The name Box of Butterflies is a bit symbolic with the way I come about my final projects. I have always like to take scraps of things whatever they may be and re-create. I can remember as a little girl taking pieces of wood, shells, whatever I could find and making something out of it. It all seemed to have potential for something. The bad part of all that is you become somewhat of a scrap hoarder. It can be hard to throw anything away. I can say I have managed to not fill the house with too much stuff.

With that being said the butterfly is a creature that went through a metamorphosis. From egg, larva, pupa to adult. It became this tiny bit of fluttering loveliness for all to enjoy. That is how I look at many of my sewing and craft projects. My goal is to take something that was once discarded and incorporate it into a new piece for someone to enjoy.

Now imagine a box full of butterflies. You open the lid and they all come flying out. How can that not make you smile.

**The Burlap Bag and Healing**

I get asked all the time how I came up with the idea of making the burlap coffee bag purses?

It started early in 2017 when I was seeing burlap coffee sacks being thrown in the trash. If you read my previous blog you know that I see a potential project in all sorts of discarded items. I asked the coffee roaster if I could have them and they were happy to give them to me.

At the time I was looking to go back to work in administration and/or bookkeeping. I had some interviews on the calendar. In the meantime, I headed out to Arizona for a week long visit with my mother who is the master of all seamstresses.

I brought with me a pile of burlap sacks and some Pinterest ideas. She quickly made some patterns and the first bags made were the Boho and Tote bags. The original plan was for my mom to sew the bags and I would sell them to raise money for the Home for Good Foundation, a non-profit my mom started to support adoption programs. The response was so over whelming that I had to pull the post off social media because we couldn't make the bags fast enough.

After an entire week of sewing and visiting with my mom, I was preparing to pack up and head home. Tragically, the day before I was scheduled to leave my mom suffered a massive heart attack and passed away. I was devastated. I cancelled all my interviews and spent the next month dealing with my mom's death.

I decided that I no longer wanted to go back and sit at a desk all day for work. Knowing how much I love to sew, craft, and create, my husband encouraged me to pick up the project that my mom and I had been working on.

Sewing these bags has been a source of healing for me and it keeps me close to my mom. Even though it's now a business and not a fundraiser there will be periodic donations made to her foundation.