Country charm: no sweat

Craft business isn’t even work for one couple

ELWOOD — Joyce Frazier got into business almost by accident.

Frazier and husband Mike opened J&M Country Crafts, 6715 W. Indiana 28, a little over a year ago. It features mostly handmade items from bird houses to antique-looking American flags painted on old slabs of wood stained or painted a faded blue and ruddy red — Americana patriotism, Joyce said.

“I started doing this because I didn’t have anything else to do,” Joyce said. “I didn’t even know if I could do it.”

A year later, she now is traveling to craft shows, sanding, painting and assembling projects that her husband cuts from old wood. She liked the Americana and country-style crafts like she saw in “Country Living” magazine.

“I had a friend who made things, so I visited her,” she said of a January 2005 visit.

By May, they had enough things to fill the building behind their home that sat empty after her father died. It wasn’t being used and building things to sell was something to do to put the apartment and shed to use, she said.

She pointed to several stands decorated with flowers and paint. One had an old copper tea kettle on top, the other had an aluminum pan with a lid.

“We do these stinky-butt stands,” she said pointing to one.

Daughter Lori Lawson said the stands are popular. People fill the container on top with some sand, put them on the porch or by their doors for people to use to put out their cigarettes before they enter the house.

What began as an experiment in something to do with her free time has turned into a family business, Joyce said. Her daughter helps paint and move things. Her son-in-law brings her old wood he finds, and a son brings her wooden barn siding and boards.

“I like it because it’s right here at home,” Joyce said. “I’m here at home anyway, I might as well be doing something.”

She says she couldn’t really do all the handmade items without the help of her husband, who cuts the wood and sizes it for major projects like the butterfly bird houses.

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