Sandra grew up in a very creative family, joining her mother and grandmother on frequent trips to antique stores, thrift shops, and just about any other venue that yielded old things that seemed to tell a story. The winning find could be an old apron, or an everyday item made into something completely different.

Somewhere along the way Sandra developed an eye for interesting lettering and thus ignited her collection of out-of-print newspapers, books, and magazines and birth and marriage certificates. Once, she picked up a 1920 high school diploma just for the two inches of beautiful scroll at the bottom.

She also began to amass old photographs, particularly ones from the Victorian era with expressive eyes—joyful, mischievous, and ecstatic despite a somber face. As long as the eyes were revealing, they served as fodder for the artist.

Sandra dabbled in different mediums—from painting and drawing to making porcelain dolls and welding flowers. She opened a small antiques shop, where she bought and sold a bit of everything.

At work she dealt in vintage furnishings and accessories and at home she worked on paper collages. When she ran out of room, she started selling these one-of-a-kinds in her shop. They always sold right away, and it wasn’t long before her shop was filled with paper ballerinas and shadow boxes reminiscent of Moulin Rouge characters, costumes, and eclectic chaos.

Her paper designs are Baroque in feel, and the artist quickly admits to a penchant for turn-of-the-century European designs. She loves the ballet and has yet to give up collecting scraps of anything reminiscent of pre-1930s.

Today, Sandra’s home is filled with containers of silver pots, wooden shoe forms, porcelain dolls, buttons, rhinestones, ribbons, beads, marbles, feathers, and so many other whimsical things. She has no shortage of ideas, and her creativity provides the inspirational backdrop to fashioning your own one-of-a-kinds.