the Clever Crafter!

Aren't buttons fun? :) While looking for recycling shops I found Clever Crafter who makes wonderful button bracelets and earrings from guitar picks! I also just found out yesterday that she is having a give away on one of my favorite blogs - Christie Cottage! One lucky person will win their choice of button bracelet from the shop!! Please go and enter AFTER you have read the feature on this wonderful recycling shop :)

I'm from Lansing, Michigan and I've been crafting since I was 5 or 6 years old. I have a cat, Lily, that loves to "help" me while I work on projects and a wonderful and supportive boyfriend.

Once I started experimenting with different projects I always got the same reaction from people: "How clever!" Naturally, I decided this would make for a good shop name... Clever Crafter. I've had my Etsy shop for a couple of years with occasional sales, but I've just recently made it official with my DBA and State Sales Tax License. For the last couple of weeks I've noticed an increase in sales, and it's been great!

To be honest, my first thought was not in recycling for my projects, but rather in using things out of the ordinary to make unique jewelry. I think the first project was a bracelet made from puzzle pieces. I bought a puzzle from Goodwill and when I was almost done with it I realized that there were pieces missing. I decided that I had to find a way to use the puzzle instead of throwing it away. From there I've always looked for a different way to use items.

At the moment my addiction is buttons. I can't stop looking for new buttons in different colors and textures! I've also been looking at jump rings in different colors as I think about trying my hand at chain mail jewelry!

I like making the guitar pick earrings because they're all so different. Finding stamps small enough for the picks is a challenge in itself sometimes, but I like matching the stamps to the pick sizes and colors. Sometimes it seems that the colors just speak to me!

I can be found on twitter at www.twitter.com/cleverscorner and have a blog with regular features at http://cleverscorner.blogspot.com. I also have a shop on another site, www.zibbet.com/clevercrafter.