The saying "be careful what you wish for" is a familiar phrase to Becky Meverden, owner of Timeless Creations. Meverden's craft business gets so many orders, she works around the clock. Joining host Carol Duvall in studio, Meverden tells how she went from a craft hobbyist to calling herself a "one-woman polymer clay factory."
Meverden started crafting by experimenting with several mediums from quilting to cross stitching, but it was polymer clay that really caught her attention. "I heard about polymer clay and it stuck," she says. "It's my passion and I love it." Together with a neighbor, Meverden began taking polymer clay sculpting classes and soon became a pro, taking her handmade polymer clay people to craft shows. "Wow, people really responded to it, really loved it," she remembers. "I thought this is great, I'm getting paid for doing it. This is nice." So Meverden began doing more craft shows and selling her crafts at consignment shops.
As her business took off, Meverden found that her schedule was stifling her creativity. "I was working eight to 10 hours a day making things," she says. "I was a factory. I couldn't be creative anymore because I was too busy making 100 of these or 500 of these. I was losing my passion." So Meverden sent one of her clay ornaments to a craft magazine who bought the rights to the project, featuring Meverden's instructions for the project in a holiday issue. Meverden received her first check in the mail, having discovered a new way to make money with her ideas. She also received endorsement fees from manufacturers whose products she used to make her projects.
Meverden admits that in her career as a crafter, she's been met with a lot of pleasant surprises. "When I started out 10 years ago, I thought doing craft shows was going to be it for me," she says. "It couldn't get any better than that. I never thought I'd be a designer. That's what I am now. I don't know what tommorow's going to bring."
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