Little Enchantments by Wendy (LEbyWendy) was officially launched in January 2023 as a way for me to have a community with my local craft customers, but the story really starts back in September of 2016.
Back in 2016, I was in a rut. Stuck in a job that used the analytical side of my brain, not the creative side. I felt like my life was so much of the same and I needed something different. Making crafts was always a large part of my life, and it was a part that I was leaving behind. So, I decided to look for something creative to do. While I was trying to contemplate a hobby where I could be crafty and make some money (so my hobby could be self-sustainable), a friend invited me to host a sign making craft class with her. I loved the idea so much that I decided to teach craft classes locally.
This was probably one of the best decisions that I ever made.
After about a year, I came to realize that while I enjoyed teaching craft classes, and the money that I made helping others be crafty, what I really loved was the human connection and the community I was building.
It wasn’t long after that realization (and my day job turning into a soul-sucking nightmare), and with the support of my husband and some friends, that I got the courage to leave my day job in spring of 2018 and focus on teaching classes to make a living.
Everything was going great, I was building a community, making connections and business was growing. Then the whole world shut down in March of 2020, and my business took a huge hit. While it is obvious that I couldn’t teach in person classes during this time, there was another issue…
I had unknowingly gotten COVID-19 right at the beginning of the pandemic, and I didn’t know that I had it. The symptoms that I had were not the symptoms that were being put out by the CDC (at that time), and my doctor and I determined that it was a bad sinus infection during our tele-med visit. During this time, I had the most horrible mental fog, and I was in an awful dark place and mental space. It wasn’t until a couple months later, and additional symptoms were announced, that I was able to get an antibody test to confirm that what I was sick with was actually COVID-19.
While I was sick and then recovering over about 8 weeks, I didn’t advertise anything or offer any products to my community. I was in a bad mental space, and I also felt guilty to ask people to buy my products because of the situation in the world. Yet, I was also finding time to create, and I realized that making crafts and being creative was helping with my own mental health. It was then that I decided to reach out to my local community and ask them if they would be interested in craft kits. The response was a resounding yes, so I started offering pick up craft kits and classes on zoom.
It was during this early pandemic time that I realized just how important words, crafting, creativity and community were to our mental health as people.
While selling craft kits locally helped, I did have to go back to work full time and scale my sign business back to part time. Even though I had to scale back I did realize how much I love teaching sign classes. Now I’m at the point where I’m reworking, rebranding, and reinventing my business. Thank you for coming along on my journey and I can’t wait to see you soon in a craft class.
Stay Creative!
~ Wendy
