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To start with, my name is Ruthie. I'm 35 years old, and I live in KC with my husband of 11 years and our 2 purr-babies. I enjoy a variety of things, including visiting friends, watching old television, listening to music, playing around with technology, copy-editing, and "craft stuff". I'm a very determined person. If I set my mind to something, it's pretty likely it'll happen.
I met a wonderfully talented author who requested I critique an early manuscript. What an honor! I asked about making changes, as what she was sending me was "hot off the mental presses." She had no objection, so I began making spelling, grammar, and readability suggestions. When her novel was finally available for purchase, I excitedly bought a copy. I was stunned to find there were many errors. It was requested of me to write down the errors. Once I was done her publisher reviewed my submission and offered me a job. Wow, a double honor! We discovered the problems with the novel had something to do with the printer. With the job offer came the realization of a dream. I now had the job I'd dreamed about since I was very young ... fixing stuff.
Now I do it for other authors, and I enjoy myself thoroughly. I have also edited papers for friends in college. I still think of my computer programming instructor in High School who encouraged us to have someone else look at our work when we couldn't figure out why our programs were screwy. It's a whole lot easier to find something you didn't write yourself. When you write, you're used to how you write. You may not realize that something you use consistently is actually incorrect, or that a sentence is awkward. Those are the things I catch. That's what I am here for...what I love to do.
On the craft side of things, I always wanted to be crafty but never found anything that I was good at. I tried drawing, knitting, playing around with clay, it was a no-go. Best I could get was a pen-drawing like the one to the left. Unfortunately, I never could reproduce those results. I got pretty tired of not being able to be creative in the realm of physical media, and I gave up.
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Pen Drawing - Ruthie Clark - 2007
One day I was feeling crafty and decided I'd make a pipe-cleaner flower. I'd never done it before, but knew it could be done.. I knew I had a package in my desk, and had planned to do something with them, so I got them out and started playing around. I didn't get the stuff you'll see on most of the pages here with no experimentation, though. If you want to see that, go to the Humble Beginnings page.
The first big project I did was rose bouquets for my mother-in-law, grandma, and our hostess for Mother's Day dinner (our aunt). Those bouquets took me many hours to complete. Soon, with the encouragement of a dear friend, I was making different flowers, different colors, etc. I found a couple ideas online, and after a lot of time experimenting with different things, some successes and some failures, I learned what worked and what didn't.
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Mother's Day Roses - Ruthie Clark - 2012
While laid up with a broken ankle, I had plenty of time on my hands, so I bought tons of pipe cleaners and started making bouquets for people in my life. Birthdays, Christmas...and as I went, I got better. And now here I am, with what you see on my site. I do these for fun and for pay. I make the things I imagine in my goofy head, and I make the things that anyone else can imagine and ask for.
Many of the pictures on the site are of items that I unfortunately no longer have. However, if you want something made either resembling something here, or if you have an idea you want to see made happen, please use the contact form and let me know. I'll respond as soon as I am able, and we can discuss your requests and ideas.
If you've been exploring the site a little bit, you'll know that I make pet beds. The patterns I generally have on hand are pretty specific to dogs, but I can get find most any pattern you'd like. Check out the pet beds page for more information.
I am here to help you. No job is too big or too small. Use the Contact form to let me know what you need, and I will work with you to see that it is done. Please read the services page for more information.