WELCOME TO MY CORNER
TAKE TIME OUT TO CRAFT
Morena is the kind of girl who would rather have paint on her fingers than get a manicure. her passion is using thrifted finds to craft designer inspired creations, and she excels in creating colorful, bold pieces. As a former teacher, this site is like her virtual classroom.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t making stuff. My mother grew up in post-WWII Italy and left school to get a job in a lingerie factory. There she learned how to sew, and most of my wardrobe growing up was made by my mother. She taught me, and I remember sewing alongside her as I made dresses for my dolls. My father grew up on a farm in rural Alabama, where he helped his parents build their house. He was a skilled maker, and the play kitchen he made for me was the envy of all the kids on base. Raised by makers, it was only natural that I followed in their footsteps. Why buy it when you can DIY it?
My career in crafts didn’t begin until much later when my fourth child was born. My husband had separated from the Navy and we were finally homeowners again. As we prepared to move into our new home in Garden Ridge, I started making things to decorate the nursery. I created circus-themed wall art to decorate the room and shared the images with my friends on Facebook. The response was incredible, so I started posting more of what I was crafting.
As I shared pictures of the things I made with brands who I purchased products from, the positive feedback I received gave me the courage to enter some crafting contests online. This meant that I needed a website that I could link to for the contests. All the cool names I liked were already taken, so I settled on the name Morena’s Corner because my craft space had always been in the corner of my closet or the corner of the laundry room. My first contest entry was a faux pewter jewelry dish, and I was overjoyed to win first place!
Next, I entered a contest sponsored by the craft company DecoArt. My DIY Map won first place. The positive responses made me feel that this fun hobby of mine could be something more. Winning put me on several brand’s radars, and they reached out to me. I created several sponsored posts for them, and eventually earned a spot on several design teams, including with DecoArt.
Working on a design team means using the brand’s products to create projects that will inspire others. In addition to being a maker, you have to be a photographer, writer, and website savvy! There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating the content you see on social media and brand websites, and I had to learn all that quickly.
Presently, I work for four different brands ranging from papercrafts to printable labels to fabric crafts. I’m what’s called a “general crafter”, so I dabble in several different mediums. My absolute favorite thing to do is to take unwanted items, like thrift store finds and recyclables, and transform them into something different. This way I can be creative while also helping to reduce waste! I like the challenge of reimagining things creatively.
Take this birdbath, for example. I used several mismatched items from the thrift store and put them together to create a beautiful addition to my garden. (It’s still there, making birds and bees happy!) I was a Goodwill Ambassador for several years, showing their shoppers how to transform inexpensive finds. You’ll find a lot more thrift store craft ideas on my website.
Another fun collaboration that shows how I like to combine recycling with crafting was when I worked with Habitat to Humanity to encourage shoppers to give “trash” a second life. This door that I made into a table is one of my all-time favorite projects, because my whole family worked on it together. I love when “making stuff” brings us all together.
Aside from my work as a craft designer for various brands, I also make a lot of things that just make me happy. Some of them are just for me, some are by request by my kids or friends, and some are for sale in my Etsy shop. People who know me well know how much I enjoy creepy crafts and Halloween. Halloween is my busiest season, when I’m creating both costumes and decor. Again, I like to recycle and reuse as much as possible when I can, which results in fun projects like this witch welcome mat. I love to show people how easy and FUN it can be to make your own decor, without spending a fortune.
Fun is also at the heart of everything I do. I like to turn people who say “I can’t craft” into someone who says “wow, that was fun!” That’s my goal with the tutorials that I share on my site. I hope that I can inspire people to try something new and just have fun with it! Crafting can be a great outlet for trying new things, expressing yourself creatively, and having fun.