Hoarders Unite

Noel Belles

Mary Ellen began NoelBelles as a project for herself and her sister, so that they could work together despite the distance between them. She lives in Tennessee and her sister is in Rhode Island. NoelBelles offers a broad selction of fabulous Christmas ornaments and decorations! Here are just two. Many are on sale right now - what a great opportunity to beautify your home this season and next.

She also has two other fabulous Etsy shops: RockingRetro for fascinator and hair accessories (http://www.etsy.com/shop/rockingretro) and ThatsaHat for larger fascinators and full hats (http://www.etsy.com/shop/thatsahat).

Mary Ellen has been crafting since she was eight years old, when her grandmother showed her how to embroider. She stitched on everything that wasn't nailed down, and hasn’t stopped since! She has tried all types of crafts, and says she keeps her mind open to all possibilities when finding inspiration. It may be a random grouping of materials on her work table, or she might purposely fully research a subject.

Hoarding, thankfully, is limited to all types of craft supplies: fabric, yarn, beads, natural elements, buttons, ribbon, lace, birds, artificial greenery, vintage jewelry, patterns, feathers, millinery supplies – you name it. She’d need a larger house if she decided to hoard anything else – she already has a storage locker!

Once, Mary Ellen came home from a quilting convention all fired up. Coincidentally, at the time same time, she discovered that there were a lot of 4x4 quilting squares available on ebay. It doesn’t take too much imagination to see that this could spell disaster! After a trip out of town, she returned home to a mountain of packages and a less-then-thrilled spouse. Although she has made some quilts for the grandchildren, she still has “a few” squares left to do something with. That means she’ll either be quilting until she is 110 (maybe longer), or possibly making a donation to a woman who makes quilts for charity. Or, she may just open a destash store on Etsy. We hoarders will all be watching for that! Here is just a taste of her quilting square stash.

Mary Ellen has a few hoarded craft items that she has been carting around with her for a while, and she has yet to give up on any of them. As an example, she has a number of Victorian paper cutouts that she was given years ago, that will finally get used for her planned new Etsy shop, VictorianBelles.

She loves making fascinators, which was a completely accidental craft opportunity. After learning how to make ribbon flowers at the aforementioned quilting convention, she then tried making hair accessories with them, added feathers, did some research, and the next thing she knew, she was making fascinators. Meanwhile, it has been strongly suggested that she steer clear of quilting conventions!

Mary Ellen says her decision to rent a storage locker was the key to marital peace and harmony. That‘s where she keeps her finished inventory, plus her shipping supplies. Notice all of the hanging fabric and the one pair of men's pants on the photo below (with hats) - it's not like her husband has absolutely no room at all! Using clear plastic storage bins helps keep her organized. As far as acquiring supplies, she loves shopping on line, especially those Etsy sellers with destash listings.

Mary Ellen is retired and remarried two years ago to a wonderful man who also acquired her six children, four and counting grandchildren,and a cat. All of her hobbies involve crafting of some sort. She also loves helping at her church. Most recently, she completed the costumes for the Nativity pageant.

Check out fabulous Christmas items at NoelBelles here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NoelBelles