Monthly Featured Members 2019-2020

Rene started knitting as a child during WW II. Her mother knit hundreds of wool socks and gloves for our soldiers, and Rene wanted to help. So Mom taught her to knit squares, and from there she started to crochet and sew. Years later she was tailoring sport coats for her husband and three sons, then evolving into counted cross stitch. Rene took stained glass classes in 1996 while spending the summer in Boone, NC. In 1997, she joined the OTOW Artistic Crafts and Gifts group (which was started around 1987), and has been coordinator of this group for over 10 years now. Always designing, her craft has again evolved into ladder yarn necklaces, Infinity scarves, scarf necklaces and several other colorful and stylish varieties.

Since early childhood, Petra has always displayed a natural talent in doodling, sketching and painting, expressing her creativity using various mediums especially colored pencil and graphite. 

In 2008, as a means of communicating with her mom who had difficulty hearing during telephone conversations, Petra began creating handmade notecards utilizing some of her designs she developed over the years. Instead of using just plain yellow-lined paper to write notes, she decided to make communicating with her mom a little more interesting, by creating pretty notecards as her form of stationary.

With encouragement from family and friends, Petra has expanded her hobby of designing and creating notecards, along with coordinated gift bags, where she is now sharing her work for others to enjoy as well.

While living in Virginia, Petra met Ron while he was stationed at the Washington Navy Yard. After getting married, they lived in Arlington, then on to Pennsylvania. In 1990, they relocated to sunny Florida and spent the next 22 years in the Panhandle before coming to Ocala in 2012. 

Please visit Petra's listing on the Gifts 2 Page.

As a creative artist, Carole's artful designs extend to even wood, shells, rocks, dioramas, fronds, and colorful shopping bags. She noted that it is hard to find the exact moment she decided to be an artist. It started with her love of telling stories to explain something she wanted to convey. Perhaps that is why she was so drawn to Norman Rockwell, because in his paintings he illustrated a story, a feeling, or an opinion.

During her forty-four years of teaching physical education, science and literature, she found that it was easier to demonstrate or draw a picture of what she wanted to explain to the students. Carole also taught painting and drawing after school to both children and adults.

For the last thirteen years living in On Top of the World, Carole has shared her knowledge gained from multiple workshops with Albert Handel, Tony Van Hasselt, Morgan Price, Nita Ingles, Betty Schlemm, Charles Reid, Bobbie Houston and many others. Although she is not as active with art groups in the area, Carole previously belonged to the Ocala Plein Air Painters.

After twelve years of teaching drawing, acrylic, watercolor and pastel lessons in Oak Run and Master the Possibilities, Carole decided it’s time to decrease her teaching load and concentrate again on the enjoyment of telling stories through her art. Please visit Carole's listing on the Canvas Page.

Zig Zag is a specialized craft business started by Rona after moving to On Top of the World in 2015 from Buffalo, New York where she worked in the retail and hospitality industries. Rona wraps standard clothes line and cord with colorful fabric strips and then sews them to the desired shape and size creating bowls, coasters and trivets. Each item is stitched and formed on the sewing machine in a continuous process. Using this technique, she has added totes and hand bags to her line. Most of her products use purchased fabrics but she has started to hand-dye fabrics for a one-of-a-kind product.

Rona’s products are not just colorful but they are functional as well. Want to keep track of your reading glasses or car keys? Keep them in a colorful Zig Zag bowl and you will always know where they are. Although each of her products is unique, orders can be made to a customer’s request for a certain size and color. Embellishments include beads and sequins.

Rona’s passion for fiber-based crafts goes back to her childhood when she started sewing at the age of twelve. She made most of her clothes in her teens. Later in life she expanded into quilting, spinning and weaving, even hand dying the yarn she used. She owned several spinning wheels and looms. “Now that we have down-sized in our retirement, I just don’t have room for all that equipment.” 

Zig Zag is an evolution and there is no telling what is next. Rona is inspired by color, fabric and how the two can come together in a process that reflects her creativity. She is continuously experimenting with new materials and techniques. “I am inspired by working with my hands and the beauty of color. Each day offers a new challenge. I never stop learning.” 

Please visit Rona's listing on the House 2 Page.

Gladys has been crafting for thirty-nine years now. As far back as she can remember, she made all her gifts for family and friends. Everyone kept telling her to make and sell her creations. So in 1982, after working for twenty-five years in the printing industry, Gladys retired and started selling her crafted wood items. Her husband became part of the team, whereas Gladys would design her own patterns, and he specialized in the wood cutting on the jigsaw, band saw and scroll saw.

Months later she was asked to join a group of eighteen local crafters in a co-op through Your Hearts Desire. Back then the crafters were all required to work in the store so many days a month, based on the dollar amount of inventory you had in the store. The Ocala store was such a success that a second store opened. Later on it became so much work, Gladys decided that she was supposed to be retired. 

Her next step was to open her house and craft room for special orders and shopping for friends and acquaintances by appointment only, with the weekends reserved for being in arts and craft shows all around the state. Over the years her products have gone to England, Canada, France and all over the United States, which she feels is very satisfying to know her items have decorated someone’s home or business.

When she moved here twenty-one years ago, Gladys joined our crafts group. She’s still involved with painting, sewing, quilting, cross-stitch, embroidery, or whatever her brain can think up. It’s a great way to stay young. 

Please visit Gladys' listing on the Gifts Page.

Susan started painting thirty years ago, about the time her twins were born. She had a three year old daughter and then was blessed with identical twin girls. Her only free time was once a month at a mothers of twins club. At the club, Susan met a mother that encouraged her to learn how to decorative paint, and from there, the addiction to painting took off.

