About RanaLea

The shop, blog, and ponderings of me, Rana Wilson, creator and seller of nifty things, and part-time English professor whose creative outlets are taking over, and I'm okay with that. 

To me, creativity is not just confined to the “crafty,” or “artistic” spheres.  As an English professor, I utilize my creativity on a daily basis to better help my students understand the complexities of Beowulf, Shakespeare, or even that pesky comma splice. The lure of the written word and the creativity therein has engaged me since childhood, ever since I picked up my first novel (that was Charlotte's Web, just so's you know! lol!)

I've been crafting and creating my entire life, starting with watching my mother and grandmother knit, sew, cross-stitch, paper craft; you name it, they did it! While I don't really feel that I have an aptitude for the fiber arts (aside from a little cross-stitching), I have experience with card making and rubber stamping, jewelry making, painting, home décor crafts, and other general crafting (I’ll try my hand at just about anything….  I'm itching to try lamp work, but that fire thing could be a problem…) I enjoy the challenge of figuring out the best way to create the project I can see in my head, whether it’s a card, jewelry, or a new painting.

After watching my mom craft handmade Christmas cards for 30+ years, I finally picked up the adhesive and cardstock myself back in 2004, joining in on the fun and helping to further a family tradition. As a jewelry artist, I began with a jewelry kit bought at Michaels, and quickly moved to creating my own designs and crafting my own components.

My favorite tools, other than my trusty pen and paper (or my MacBook, as the case may be), are a few good pairs of pliers, scissors, some seed beads and wire, and, of course, a handy glue gun!