 My name is Dianalynn Varin and I live in New Hampshire. I possess a business degree obtained from Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont and a Certificate in Medical Coding from Lebanon College in Lebanon, New Hampshire. In addition, I am a certified medical coder (CPC-A). My working background consists of Medical Billing, Human Resource Management/Benefits and Staff Accountant. Currently I am the owner and operator of Crafted Elegance. In December of 2006 I was diagnosed with CIDP.
Due to my illness and treatments I receive, I needed to work from home where I can better accommodate my illness as well as allowing me the flexibility of my work hours and days. I became very frustrated after 4 years in being unsuccessful in finding an employer willing to hire me under these necessary conditions, I started Crafted Elegance.
Along with being the owner and manager of Crafted Elegance, I make a line of glycerin soaps currently being sold on the website. It is my fondest hope that Crafted Elegance will provide the opportunity for other folks in my same situation a way to help support themselves and their families. |
 My name is Learlean Rockingham. I live in Port Gibson, Mississippi. I have four children and eleven grandchildren. I learned the basics of sewing in economics class while in high school and it quickly became a passion of mine. I am an artist/crafter, using my talents to help myself and others who need a little extra. My hobbies include crocheting, quilting, learning new crafts, reading and listening to music. While raising my family, I supplemented my income by making dresses as well as alterations. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with Severe Degenerative Arthritis and it has caused me limited mobility and I have turned to my talents once again to supplement my income. Currently, I am teaching the art of sewing to others and selling my own creations on Crafted Elegance. Please stop by the "Craft" section to see my products. I would also like to invite you to stop by the "Artist Blog" to read my article http://craftedelegance.org/blog/artist-writing-contributions
If you would like any of these items custom made, please email with the details and I will get back in touch with you with a quote. |
 My name is Kelly Cuba, widowed mother of seven, with bunches of grandchildren and greats. I live near St. Louis, MO. I have been involved in art and music and theatre most of my life, and have a MA in Theater. I've been making rosaries for at least sixty years; the most often requested is a Family Birthstone rosary, individually designed according to the birth months in a family; those rosaries are most certainly one of a kind, since no two families are alike. Some people prefer the same theme as a necklace or bracelet.
A few months ago my daughter suggested that I use my designing and rosary-making skills to make jewelry, and I've been doing that every day. Everything I make is strictly One-Of-A-Kind, except for earrings, obviously. I hope you like my work.
Please tell your friends about Crafted Elegance, and encourage them to patronize the site. |
 My name is Nathan Tanner. I am fifteen years old and live in Morrisville,
Vermont. When I was young, I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.
Aspergers Syndrome is a very high-functioning form of Autism.
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/mental-health-aspergers-syndrome
It isn't a physical disability, but the biggest thing it does is affect my social
skills. I sometimes can't tell by their facial expression how someone is
feeling. I also sometimes can't tell if someone is serious or joking when
they say something. I think I was drawn to photography because it is
something that I can do independently. I love Photography, and it is
something that I would love to do as a career when I'm older. |
 Hello,
My name is Deborah. I have 2 grown children and 1 grandson. I have lived in Michigan all my life. I grew up just outside Detroit and am now living in Ann Arbor. I like doing all sorts of crafts, going to craft or antique shows, learning new things, talking to people, making new friends, and I just love going camping.
I have been sewing for many years. I started out in middle school, my mom and grandmother also helped me learn to sew. I worked in a fabric store for a few years and learned a lot about fabric and sewing. Crafts have always been something I enjoy doing. I currently make baby quilts, ladies purses, many other baby items, children's clothing and just started making 18 inch doll cloths. I will be getting an embroidery sewing machine soon and will add embroidery to my work. I take special orders and can always make something for you in the color or fabric you desire. |
 My name is Victoria, I'm married to the most wonderful man, have 6 children mostly grown and on their own, and 8 grandchildren. I've been making dolls for over 25 years, starting when my two daughters were young. Until recently, I was a professional sign language interpreter, until due to a genetic situation I went deaf myself. I cannot professionally interpret any longer, but I CAN make dolls! I have received certification through Dinky Baby LLC as a master doll maker, which means I have met their exacting standards of excellence. I pride myself on being able to provide a safe, high quality alternative to the mass produced, not always safe, store-bought dolls presently on the market. I accept customer orders for my dolls. Often times, I am given a picture and asked to create a doll resembling someone's child as a gift. |
 My names is Tina Sanchez. I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico and after graduating from high school, my parents sold our home and moved us to North Carolina. I went to college for an Executive Secretary Degree.
