Featured Artist Presents Frans Homemade Wonders

Every so often you will run into a person that inspires you beyond words, no, not because of their world renowned talent but because of the strength that they have in themselves. Fran, of Fran’s Handmade Wonders is just such a lady.

Fran was always a creative soul, learning to crochet from her Grandmother at 5 years old. This creative spirit continued into high school when she was hired to make all the school’s choir performance outfits.  She has even pulled off the ultimate sewing coup and created several wedding dresses as well as the wedding party dresses for friends…now, why didn’t I have a friend like this when I was getting married?  Her gift of sewing and crochet, often making up her own pattern, has never left her and she continues to create wonderful keepsakes for babies of her friends and family.

Fran has also tried her hand at tatting, cross stitch, woodworking, and quilting; but fell head over heals for Polymer Clay.  She has created the most darling wedding cake toppers (again, where was she when I was getting married!) as well as Christmas ornaments.

Fran loves being surrounded by her huge family; 30 nieces and nephews as well as hundreds of cousins, since retiring from a government law enforcement agency.  While working, she even created a “crafting bunch” at work!  She started by bringing her work into lunch with her to work on during her break and soon after others followed along bringing whatever projects they were working on at the time.  Soon, the table would be covered by a variety of crafts coming together as they ate and chatted.

This talented lady’s retirement was a bittersweet event.  She shares that 18 months ago she was diagnosed with a rare form of bone marrow cancer and has been going through continued treatment with her family and 3 Long Haired Chihuahuas by her side.  This has not stopped Fran’s creative spirit by any means; instead she drags her craft supplies with her to Chemotherapy…even selling her treasures to nurses and patients!

Because of her illness, Fran is no longer able to deal with the stress and work of doing face to face selling at local craft fairs or working in her local crafter’s mall so she has joined us in online selling and the HandmadeArtists are thrilled to have her!  Fran says that her favorite part of selling her handmade creations is sharing her love with other people, and the hardest part is pricing her work!  She still is encouraging to others that want to break into the handmade marketplace themselves telling them to “take advantage of every opportunity to share links with other crafters and list your items everywhere you possibly can.” Fran admits that getting found in this vast market is not always easy, but it can be done and once a customer has a good experience with you, they will tell their friends and you are off and running.

Are you ready to see what this intensely talented lady with an amazing positive outlook on life can create given the chance?  Well, she is easy to find on the HandmadeArtists as well as on her own website.  She can also be found on Etsy and Artfire.

Tags: artist, Creative Handmade Artisans, crochet, handcrafted, Handmade, Handmade Harbor, polymer clay, sewing

Posted in Featured Vendor