Meet the Maker

Hello there and thank you for being on my website. My name is Patty and I'm the maker, content creator, website creator, manager, accountant, photographer, and owner of Colón Creations.

I am 100% Egyptian.  My parents were born in Egypt and lived there until they got married in their mid twenties.  They came to the U.S. just weeks after getting married. I was born in New York and spent the first 10 years of my life moving around quite a bit until we settled in Central PA. I attended a private Christian college in the area and became a middle school teacher.  After having my first kid my husband and I decided it would be best for our family if I became a SAHM. Now, I teach statistics at the college I used to attend and I run Colón Creations. 

I get this question very often.  My whole life, I've been a left brained, logical thinker, straying away from the creative arts.  I dabbled in things like drawing, bead work, cross stitching (canava - if you're Egyptian maybe you had the same saints pictures to cross stitch that I did :-D).  However, I never stuck to any craft for very long and would much rather do a puzzle or read if I have the time.  In the winter of 2020 I bought my first pair of polymer clay earrings from @wilddarlingshandmade when my photographer friend posted her page saying that her husband lost his job because of COVID and that this mama was trying to hustle for her family.  I really liked the earrings and started looking at more of them on etsy.  By Valentine's day of 2022 I had bought several Valentine's day earrings and had more in my cart.  I became so intrigued by watching the behind the scenes creation videos that other makers posted on instagram and decided to you-tube a very basic tutorial for how to make a pair of polymer clay earrings.  I took a trip to Hobby Lobby and bought some clay, an acrylic roller, and some posts.  I went to Home Depot and got a 12 cent 6x6 tile to work on.  Guess what I used as a cutter for my first pair of earrings?  Do you know those little plastic cups that come with kids' liquid medicine? That's what I used.  Obviously the edges were not sharp, but I got the general idea.  I still have that  first earring I made as a memory.  It's not good enough to wear.  From there, I bought my first set of cutters and made a wearable pair.  Then I got more clay and started making some Valentine earrings for myself.  Soon, my mom, sister, and cousin said they would wear a pair if I made them one.  I made a couple extra and since I already had an Etsy - I listed them on there.  They started selling and I really enjoyed the creation process.  And.... here we are!  I use this earring making time as my "me-time."  It uses a different part of my brain than I usually do.  I listen to my audio books and work in quiet.  It's very enjoyable.  I love the creation piece and I also really enjoy the vending piece.  I love connecting with people at shows and just talking to women.  I try to write a hand written note with each online order and include something meaningful or uplifting.  Here's the thing.  We are all struggling in some way.  We are all longing to be seen.  If I can make someone feel less alone for one minute or make them feel seen, what a gift! 

I've actually had several spiritual parallels along the way.  The one that stands out the most is: sometimes I have an idea in my head.  When I go to make it, it absolutely does not go as I imagined and I get very very frustrated that it is not what  I expected.  At the end, I see that the result is still beautiful.  It's very similar to the pieces of my life that I try to control or want the outcome to go a certain way.  When it doesn't, I feel frustrated.  However, if I trust in God to see it through and if I give the situation to him, I end up seeing the beauty in the result.  Sometimes the result is even better than I could have imagined.

If you've read until this far, thank you! The older I get, the more I realize that I don't know all that much, but I'm here for the ride! Life is beautiful in every season.