Welcome to our website!

The One Handed Crafter & Her Honey
My name is Barbara Chauvin and I’m beyond blessed to be married to my best friend Mark. Together we love my 3 adult kids, our son-in-law, 3 beautiful grandbabies and numerous other adult ‘kids’ we’ve collected along the way.
This website is the result of our family and friends continuous, often nagging, suggestions that we blog not just our crafting and cooking but some of our life too.
So where do we start? Well I (Barb), have a wealth of life experiences on top of studying Resort & Hotel Management, Small Business Management & Interior Design. Mark studied Computer Programming and worked in Graphic Design, and has worked in Ministry as a Video Engineer / Techie since 1998.
In 2006 we met on-line, while I was living in Kitchener, Ontario and Mark in New Orleans, Louisiana. Only God could have instrumented such an incredible love story. In 2008 we were married and began our life in NOLA.
I had struggled with Crohn’s Disease since 2000, but within months of being married, it escalated to the point I had spent almost 2 1/2 years in and out of hospitals by our 3rd wedding anniversary. After life-saving surgery, followed by 5 months learning to walk again, adding fibromyalgia, arthritis and a severely deformed left hand to the mix, I was thankful to be home!!!
Fast forward and it’s November 2011. We continue to give God the glory, not only for saving my life, but for slowing it down. It’s been a journey. I’ve had to mourn the loss of a functioning hand, my career as an Interior Designer, loss of independence and adjusting to the constant pain associated with my hand. During this new season of life, we’ve become empty nesters and grandparents.
Currently my days are spent maintaining a peaceful, loving home and doing what I’m most passionate about, encouraging others especially those with Crohn’s and an ostomy, cooking, baking and my favorite, crafting.
Thankfully Mark is fully on board with all my projects, and more than happy to spend his non-working hours creating alongside me.
This will be an all new journey for us but we hope you’ll join us for the adventure!
DISCLAIMER: Our house is not big. We do not have a fancy workshop. I do have a sweet craft room, that was originally the smallest of our 3 bedrooms. We make no apologies to our kids about securing our position of ‘no room to return to the nest’ or that we have only one guest room. We’ve got priorities! Besides, there are numerous hotels just 3 miles away!
Building My Craft Room Vision
Although we built our house the summer of 2013, I had to wait until March 2015 to complete the craft room.
Who doesn’t love IKEA? It was freezing for Southern Louisiana that January day, as we headed 8+ hours to our closest IKEA store in Houston. We had 48 hours and a tight budget to accomplish our goal. The first day was spent checking out all the possibilities, which can be very overwhelming. After management kicked us out because the store was closing, we went back to our hotel and designed the space based on the info we’d gathered. Our adventure began early the next morning, accompanied with our long list and stopping only for, what else…of course $1.99 IKEA breakfasts followed by a Swedish meatballs for lunch!!! At 9pm the trailer was loaded and we headed home so Mark could be at work for 6am.
Up to this point, Mark’s construction experience consisted of assembling desks and bookshelves. That said, he was a sport and fought passed his fear (or was it to stop my constant nattering about it not getting finished? He’s a wise man and took the 5th! lol).
Finally in March my dream for a craft room was complete and I began settling in. Since that day, it’s typically a mess but it’s my mess and I love it!
Welcome to Mark’s ‘Workshop’
Shed out back, 10’x16′. Not really a workshop, rather a 10’x5′ space carved out in the shed. When using bigger power tools he set up sawhorses and a sheet of plywood on the grass outside. Personally I think it’s an extension cord nightmare but apparently he’s got it all figured out!
Today’s project is a wooden Christmas tree to display ornaments that we’re selling.