The Krafty Kitten Creates Crafts For The Holidays And All Seasons
by James Coulter
There’s no place like home for the holidays, and nothing makes a home feel like the holidays more than home-made holiday ornaments and decorations. If you would like to deck your halls and tree with decorations that are truly unique and not simply mass-produced, then head on down to the Krafty Kitten in Lake Wales.
Located along Scenic Highway, this handmade craft store offers a diverse array of hand-crafted items ranging from ornaments, garlands, wreaths, bouquets, jewelry, and any other decoration to make your house look festive this holiday season or any time of the year.
If you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for at their store, feel free to visit their backroom craft area and make it yourself during one of their many craft sessions and classes. From button making to scrapbooking, to card and wreath making, the Krafty Kitten hosts various classes to teach people how to make their very own personalized items. If they can’t help you find what you’re looking for, they can always help you make it yourself, explained owner Michelle Fuller.
One class may teach making glitter ornaments. Another may teach wreath making. And yet another will allow visitors to use one of ten thousand rubber stamps that Fuller has in her collection and wants to share with others.
“The reason I started this is because I enjoy being with people, I enjoy crafting, and I wanted to share my talent,” she explained. “[One half of the store is] being able to [have people] make something they never thought they could make in the crafting area, and the other side is people who want to find a gift for someone they will never find anywhere else.”
Prior to opening her craft store, Fuller owned a candy and ice cream store downtown in Lake Wales, Michelle’s Candy Arrangements and Gifts. She and her husband had spent quality time traveling together following their retirement. Afterward, she wanted to do something with her talent through her crafts.
“I got bored being at home, missed being around people, decided to start this, [and] ended up buying this building,” she explained. “That was my original intent with this: to get people in here and interested [in] crafting.”
The Krafty Kitten opened in September and hosted a grand opening in October. Since then, business over the past three months has been great, even better than initially expected, Fuller said.
Most of their success has been through word of mouth. Curious customers enter the store, browse through the handcrafted items, perhaps even take a crafting class, and then they tell their friends and family about the experience, Fuller said.
“They start shopping and tell people and they see the class list and decide to take a class, and it all builds from that,” she said.
So popular have her classes become that sometimes there’s not enough room to fit them all and she has to schedule another class simply to accommodate them.
“I have to turn people away because I have so many in one class that I have to schedule another class for them,” she said. “It is just that I am able to offer them a product that they can’t find anywhere else when they shop in the retail area, that unique gift for somebody that they otherwise would not find.”
Fuller plans on hosting more classes in the future on various crafts, and she expects even more people to drop by and attend, she said. She wants more people to come and see the crafts that she has made, and even allow them to make their own crafts. After all, the best gifts are those you make yourself.
“If you think you can’t craft, come on in and I will show you, [because] you have talent you never knew you had,” she said. “I had…one lady said to me [that] she made cards, and it was the first time she made something that she actually would send off to somebody because it was so nice. So people come home with a product that they are actually proud of.”
The Krafty Kitten is located at 415 North Scenic Hwy. Lake Wales, FL 33853. For more information, call 863-456-4074, or visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Kraftykittencreations/
