Nine years ago, back in April of 2012, I got married. When I got married, I had no idea where I wanted to start as far as wedding planning went. All I knew was that I wanted a wedding that was environmentally friendly and on a budget. I did accomplish everything I set out to do. My goal for the wedding was to plan it for under $10,000 without sacrificing anything. I made that goal a reality. It sparked me to want to create a blog after I had come across someone else’s wedding story online. Knowing, I could share my wedding journey and how I planned my wedding for under $10,000 sounded exciting. I also knew it would help other brides in the future try to plan their wedding on a budget. In the future, when the pandemic officially ends and weddings go back to their normal routine, I plan to make an extensive blog post sharing my do-it-yourself wedding journey.

When I was getting married back in 2012 and planning my wedding, I had no clue what Pinterest was. I didn’t even know that there were blogs. I also didn’t know what a blog was. I remember coming across a blog called 2000 dollar wedding. The bride had dedicated her blog to her wedding journey story. When I saw her blog, it had given me lots of ideas and inspiration for planning my wedding. After my wedding took place, I was determined to share my wedding story in a blog of my own. I spent years trying to figure out how I was going to go about doing this. Was I going to start a free blog? At the time back in 2012, Blogger was what everyone was using. Do people still use it? I debated for many years on how I would go about doing this. Then, several years later, I came across two more bloggers who also inspired me to go about starting this blogging journey. One of the bloggers I started following shared how to create a blog on WordPress. Seeing that blog post, made me realize I was going to start my blog on WordPress and I would finally be able to share my wedding story. I spent many years again doing my research for how I was to go about starting this blog. I spent hours, googling all things blog-related. I learned that I could make money blogging with patients and the idea that I would be doing this for fun. I also learned that I could inspire others by creating a blog. I also spent many hours pinning blog information to help me set up my blog. I was trying to make sure that when I created a blog it was done right. That if I was going to share my wedding story on my blog, I wanted to make sure I had a legit blog I owned the rights to. I also wanted a blog people would enjoy visiting.

In 2018, I had been helping out with some family medical stuff on my husband’s side of the family. During that time, I had a little downtime in the evenings. I decided that year to take the plug to purchase my blog. It was the most nerve-wracking and exciting thing I could have done. I still am nervous to share my story, my inspiration for others to see and so much more.

As a young child in first grade, I remember doing a craft project in school that I still to this day think about. That project won me the first-place award. The goal for the project was to create a snowman on a card without using any scissors. I did exactly what the teacher wanted and I was so proud of myself. It was that experience that made me realize as I got older that I loved crafts and doing creative things. Over the years, I have taught myself many different types of skills. I was in 4-H growing up and I had the experience to learn sewing, crafts, woodworking, photography, etc. I have always never forgotten that experience as well. I took home economics in high school and I learned the basics of cooking and baking. I also never forgot that experience as well. This blog will showcase a lot of the hobbies that I love to do in my spare time. I will hopefully have a blog that will teach others and inspire others to learn new skills.

I got the name for this blog when I was thinking about the things I love. I am a huge supporter of small businesses. I also love attending craft fairs every year. I have a big love for all things handmade. I have huge respect for people who put their heart and soul into creating beautiful things. I love cooking and baking as well. Over the years, my love for food has grown. I want to share my food journey on my blog. I love making hand decorated sugar cookies and baking. I also love cooking simple meals. Coming from an Italian family on my mom’s side, we love food. We love to cook good healthy simple foods. I hope to inspire others to want to cook and bake on this blog.

My journey to start this blog has finally come true. I am finally at the point where I have done all the research and I am ready to introduce myself. If you love to do crafts, sewing, woodworking, painting, cooking, baking, organizing and so much more, then come be a part of A Handmade Story family. In this blog, you will get to see all the fun things I love to create and do. I hope you will be inspired to want to try new things for yourself. Maybe someday, you will want to create a blog of your own. Join me in this journey! I hope you will subscribe to my blog and receive my future emails. You can find A Handmade Story on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest too. Please enjoy this ride with me, as I start a new hobby and journey. Much love from, Jodi  ♥