After working for a car dealership, I decided to follow my dream of becoming a police officer so I put myself through the police academy at night while working full time during the day. I graduated with high honors and was hired on with the Hickory Police Department in North Carolina in 1992.
In 1997, I was having problems with my hips so thinking that it was the gun belt resting on my hip bones, I went to an orthopedic surgeon. He told me that I had hip dysplasia and that I would have to have both hips replaced but that they wouldn't do it for at least another 15 years. In the summer of 2000, a friend got me into computers and set me up with ICQ (a chat room) and email. One night after I got home from working my shift, I found that I had a message from a guy I dated when I was in high school. After talking, we decided to move me back to New Mexico and get married. We got married on Valentine's Day 2001.
In January 2008 I lost my mom. We were very close. I went into a deep depression and after the second time in the hospital, I walked into my first quilt shop and took my very first class. I enjoyed it so much that I took another. I'm now making custom quilts, totes, purses, and so much more. Since then I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, have nerve damage in my neck and lower back, among other ailments.
I finally was found 100% disabled in 2010. I finally had my first hip replacement in April 2011. While doing some craft shows, I met a couple that have become very dear friends of mine and my husband. He makes flutes and she makes everything else. He taught me how to do inlay with stone in wood. She has taught me how to make beaded hatbands using a loom. We share our trade secrets with each other. I also make jewelry, one of a kind pieces, using real stone, glass beads, and sterling silver. I do however use other metals as well. |
 My name is Julie Cummings, I'm a retired Telecommunications Specialist from the US Coast Guard and a retired Human Resource Branch Chief from National Institutes of Health.
I'm now pursuing my love of fabric, design, and crafting. I specialize in custom embroidery and unique fabric prints. I digitize and stitch designs for embroidery, as well as take my original photographs and designs, turn them into black and white negatives and print them on fabric using a permanent process. In addition to what you see, I also take custom orders. |
 My name is Kathleen Sciola, Kathy is fine!
I was born and raised in Massachusetts in an area known as the Berkshires. If you drove from Boston, we are as far west as you can go in MA before crossing the upstate N.Y. border! We, my husband and I, had all we could take of the never ending house bound lifestyle. We sold our house, packed up our life and moved to West Central Florida! We live in a unique, funky little city called Tarpon Springs. It's famous for the Greek Sponge Docks, Greek Food, and the Epiphany is held at Spring Bayou every year. Tarpon Springs has very elegant and touristy gift shops. The historic district is lovely and it is fun to rummage through the antique shops. It took some adjustment moving here. But we would not change it now for any reason.
I have been making jewelry for 9 years. I now say I design jewelry because that can only come with practice and learning all sorts of different techniques. Most times when I sit down to design, I have no idea where it's going to take me. I enjoy making ear cuff/ear vines, toe rings, bracelets and earrings, just to name a few. I am a self-taught expert level crocheter, which was my first love from age 10 until 9 years ago jewelry took over the #1 spot for me! Recently I learned to do the popular needle felting. I make Fairies/Angels. It's really amazing to see the process go from a big bunch of wool and turn it into something so magical. I hope you will enjoy my shop, I love what I do and I believe it shows in the quality of my work. I sure hope you agree!
I'm honored to work amongst this wonderful group of Artisans. It is really awesome to have a place for people like myself who cannot work outside of the home due to health reasons. My health issue is Fibromyalgia and complications that come with this maddening syndrome. I also have severe Osteoarthritis in my spine as well as other spine problems. It's complicated to explain to people that today I may be functioning fairly well, the next day I may not function at all. I just do the best I can; my husband is my strongest support system!
