My Story
Handmade Notebooks since 2010
A graduate of the University of Regina’s Arts Education program, I taught art to middle years students for two years before starting my own business of creating things. New Leaf Handmade Goods has been in business since 2010 and currently sells items through Handmade Sask in the Cornwall Centre in Regina, Field & Fable in Swift Current and the Morse Museum and Cultural Centre in Morse (seasonally). I've been known to participate in local trade shows in Herbert, as well as in the annual autumn Highway 1 Studio Tour.
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I love to create practical and beautiful notebooks and tote bags, and also enjoy creating artwork using fabric, paper and mixed media. In my work, I strive to reflect the unexpected and often subtle beauty of the prairies surrounding my home. I currently live on a farm near Herbert amidst wild rolling hills and find inspiration for my works in this windy prairie land. I am continually amazed at the inconspicuous beauty that hides in the pastures and along the gravel roads.
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The materials I use to create my products are turning over a new leaf. Most of the paper, fabrics, etc. are post-consumer materials: sheet music discovered in thrift shops, parts of greeting cards received in the mail, stationary my grandpa found at a garage sale. It’s important to me that what I create doesn’t require a whole lot of newly manufactured parts. There’s personality, and surely a few stories, attached to my materials. I makes my goods in anticipation of bringing beauty into lives of others and allowing those stories to continue.