Your Happy Hermit
Hello y’all! I am Darlene, your Happy Hermit. I thought I’d take a moment to tell you about myself a bit. Currently, I live in Tennessee with my wonderful husband and three furry beasts. I am a mom and a grandma who has been crafting all her life. I learned to knit when I was 10, but I can’t do it now. I learned macrame when I was 11, and being a child of the 70’s and 80’s, there was a lot of macrame in my life… because everyone needs a macrame owl toilet tissue holder in their home, of course.
I was introduced to crochet when I was 12, and that became my first real love of creating. I would learn to crochet lace and dolies later in life, even turning those into boho jewelry.
I was a home-ec girl in highschool – loved to cook, sew, and decorate. When I was first out on my own after graduating, I learned that making things yourself would save you a lot of money. I always sewed my own curtains and made my own artwork. At 19, I was also introduced to my first tarot cards and found that I had a natural ability to read with them. I had seen and experienced a lot of unusual things as a child that piqued my interest even more as I learned about the paranormal.
Years would go by with me always sewing and crocheting. When I had children, I made baby clothes and started setting up at craft fairs when my promised little girl was a boy and I had made dozens of dresses and bonnets and booties. Of course I eventually had to get a day job, and I worked in offices for years. Finally deciding to get out of that stressful atmosphere, I chose to try working for myself.
The internet opened up writing opportunities for me with lots of different alternative health websites. I wrote on the things I knew – herbalism, aromatherapy, crystal healing. I took courses in hypnotherapy and became a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. Shortly after, I pursued Reiki, and I’m a master practitioner in Usui Ryoho and the Unlimited Reiki System. I worked for several years doing readings, hypnotherapy, and Reiki from my home.
When seeing clients at home was no longer an option, I decided to give Etsy a try. I started with crochet, moved on to awesome boho crochet earrings and jewelry, and even wrote and sold patterns with step-by-step videos for a while. I met a lady at a craft fair who wanted to sell her candle business, and I jumped at that opportunity. I sold candles and jewelry for a few years, adding in sewing and art. I recreated tarot cards from tiny pieces of fabric and finally began to meet a lot more witchy folks. I’ve really found it to be a great experience getting to create for like-minded people.
I was encouraged to add soap to my line-up, and that led to body butters and lip balms, bath salts and even beard balms. My background as a Natural Health Consultant really helps in this area. The success from diversifying my items funded my first used embroidery machine purchase. Now, I have 3 machines that run all the time. I thought having an embroidery machine would let me put people’s initials on their zip pouches – boy had I underestimated the possibilities. I stumbled across witchy and boho designs that just made me so happy to create.
So now I wake up every morning and get to just create beautiful things! It may be soap, may be a batch of candles, may be a tiny zip pouch, and might just be the greatest boho bag you’ve ever seen. I’ll probably fit some homemade bread or pasta into my day, and in the summer, you can barely get me out of the garden. On a good day, you might even get a tarot reading out of me. You just never know.
But whatever the day brings, I appreciate all of you for helping make my dreams come through. Some of y’all have been following me since 1998. I look forward to many more years of friendship with you all! And to my new friends, welcome! I’m so happy to add you to my circle, and I hope some of my items bring beauty and joy into your life.
