I’m a gatherer. From as far back as I can remember I have loved objects. As a small child, summer weekends meant that our family would pack up the car and make our way over the bridge from Philly to grandma’s bungalow in South Jersey. I would bring my little box of newly collected treasures and on Saturday mornings I would run down the path that led to Debbie’s house. She—a lifetime dear friend and kindred—would pull out her box of findings from under the bed and we would compare our goods and make trades... a marble for a piece of mica, a bit of turtle shell for a knick-knack. I still have some of our traded treasures.

At age 22 my high-school sweetheart and I moved into grandma’s bungalow and here we are 37 years later. The same table that served as a gathering for meals, a place to play rowdy rounds of card games and a surface to knock about a ping pong ball as a child has over the years been an inspiring place for me to work. For the better half of my life this table has supported my creative endeavors from caning to quilting, to woodworking and felting. My interests have varied but the one thing that has remained consistent is my use of old things. Being a romantic, I love using materials with a history, with a story. I find it really satisfying to bring life back to items that could easily be discarded. As my little granddaughter recently told her mother, “Grammy says some trash you throw away and some trash you keep.”

Over the years I’ve been encouraged by those around me to sell my handmade items. Following some success with vending, I decided in 2005 to open up my own shop, and so “Earth Gatherings” was born. It was a tiny space packed from floor to ceiling with my handcrafted goods, beads, buttons and an assortment of vintage finds. It was there that one of my customers introduced me to Etsy. She, having an Etsy shop of her own, convinced me to try it out. And so I did, and before I knew it my online shop was thriving so much that I decided after five sweet years to close the doors of my little brick-and-mortar store and put all my energy into Etsy.

So welcome! Not too unlike my childhood treasure box, you'll find in my shop a collection of everything, from buttons to books to an assortment of handmade items. I hope one of my objects catches your fancy.