Get Your Paint On!!

I am new to blogging but thought I'd give it a try and since I am here for you, I want to make this blog fun and educational at the same time. That is, I guess, how I run my household. I have 3 children living at home and a 4th who is out on her own and married recently and expecting twins summer 2017. I will be a first time G'Ma, Not liking Grandma name so currently exploring fun names, like Ma Heady (a mom type plus my nickname since I was like 4), or Oma (we are German). I guess we will see.....to be continued. Anyway, I have been married since 2001 to George. We met online, yep, ONLINE. Does that tell you how rare we are yet?? LOL. We knew right away we were going to be married. It was just a God thing I suppose. I have an Associates Degree in Graphic Design and have been crafting and creative for as long as I can remember. My family runs a small farm outside of Canton where we raise Chickens, Sheep, and most time seems Cats. LOL. We garden and process our own foods of what we can. Always expanding that adventure. My 14 year old boy, Quinten, is homeschooled. My oldest, Mahkalay, now 22 was homeschooled from 5th-8th grade. My 2 younger ones, Amelia is 10 & Corbin is 8, have recently started public school. So, long story short, I'm a busy woman!!!

I bought my business in 2011 and opened The Traveling Kiln where I traveled into nursing homes for their activity time. Painting is very therapeutic for many. It not only works the pincher grip (thumb and pointer finger), moves the arm, but is great therapy for the mind!! I had one resident tell me she suffers from depression and OCD but painting calms her. She doesn't like many crafts, but painting did wonders for her depression. Not sure it really works that well for OCD but she explained for her, she didn't get OCD about her painting. so anyway, I traveled with it until 2013 when I moved near Champaign with my husband who had taken a new job. I tried to get into the nursing homes in surrounding areas there, but funding just wasn't available. I had supplies and all in storage and figured it would just be my own hobby. Anyway, my children and I came back to Canton for the summer of 2015 and we happened to pass by a prime location empty business. OMG!! DID THAT REALLY SAY ONLY $35,000?? Must be something wrong. So I called George and told him and we set up to look, well, it was very nice, needed a little cosmetic work but was prime location for next to nothing. So we put in a bid, but she went with someone else. So now what?? We kept our eyes open but didn't actively seek anything. Then We came across the old Canton Florist. Lets take a look. So we put in a bid. They countered, we put in another, they countered, etc. I prayed so hard cos I really wanted a store doing what I love, but I just wasn't willing to spend more than my number for THAT building. It had been left empty for several years and not kept up well. So final counter came in and they asked me to go $2,000 over my number. I prayed some more. I took a leap of faith and responded with the work I just couldn't go any higher. I was willing to walk away cos I had my number set and said, "If its meant to be, they will come to my number." So I got a call back and they excepted!! YES!! Now for the work. We basically gutted the front of the building with my son in law, Levi's, help and his friend. We took out a chimney and a walk in cooler, built a handicap restroom and put up a couple good walls and like "magic" we were ready to open. We opened Dec 22, 2015 & had our grand opening Jan 9, 2016.

We do more than Paint your own pottery here. We have classes, Art camp, repurposed glass ware, homemade goat milk soap, a few scrapbooking supplies, T-shirt scarves and Rada Cutlery. We pour a lot of our own pieces so we are able to keep our cost down for our customers. I am here for you as I said before, so if there is a craft-any form- you would like to make but not sure how to, bring in the idea and I will see what I can come up with and make it a class. Who knows, maybe someone else wants to do the same one.

Find us on Facebook.com/Create, It, Draw, Paint, Fire, our website createitcanton@wixsite.com/mysite or come in and get your paint on at 42 N. 2nd Ave, Canton (behind the new Cefcu) or call 338-6508 for assistance.

We are family owned and ran. Support Shop Local and keep the little people in business. Thank you for reading a little about me and how we started.