Melanie

I was born in Wichita, Kansas and grew up mostly in Des Moines, Iowa. I left the midwest and moved to the Asheville area to attend Warren Wilson College, an incredibly unique and beautiful little school with an 1100 acre campus just east of Asheville in Swannanoa, NC. I fell in love with the area and have lived here ever since, over 30 years now.

For the last 18 years I have lived just north of Asheville out in the country a little bit near Barnardsville, NC. I share a home with my amazing and talented daughter, Lyla, who is now 17 years old and just started her senior year of high school, our crazy black cat, Pearl, and the sweetest, cutest, silliest little Chihuahua, Dixie. Just this summer, my mother, Bev/Nana, came to live with us too so we are a three-generation household now. We also foster kittens through the Asheville Humane Society so we usually have a few extra feline family members at any given time. Currently, we are fostering a three-month old brother and sister named Cobbler and Crumble, who are recovering from an upper respiratory infection, and needing to put on a little weight before they are ready to be adopted.

When I’m not working for SoulKu, I am still often working with my hands and making things. We have a very crafty household and it seems like there are always a few projects under way. I like embroidery, crochet, beadwork, mosaic and paper crafts. We also usually have a jigsaw puzzle in progress too. We love to shop yard sales and thrift stores (always keeping an eye out for cheap craft supplies!). I enjoy cooking for my family and trying new recipes. When I am truly resting, I can usually be found on my deck listening to the birds and the sound of the small river below my property, and keeping an eye out for wildlife. There’s always something to see out here! This year we have seen more deer than usual, including three little fawns, we’ve had a couple of black bear sightings, we have heard red foxes, and smelled a skunk (which I learned can be beneficial! It actually dug up and ate a yellow jacket’s nest in our yard!!). We have a groundhog, a great blue heron, opossum, red-tailed hawks, pileated woodpeckers, and hummingbirds that live nearby so we see them pretty much daily. It is one of my favorite things about living where I do, so I spend as much time as I can just enjoying the nature that surrounds me.

Working for SoulKu has been such a joy. The ability to work from home has been wonderful, especially since I live a little bit out of town. It takes at least 30 minutes to get anywhere from my house so not needing to commute every day saves me a ton of time (and gas money!). The ability to work on my own schedule allows me to be more present and available for my daughter. It is so nice to be able to have complete flexibility without having to request a day off to spend a day with my family, as well as flexibility to schedule a week or two off to get some real quality time. This summer Lyla and I were lucky enough to take a cruise to celebrate our birthdays. Even though we missed our beloved pets, we got to meet some interesting animal friends in the Caribbean!

I also love that I get to earn money by making beautiful things for people. I have always enjoyed working with my hands. I have always preferred a workbench to a desk! SoulKu’s beautiful stones and variety of styles keeps me busy and excited to work each week. I always love opening my supplies box to see what I will be making that week! As I progress through each week my workspace just gets prettier and prettier. I know some SoulKu Mamas like to package the items they make as they go, but I save all of my packaging for the last day because I love to see them all lined up together. At the end of the week I have a beautiful rainbow of SoulKu decorating my work space! It is also a pretty amazing experience to run your fingers through a few hundred gemstone necklaces 🙂

Amethyst is my favorite stone, so I enjoy making SoulKu Amethyst piece. The SoulKu that I wear every day is the Aries Zodiac Necklace (even though I’m a Gemini). I think my all-time favorite SoulKu to make is the Amethyst Touchstone. I love the variety and detail in these gorgeous larger stones and the smoothe heaviness is always an enjoyable change since most of the stones we work with are much smaller.