I started
jamieleto.etsy.com in 2007, about 3 years ago, and within the past three years my shop has been opened, closed, reopened, reinvented, you name it. I began with sewing little stuffed monsters to knitting scarflettes to making jewelry to writing cut-paste zines and everything in between.
Despite having loves of all different DIYs and dabbling in each category and finding my temporary niche in each one, it was always sort of an underlying dream of mine to be making decoupage creations. For the past 6 years I've been an avid collage maker, and have collaged entire walls with pictures I've hand picked. I just find it so interesting and rewarding for some reason I can't explain. This year I finally found it in me to dedicate my shop to decoupaged creations.
Last christmas I made my boyfriend a decoupage frame with little green triangles that took me forever but I loved the outcome. I really just enjoyed doing it and the meticulous nature of it; just putting pieces together, like a puzzle. I just sort of fell in love with decoupage. So after being on a shop hiatus for a while, I began to create more and more and decided to get back up and running again. I chose the name mélange, which means collection, because I think of these collaged products as a collection of ideas because I think that's what magazines are: collections of photos, words, ideas.
Aside from just doing what I love, I'm happy to do it with recycled products. With my collaging addiction I have tons of old magazines lying around and now I've found an awesome, profitable, sustainable way to use them. If you're interested in getting rid of any old magazines e-mail me at jamieleto@hellokitty.com . Depending on the amount I may be able to take them off your hands as long as you are willing to pay shipping.
thanks for reading owls (:
http://jamieleto.etsy.com
Jamie makes the most wonderful scarves and cowls, fingerless gloves and adorable amigurumi (dude, I'm still waiting on cow butt - sorry, inside joke).
She's a wee bit obsessed with Harry Potter, but I'll forgive her for that. :)
She spent 3 months studying in Spain, and that makes her one lucky broad! Well, that, and it also lead her to photography (of which she has some really gorgeous shots in this shop).
