it.

I create to touch your heart, as your stories have touched mine.

And this is how Heart Gift Creations was born.