About Vicki

Photo Courtesy of Brian Hyrne

As a lifelong crafter, I have tried my hand at almost every craft possible from needle work to mixed media.  The only craft I have not attempted is woodworking for fear of losing a finger!!! But I am happy to say that I am now learning my way around a jigsaw and am beginning to have fun without fear 🙂

I come by this honestly as my maternal grandparents and mother were extremely talented; my grandparents both hooked rugs and made braided rugs, my grandfather caned and built furniture and they were both master gardeners.  As if that wasn’t enough, my grandmother was also an antique dealer and phenomenal cook/baker (wish I could make a pie crust like hers!)   This creativity was passed on to mother who taught me to knit, crochet, embroider and sew. I just found out from my best friend in high school that all of my friends thought is was sorta weird that I wanted to learn all of these things when all they wanted to do was read books, dream about boys and talk on the phone…little did I know! My sister is also a superb seamstress and her interior decorating leaves me speechless!

Wondermelon—one of my pieces for Snack Time

Creativity has had a part to play in almost everything that I have done.  Although I wanted to major in theater/voice in college, my dad set me straight about ‘gainful employment’ (not what a hippie-ish kid wants to hear)  so I chose the field of Speech Pathology as my major. Eventually, I also received a Master’s in Speech Path. Working in local school districts for 30+ years, I had the opportunity to use my creativity with my students both artistically and therapeutically.  During that time, I did pursue performance art as a hobby in glee club and then as a singer/dancer in a local variety show.  Eventually, I turned my love for cooking and creating in the kitchen into my own vegetarian catering company and cooking school.  I also learned how to make my own jewelry and became obsessed with beads….By now, are you asking if I have a short attention span???  Nope!  I just have so many interests, I keep morphing into other areas and reinventing myself!

After dabbling in all of these things, I finally found my true passion was for paper and mixed media art work.  It only seemed natural as  I have always had a thing for beautiful papers, both handmade and wrapping. I made my own scrapbooks long before they became the rage but the boom in this craft led me to scrapbooking and further evolved into making custom mini-albums, cards, journals for friends and family. My shop on Etsycreate.com came next after a colleague recommended the site to me (www.etsy.com/shop/paperpiecesbyvicki) along with participating in a variety of Central Ohio crafts shows.  As I continue to evolve, I have become fascinated with collage, mixed media and painting…think that will become my next venture into the art world!

But on to why I wanted to create this blog…

Over the last 5 years, I have been privileged to begin networking with an amazing number of talented folks, some who own Etsy.com shops and others who create mainly for craft and art shows.  As I have gotten to know more about the Central Ohio arts and crafts scene, I have realized that there is not enough promotion of these artisans and their varied skills.  That is what led me to begin thinking of ways to ‘get the word out’ ….Presto change-o, the inception of l.o.c.a.!

My goal is to not just promote my own work but to learn more about these artistic people’s skills, their inspiration, process and introduce them to you, my readers, in the hopes that you will appreciate the diversity of merchandise and talnet that is available right outside your door and shop locally. I also hope that I make this journey enjoyable for you and me!!