Hi! My name is Maddy!
I'm currently in graduate school right now working on a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, concentrating on Pharmacogenomics - Essentially, I want my life's work to bring the dream of personalized cancer treatment to life for everyone. Being a scientist is probably the best job ever because every day is something different and we actually get paid to solve problems creatively, to find solutions by trying things never done before, and we frequently have the opportunity to blow things up - it's a good life, but like most eccentric intellectual types, I need an artistic outlet to keep my head screwed on straight.
So I'm the product of some old school crafters (my grandmothers) and some new school DIYers (my parents), and from an early age, I've been crafting and creating various what-nots to fill the creative/artistic void in my heart that I'm genetically programed to have. I've carried this passion with me as I've grown up, and I've translated my crafty nature into my new alter ego: an over-zealous DIY-home reno-er/ pseudo-interior designer. Armed with my infinite imagination, my glue gun, and a very willing and very handy boyfriend, we've begun transforming our first home one room, one bomb project, or one over-the-top holiday at a time. The problem: I have a very small home and my hobbies take up some serious square-footage. With only one door, I can only love one awesome wreath at a time. With limited wall space, I can only hang so many of our wall decor projects. With a small attic, I can't get away with recreating my entire Christmas set up every year. And with a boy in the home, I apparently have to tone down the girlier colors and inclusion of faux-flowers. Dang! So now what?
Bingo! In a stroke of eureka-style genius, I've decided that Etsy is a fabulous outlet to sell some of my fun little creations so that I can continue being the ultra-craft queen without becoming a creepy-crafty hoarder in the process.
Now I am a Geneticist by training, and as such, my favorite part of life is realizing that everyone and everything is a product of it's environment and ancestry. Genes are passed through families, traditions down generations, all shaped by and shaping our environment as we go. It's beautiful actually. The intertwined behaviors of living things carefully orchestrated by nature itself. I think it's my fascination about the always present link to our past and future that draws me to work with natural elements and colors - burlap, twine, river rocks, barn wood, iron. Now the wine, that's an entirely different story...
My parents, like many these days, choose to drink largely red wine when they do because of it's health benefits (in moderation, people!), it's cost, it's timelessness, and it's sharability. Naturally, when I became of age it was the obvious choice for me as well: It's cheap, it's not all bad for you, it has some fabulous cooking applications, and how fancy does someone in their twenties enjoying wine look, right!? I've always found cork to be beautiful, and with natural cork becoming more and more uncommon these days, I found I couldn't part with them. I made my first set of cork coasters in college, and the rest was history! Suddenly my parents, relatives, friends, neighbors we're all saving and sending me cork and there we were back where my crafts were monopolizing my space. Ugggg. So now I'm getting crazier than ever: I've made wreaths, Christmas ornaments, floral arrangements, coasters, decorative letters, picture frames, displays and pin boards. Now we're faced with a new dilemma: If I showcase all of these things in my home, people are going to think I'm a serious wino (or wineaux, if you're a fancy drinker like us!). So here I am on Etsy, hoping my ultra-wineaux creations will bring warmth, smiles, and fun talking points to your home like they have to mine! Happy Shopping!