Please spread the word about this wonderful site! I know I will! |
 Hi There,
My name is Mags, I am married to the most wonderful man in the world, and I have 2 grown children, 3 beautiful grandchildren and found myself, much too soon disabled with Fibromyalgia and Neruo Cardiogenic Syncope. That all surfaced after I had been diagnosed with Arnold Chiari Malformation and had Brain surgery in 2000. I fought back from that and earned an additional 10 years but had to finally surrender and accept an early medical disability retirement due to my health issues. I was no longer able to remember important things, my short term memory is heavily affected by the fibro and medications I have to take for my illnesses. I have to force myself to take frequent breaks or I will become faint and pass out and there are so many meds daily I have to take to make certain my health stays in check.
My Art has become my passion; it is my only outlet. I have always loved to make things, and when I was much younger, I made all of my own clothes. Then I learned to crochet, I made things for my children when they where younger, and I remember one Christmas, to everyone's dismay, I announced we all had to make each other's presents! Well, it did turn out to be a lovely Christmas after all and everyone was delighted in the end!
A few years ago, self taught, I started making jewelry, I loved it, and, I made necklace after necklace, earrings, bracelets and on and on... Now, once again, I have self-taught greeting cards, stamping, flowers, scrapbooks and I want to share with all of you my love of the design!
Please take a look and enjoy my art, all are originals, and if you would like to place a special order, please contact me. I will always be happy to assist you in anyway I can. Warm regards, Mags Elliott |
 Hello, and thank you for visiting my Bio on Crafted Elegance.
My name is Laura Palka and I live in Canton, Ohio. Yes, I am just blocks away from the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Goodyear Blimp flies directly over my house on game days!
Like all of the other artists here at Crafted Elegance, I have always had creative embers burning in my soul. As a child, while many kids were playing outside, I would be inside either reading, baking, writing or drawing. Of course, I still loved the outdoors and I am inspired by nature even today.
Unfortunately, in my adulthood I began to suffer from migraine headaches which have continued to worsen through the years. As of now, the days where I feel good are few and far between. When I experience these good days I find myself trying to make up for lost time and I usually will over-extend myself. But, I am at least able to indulge in my newest creative love, that of making jewelry.
My design aesthetic is simple and understated, since I find I personally have a handful of pieces that I tend to wear the most and these are usually basic and yet unique in some way. I try and mix just the right elements of color, texture and theme in my pieces.
I hope you will take some time to browse not only my items but items from the other artists on Crafted Elegance. For those of us with chronic debilitating illnesses, it is very rewarding to be able to introduce something unique and beautiful into the world of others and to work as hard as possible to not be a financial burden to anyone.
Thanks again for visiting!
Laura Palka |
 My name is Dana Renee and I rediscovered my love of jewelry-making while recovering from neurosurgery to correct a Chiari Malformation in August of 2011. Tired of watching tv and reading, but more or less confined to my bedroom for a few weeks. I needed a hobby that I could do from a stationary situation. After making a few pairs of earrings, I managed to make a trip to the craft store with my mom pushing me around in the wheelchair in the bead aisle, and within a few weeks what began as a bedside hobby had turned into a 300 piece selection of beautiful earrings! I have been expanding my jewelry collection since then to include necklaces, bracelets, rings, and charms.
By day, I am a lawyer and editor living in Maryland, with a passion for fashion and a love of jewelry-making. I also blog, take pictures, write poetry, and cook. I struggle day-to-day with a handful of chronic illnesses, but it is these endeavors that make it bearable. 20% of all net profits made through Crafted Elegance will be donated to a chronic illness foundation. |
 Hello, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Jane Perry and I am a craftsman, designer and avid nature lover. Ever since I can remember my hands were always in the dirt in summer making mud pies and castles in the sand. In winter it was snowmen and snow forts. It seems I was always working with my hands on some project or other molding and shaping nature. Being a naturalist, I am an animal lover and have three cats (for the lap) and two Siberian Huskies (for outdoor activities) as well as three rooms full of houseplants and numerous perennial gardens throughout my property.
From this love of designing with natural things, I started a business, Nature In Design in 1980, hoping to get paid for the fun I had designing both interior and exterior gardens and landscapes. I published a book, of How to Grow Houseplants From the Plant's Perspective, in 2004, which will help anyone with a desire to grow healthy, lush plants indoors and out by helping the reader understand how plants use the environment around them to make their own food and process fertilizers to promote growth. These guidelines are also transferrable to any outside gardening as all plants grow the same; it is the environment around them determines their care. Until 2004, I was successful in my endeavors helping people with their garden designs, plantings, and maintenance. However, at 63 and disabled from a reconstruction of my right tibia in 2004-2005, I now do my designing in my home.
