This article is writen by Ann Strecko Koeman

Hi. My name is Ann, I have always been making stuff. In fact just two days ago a fellow scrap booking friend stopped by my house, it was her first time. As I was giving her the nickel tour of my home and then my craft room area she asked: “Is there ANYTHING you don’t do?” I did have to admit that I don’t know metal work very much. Hee hee. Actually, there are probably many things I could learn and it will take more than the rest of my life. That is why I am hardly ever bored, I am too busy.

As a little girl I would spend hours gluing, stapling, taping, and stringing odds and ends into whatever my imagination wanted. I learned to sew at my mother’s side when I was at pre-school. I wrote little stories and illustrated them. I learned to knit and cook before I was nine. I loved flowers and playing in the dirt in my toddler years. As an adolescent I built forts in our woods and igloos in the winter. I have always been creative and wanted to make whatever I imagined.

Today at, ahem… 45 years, I have amassed an incredible collection of skills and stuff. My skills impress my friends and family. My stuff, well, shocks! But it is organized! I love to collect stuff and find a use for it down the road. My collecting, repairing and repurposing drives my husband insane! He has little vision! We clash. I persevere. I do not like to throw stuff out and just go buy new. I hate waste. Thankfully we own a large home and I am able to stuff it in an organized manner. Hee hee

My children think I can fix anything! And always bring me stuff to repair. They think it is normal, and believe every mom can multi task and is creative. I have sewn and knitted many or their baby clothes. I continued to sew many articles for them over the years. Even now in their teenage years I sew some of their pajamas. I do more altering and repairs now, as they are, well, teens. I have made many of their costumes for Halloween or plays. I crochet some of their favorite video game characters. We have made buildings and towns out of cardboard boxes, board games from the recycling bin contents, and more.

Until a few years ago I had never heard of Mixed Media. When I did I thought, “that’s me!” I do and love so many things and often combine them. I sew, knit, crochet, scrapbook, do paper crafts, draw, paint, repurpose, decorate, garden, cook etc… In art school I got discouraged because of one professor, and there was family pressure to have “something to fall back on”. I switched concentrations. I went to University and Graduate school and became a professional. And hated it! I kept my “hobbies” and became a wife and mother, I was happier!
My kids are my proudest creations.

Ann,

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Ann lives east of Ottawa, Canada’s capital, in a small bucolic country town with her husband of nineteen years, their two teenage sons and a meowing fur ball on four legs.  She has been creating since she could hold scissors and hasn’t stopped.  She was introduced to mixed media four years ago and declared: “That’s me”.

You can see more of Ann’s work at Ann Makes.

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