Upcycled Purse With Magnetic Snap Made From A Khaki Skort

Welcome to Found Beauty Studio! This is my one woman attempt to bring a little fun back into the world with bright and functional recycled found object art. I've always been a maker of things. Always. But if you'd told me when I walked out of college with a bachelor's in theatre arts a decade ago in Massachusetts that I'd end up running my own art studio in Burlington, Vermont, I would have called you crazy. I had plans to go on to a successful and illustrious career in costume and set design, and then took a u-turn and worked in program direction and fundraising for nonprofits, and then as a community organizer for local government, and then burned out on the whole 70-hour-work-week-in-a-cubicle life and headed back to art.

Life takes funny twists and turns, and here I am, happier than I could have imagined in the upstairs of a house in the Old North End with my wood worker husband, three fluffy cats, and two turtles (one of whom is fast approaching 30 years old), using my maker-of-things skills to upcycle found materials into new creations. While I do create fine art pieces, my primary love is creating functional pieces - lamps, tote bags, jewelry, furniture, clothing, home goods, planters…the list goes on. I find great joy in taking a used up, forgotten and discarded object and turning it into a one of a kind piece that someone will use and love.