The reconstruction came after 36 years of suffering with pain caused by an accident in 1972, where I broke both my right tibia and fibula. When the leg healed, it was ½ inch shorter and slightly deformed, which caused severe stress to my lower back, right hip, knee and ankle. Finally in 2008, after many years of visiting doctor after doctor trying to seek help with the problem, I finally found an orthopedic surgeon who would take on the challenge of rebuilding my tibia. After 5 surgeries and growing one half inch in length to my right tibia, most of the stress on the hip and knee is gone. However, the maximum time I can be active on my feet is about an hour without suffering sever pain in the leg at night from prolonged activity.
I now do most of my designing with my hands and limit my time in outside gardens. I am a nature lover and take all my inspirations from her, admiring how she develops growth with balance and symmetry that gives us the beauty that is all around us. I structure all of my designs to mimic that beauty and construct each non-live piece with a natural life-like appearance.
I am thrilled to be a member of this group of very talented artisans, who fight everyday to be alive and free of their handicap. Even though I do not suffer from life-threatening diseases, after the surgeries, I could no longer be the extremely active person I once was and I battle with depression because I can no longer do the things I once loved, hiking and backpacking for endless miles through forests lush with growth. Now, I roam the wilderness through my small trees and use much of the materials I had collected on those travels. |
 Monique Harris
My digital artwork starts as a concept in my mind and at times will take form in a whole different way by the time I put the first image on the screen.
When I was young, I wanted to figure out how I could create my own style of art given my physical limitations. I developed an interest in computer-based graphic arts and learned how to use imaging software with the use of a head wand to create my work.
As a woman with cerebral palsy, my two greatest accomplishments have been raising my twenty-three year old son as a single mother, and owning my graphic art based business. I now get to spend more time on my art.
I feel my creativity has become unleashed this past year and is flowing into my artwork more and more. Shapes and colors, how they intermingle and compliment each other, stimulate my creative energy.
At times a completed work will only contain shapes that seem to draw out a particular feeling or emotion. But I love finding just the right image and reinterpreting it in various ways to make a statement. |
 Julie Feldman - Glass Artist in Lake Worth, Florida
I have always had a love affair with glass, color, texture and working with my hands. My inspiration comes from many places...life mostly. Perhaps I see a color of a flower or a pillow in a store and I resonate with how I feel when I look at it and inspiration nudges me to get into my glass studio. Mostly I think it's just an evolving process of where I am at the moment I decide to sit down and create something. The ideas flow through me and even though I may have an intention to make a bowl something entirely different may be the result. I am mostly a self-taught artist and enjoy the journey of trial and error when I work.
My favorite medium to work in is fused glass also known as warm glass. Once the kiln is involved you never really know what's going to come out so it's a very interesting process. I use dichroic glass in most of my jewelry and gift items. It is my most favorite type of glass to work with. Dichroic glass has a vivid metallic look surface, is intense and captivating. When it is fired the colors fuse together and the results are nothing short of magical.
I hope you enjoy these expressions as much as I enjoy creating them.
Blessings and Light,
Julie |
 I'm Molly Butson, and I live in a small town in Northern California. I am a Glass Artist and I make all types of glass beads, the technical term is "lampworking".
My oldest daughter and I always loved going to the bead stores and admiring all the lampwork beads. One day on vacation I saw a book called "How to Make Glass Beads". I scooped it up, read it ragged for a year, and then began this wonderful journey.
I am self taught, and through wonderfully written books by talented and generous artists.
I learned the art from their pages. Through them I found my mentors. I love doing everything from sets, to individual beads, bracelets, pendants, pens and letter openers, even a bit of kumihimo braiding makes its way into my collection of work.
From floral to whimsical my work appeals to a wide variety of tastes.
In 2005 I was awarded a Scholarship to the "Gathering" which is sponsored by the ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers) in Louisville, KY. I am a member of the NORCAL SBG (Society of Glass Beadmakers). My work has been show in Art shows in Shasta and Tehama Counties, as well as the Chartreuse Muse Gallery in Modesto, CA |
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