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In our "Handmade Conversations" series, we ask amazing people in the craft, food and fashion industries a few questions that provide you with a glimpse into their world.
This week's featured person is Loren Crane. Loren is a mother and avid crafter, and is the writer behind the blog Pandora's Craft Box. She has been featured on Cherished Bliss, Vintage Gwen and other great craft websites.
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An example of Loren's book folding
My first craft item was book folding. I was seeing all these fabulous artists doing very unique things with books. I have a lot of books that I no longer wish to read and I could not see myself throwing them out. I decided to give bookfolding a try and I did my first blog post with a simple tutorial.
What is your craft medium of choice? Why do you prefer that one?
My medium of choice is mixed media. I love working with inks, paper and embellishments on the same project. However, I mostly post about home DIY. Weird, right?
Mixed media is more of a personal choice and it helps me relieve stress. I do DIY projects for the home because I really want to make my home more functional and creative for my family and myself, and I blog to share my experience.
Who or what inspires your creativity?
The first person who inspired me was Laura Larson over at Following the Paper Trail. She does amazing things with paper. She has fantastic videos online that are super easy to use. The second (or more like the first, actually) is my husband. He is a very talented artist and everything comes very easily to him, even though he would not agree with that statement. He can master any medium if he just puts his mind to it. He has really supported my creativity and pushed me to become more crafty.
Loren's reupholstered chair
My longest project was my first reupholstered chair. It took me a month to finish! It was driving me to madness. I am the kind of person who wants to finish a project that same day. I hate waiting around, but reupholstering a chair is very difficult if it's your first time. At the time when I did it in February, there were no step-by-step tutorials. I decided that that needed to change so I made five step-by-step posts on how to reupholster a chair.
Tell us about your crafting experience.
I am a mother to a wonderful little boy who has too much energy during the day and I have to keep my eyes on him constantly. As a result, I do all of my crafting after 9 p.m. and I stay up to 1 a.m. doing long projects. I usually have the TV going on in the background to keep my mind focused.
What is your dream craft project?
My dream craft project would have to be to make a door into a bookshelf. I've seen it on Pinterest and I just want so badly to make it, but I live in apartment so I have to wait.
Describe your personal style in 3 words.
1. Chic
2. Flair
3. Unique
In addition to crafting, what other talents do you have?
I have to say that crafting is my talent. My other favorite thing to do is being a mother to my wonderful little boy. He inspired me to craft and to become a better person. I'm very good at organizing and scheduling so I tend to stay on task pretty well.
What advice would you give to aspiring crafters?
I would say don't give up when things don't go your way. You will have more failures than successes in certain things and one thing that will make you stand out will be how you overcome the failures. Crafting, like anything else in life that you love to do, is supposed to be fun, so enjoy it and be happy with it no matter what.
If you were only allowed to send out one tweet for the rest of this year, what would you say?
"I am going to take over the world!" haha :)You can find me @PandorasCraftBo on Twitter.
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