I grew up in a home where my mother was always making something. She did everything from sewing clothes for my sisters and me, to making soft sculpture dolls, to knitting and crocheting hats and mittens.

My love of creating started very early, somewhere in grade school, and my mother was instrumental in teaching me all the basics. I remember my very first Home Economics project - a haphazardly-made apron (NOT what I wanted to make in the seventh grade - what seventh grader needs an apron???). I brought it home, and she promptly took it apart and made me re-sew it. The lesson I took away from that experience is everything you make should be made to the best of your ability.

I LOVED to make clothes for my baby dolls (they needed a fresh new outfit every day, too, after all), and I made them using fabric scraps, yarn scraps and even aluminum foil if necessary. I started out hand sewing, but then my mother taught me to machine sew, and it was ON! I was more than willing to sit and hand-wind a bobbin (her bobbin winder was broken) in order to sew. She attempted to teach me to knit and crochet but quickly got frustrated, so I taught myself using a project book she had with instructions in the back. To this day, I knit backwards because I learned by looking at the pictures!

Fast forward to November of 2013. I was a single mom trying to support three people on $15,000 a year, working a full time job and cleaning houses in the evenings after work and on weekends. I was exhausted and needed to find a way to make a second income at home so that I wasn't away from my kids so much. I prayed about it, opened my shop and gave it to God, and He has blessed me in amazing ways. Not only do I get to earn money doing something I am passionate about, but I get to make lots of new friends along the way! July 3, 2014, I married the love of my life. I no longer desperately need the extra income, but I am so passionate about my shop, and I am anxiously watching and waiting to see where God takes it.

You can follow me on Instagram @traceysfeatherednest and Pinterest (Tracey's Feathered Nest) to see completed orders and projects I'm working on around my house.

I've written a few magazine articles, which you can check out here:

http://www.501lifemag.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3718&Itemid=6

http://www.501lifemag.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3283&Itemid=6

http://www.501lifemag.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3164&Itemid=6