It’s a very small world, Gingermelon!

The saying:”It’s a small world”, is ringing so true in my ears today, and the reason why I’m saying that is because I’ve met a lady called Shelly via Etsy.  I used one of her business’s cute PDF patterns in a treasury I did about Foxes.  The business is called Gingermelon, and everything she has to offer is adorable!

 Ok, so coming back to the world being small, she thanked me for featuring her item, and she thanked me in in my mother tongue, a language called Afrikaans.  Instead of using the usual “Thank You”, she said “Baie Dankie”, and I was completely floored.  Shelly comes from Canada, New Westminster, British Colombia to be exact.

She then surprised me again by telling me she grew up in South Africa until she was 17 years old, lived close to where I’m living right now!  Her family immigrated to Canada just before she completed her High School Diploma!

She then met a lovely man, married, and had 2 beautiful sons of her own! She’s been working from home for almost 10 years now, managing a small apartment building, whilst being a Hair Stylist as well, running her household, looking after her family, and running Gingermelon as yet another venture.  Phew, I’ve run out of steam just thinking about all the things Shelly accomplishes in a day!

In Shelly’s own words:” A couple of years ago, I decided to try my hand at making felt dolls.  My sewing skills were terrible, but at least with felt, I could hand sew and not worry about machine sewing - so much quicker!  I started designing little doll patterns, and from there started making my first cloth dolls.  These I did with embroidered faces.  I opened my Etsy shop in November of 2009 and listed a handful of my embroidered cloth dolls.  To my surprise, they went like hot cakes!!  Eventually, I started designing and making felt animals, sculpted dolls, mohair bears and paper dolls to my shop and now offer patterns for almost all my creations.”

I then decided to order one of her patterns for myself. I received it within the hour of ordering, as it comes in a super convenient PDF format.  It’s a little Deer, and it is adorable, and as soon as I have time, I’m going to make it, and I’ll post some pictures!

Shelly is wonderful, her customer service is impeccable……..and I think I’ve made a new friend!

To Shelly:  South Africa’s lost a wonderful artist in you!  I hope we meet someday, but in the meantime, have a great and happy life, be successful and most of all; be happy!

Go and have a look at Shelly’s blog and Etsy shop!  Oh, and she’s just opened up another shop on Etsy as well called Sugared Violet, see the link below.  This shop is dedicated to her paper dolls, and she hopes to do some prints in the future!  You will not be disappointed!

http://gingermelondolls.blogspot.com/

http://www.etsy.com/people/Gingermelon

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SugaredViolet

Hope all your wishes come true!

 

Happy days to all

Mietjie