​" I inspire and teach people to use the power of their own creativity to transform their lives. Expressing my own creativity and empowering others to express theirs is my Soul's purpose."

​ - H. Michelle Spaulding

H. Michelle Spaulding, Entrepreneur, Artist, Educator, Storyteller, Mentor

Michelle Spaulding founded Crafty Diva Cottage after she experienced a series of challenges in her life. The 4 D's Divorce, Death, Debt and Disability. She had been using the arts and crafts as a therapeutic way to relieve stress for years. Because she found expressing her creativity through crafting so beneficial she decided to pursue training in Expressive Art Therapy. Her goal is to take her expertise as an entrepreneur and teach and coach woman in the use of the creative arts to pursue their own dreams, goals and desires. Michelle has had a lot of personal setbacks and successes on her journey and is challenged with a series of chronic illness'.  Her passion is to teach her clients the benefits of using the creative arts for relaxation and stress management.  Through it all she continues to attain her dream of empowering people to tap into their own creativity and find strength in expressing their unique creative voice.

About

Michelle is an entrepreneur and self-taught artist. She owns Crafty Diva Cottage a business offering creativity consulting, art getaways, classes and workshops in the fiber arts. Michelle left the corporate world after 20 years as Founder and CEO of AMA Technologies, Inc., a high tech firm specializing in government contracting. She is a  Dream Coach certified through Dream University with Marcia Wieder.   Currently she is continuing to pursue her creative dreams by furthering her training and education in the field of Expressive Arts Therapy. Enjoy her art, for in it she reveals her visions, her melding of cultures, her inner child, her pain and healing, her creativity  and her love for mother earth. Her hope is that you will experience one or all in her art.

Artist Statement

I have crafted since I was eight years old. My mother taught me to crochet and do needlepoint and sew my own clothes. I learned to knit and make all kinds of crafts in girl scouts. My first craft enterprise was selling macrame hanging planters to my neighbors on my military base where I lived in Germany. My Dad would go to the PX on base purchase my yarn and twine. I crocheted and knitted on my two hour bus ride every day to school. In college I let go of crafting. I didn't began again until I got pregnant with my first child. I crocheted her baby blankets on the two hour bus ride to work at the Pentagon. After she was born no more crafting since I became a business owner with offices and employees in five states. When my second child was born 7 years later I felt the need to create with my hands. I began weaving baskets and finally felt like an artist and began participating in art shows. With my third child I began hand weaving and surface design. All of this lead to me beginning a new career as a expressive arts educator. I began teaching workshops and classes and opened up my cottage business. Here I am today as an entrepreneur, artist, teacher, certified Dream Coach and author.

I am making strides toward, balance, moderation and success My life's passion are my children. My life's purpose is to lead, teach, create and inspire others. My creative passions are vibrant color, texture, fiber, anything handcrafted. I am a nature lover and am calmed and energized by the four elements, earth, fire, water and air. I am a cultural anthropologist and historian who is excited by all things primitive and rustic with a modern edge. I believe in Angels, fairies, mermaids and unicorns. My soul dances in a meadow of peonies, roses, sunflowers, cosmos, hydrangeas and all flowering plants. I am inspired by LOVE my Love for others and the love that humans express to each other.

Artist Profile

As a child in Lawton, Oklahoma, Michelle delighted in playing with twigs and in mud. She loved to experience their texture. Spending time with her childhood mentors, who were of Cherokee descent, she grew to love arts and crafts and finally found her voice in basketry 20 years ago. Michelle's artistry has expanded in recent years by studying ancient basketry techniques with Cherokee artisans in North Carolina and other renowned teachers. Her African-American and Native American heritages are woven into her art, expressing her love for all types of aboriginal art forms. But beyond wanting to demonstrate the harmony possible in inter-twining cultures. Michelle seeks to express a spiritual healing in her art. A healing she has experienced first hand. Over the years, Michelle has used her art to overcome grief and loss, chronic pain and illness, severe stress and anxiety. She has developed a method for meditation and emotional renewal through the use of the expressive arts. She has been able to reconnect to her inner child, the creative child who loved the twigs and mud. The beauty and spiritual healing she receives from weaving mother earth's threads and molding clay are expressed in her baskets, weaving, knitting, surface design, needle art and pottery. Michelle designs an eclectic array of contemporary homespun fiber art. The vibrant colors and whimsical style make these designs both pleasing to the eye and soothing to the spirit. Hand dyed reed, natural fibers and plants make her handcrafted heartfelt basket designs a practical and usable art form. Color and texture are her inspiration. Arts and Crafts are her passion.

My Mission Statement

My purpose is leading, speaking, consulting, coaching, mentoring, teaching others.

My passion is mothering, loving and creating arts and crafts.

My purpose is my service to the world and my income producer.

My passion is how I express my love for my family and how I take care of myself.

I am a visionary, mystic, adventurer, explorer, researcher, shaman, storyteller, historian, anthropologist, artist, sculpturer, maker, doer and lover

My body, mind and spirit is transformed with art, stories, music and dance

My humor is sarcastic and sometimes witty, I'm not silly, I am thoughtful and serious

I've overcome the challenges of low self-worth, low self-esteem, bullying and fear

​I look for the Divine in all people, places and things on earth

My spirit soars with color, my soul sings when in nature

I look to the heavens, stars, earth and Universes for guidance

I am a radiant, beacon of light

I am a multi-dimensional soul who is on a educational journey back to  God/Source/Creator of All That Is

My mission is to change the world

I incarnated to spread the love and mysteries of the universe during this great transformation in human history

I am full of Joy!

​   -H. Michelle Spaulding

My Creative Expression

I hope you enjoy my whimsical, handmade, heartfelt creations...

Where I create

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