Anything small that could fit on a folding snack table in their small house, was targeted to paint! After eventually moving to a larger home, she graduated to an old kitchen table in the family room. Having learned that you can paint on almost any surface with the correct tools and paint, she even painted three hundred baby food jars for a mother of twins convention. 

Her favorite surface is wood, where you can cut it to any desired shape and then paint. With her own saws to cut out her own creative shapes, yes, she still has all her fingers! The items on Susan’s weekly crafts show table are varied. Some of the items she paints on are light bulbs, old ceiling fan blades, Mason jars, baby food jars, rolling pins, journals, or almost anything.

When Susan moved to Ocala thirteen years ago, she lived outside of On Top of the World, but her parents and aunt and uncle lived here. Five years ago both parents had passed and left her their villa, and her wonderful Aunt still lives close. Susan’s hobby/addiction may be as a painter, but her favorite part of life is being a mom and a grandmother.

Please visit Susan's listing on the Arts Page.

Elle moved here from Hoboken, NJ with her husband Charles ‘Rusty’ and their dog Tedi in spring 2018. Originally from Hong Kong, Elle has enjoyed art and science since she was young. Her family moved to New York City to start her junior high school studies, and later earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in fashion design from the Parsons School of Design. She built her career in the fashion industry and became creative director for various fashion lifestyle brand retailers, specializing in kids' wear. 

After taking some jewelry workshops, she started to create one-of-kind handmade jewelry for private clients on the side. With the opportunity of frequent travels with work, Elle’s jewelry inspirations come from the vibrant cultures around the globe and the local materials she and Rusty collect through their travels.  

While safely waiting out the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Elle created an online store LaceyBonesJewelry.com for Lacey Bones Jewelry, designing under the name Marbella Charles. She enjoys mixing gold and silver metals, incorporating colorful gemstones, island pearls, meaningful charms or vintage beads to create jewelry pieces in unexpected ways. Her earlier collections were necklaces and brooches with hand-beading on dyed lace for wedding jewelry. 

Besides participating at local crafts shows, Lacey Bones Jewelry is also selling at the Appleton Art Museum gift shop in downtown Ocala. Elle’s other passions include painting, sketching dog portraits, knitting, practicing yoga and travel. She is a member of the Appleton Museum of Art and Visual Artists' Society here in Ocala.  

Please visit Elle's listing on the Jewelry 2 Page.

Marion has been doing crafts since the age of nine, when she would weave potholders and sell them to neighbors for a nickel. By the age of twelve, she had learned how to do needlepoint and embroidery, where those items were gifts or an occasion project for someone at a low cost. 

As a young child, her mother had done some beautiful crochet and knitting projects, but even though she tried hard, she was just not interested. Later in life she worked with plastic canvas making tissue boxes, ornaments, etc. and would give those as gifts or sold them to co-workers at a small cost. 

While on vacation in Vermont fifteen years ago, Marion came across a button bracelet in a unique little store. The store owner encouraged her to try making them once she got back home. So she did. After fifteen years and hundreds of bracelets later, she still loves making them. Each bracelet takes approximately thirty to fifty buttons hand sewn on elastic. Now that’s a lot of buttons! She does buy a lot for special projects, however she’s been blessed to have people donate them too. With a love of thrifting, estate and tag sales, that’s where she also finds them. Her husband Dennis is her biggest fan and supporter who also searches for buttons, and has been known to help cut buttons off thrift store clothing. 

Marion and her husband began their life in paradise in 2015 after she had retired from a career as a drug and alcohol counselor and he was a firefighter. 

Newly expanded ideas include bedazzling items like letters, crosses and signs with buttons, lace, ribbon and jewelry. That’s a lot of fun to make too. When people ask why she doesn’t sell on eBay, etc. her answer stays the same — she loves seeing the faces of the person buying her crafts. It’s the personal contact that keeps Marion going. 

Please visit Marion's listing on the  Jewelry Page.

Julie learned to knit, crochet, needlepoint and sew as a child. Her mother was a seamstress and always knitting and crocheting. Julie says she is her mother’s daughter, making hand crafted items as gifts for family and friends. Even now she will ask family members what she can paint for them.

Julie’s love for art began during her high school years in their extensive art program, and she took every class that was available to her. This enabled her to work with many different mediums and techniques. After high school she attended a fine arts school where these skills were developed. After working for a photography studio, she decided to enroll in college and obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education with a minor in Advertising. Then later obtained a Master of Science in Education and began a teaching career in Special Education in New York State. During her teaching career she was able to engage her students in art activities in order to enhance their learning.

In 2006 she retired from teaching and moved to Venice, Florida. On one of her trips to Venice Island she found the Venice Art Center, and later took many classes on techniques of watercolor, pastel drawings, including the use of colored pencils. She was able to paint with many prominent watercolorists during the five years she lived here. As a member of the Venice Art Center she participated in their art shows and sold her work.

Because her family lived in the Orlando area, she moved to Kissimmee in 2011, and joined the Artesian Guild Club. She continued to display and sell her work, and was able to perfect her pastel pet portrait skills. She had many clients that commissioned her to do their pet’s portrait. When asked what she loves the most about the pet portraits, the answer always is the expression on the pet owner’s face when they see the finished piece of art.  

In 2016 she moved here and hung all of her own art work including those collected on her many travels, and realized there was no more wall space. Because she finds watercolor painting very relaxing and loves to paint on full sheets of watercolor paper, she began to paint 5x7 cards and discovered that people were purchasing them not to use as cards, but to frame and hang in their homes. She now also does watercolor gift bags and clients will commission her to do a watercolor painting just for them.

Please visit Julie's listing on the Canvas Page.