Leaf and Yard began as a small Etsy shop in 2008. Back then, I called my store "Fyrecreek's Bazaar" and mostly sold my crocheted Gnomes and other critters. After a couple years of struggling to find my niche, I closed my shop and continued crafting for my own enjoyment and to give handmade items as gifts. In 2015, the very first soft doll I ever made turned up in a box from my parents' house. She was a project I made with my mother in the late 1980s. I asked my mother for a soft doll I could sleep with and, rather than going out and buying one, she helped me make my own. This first doll reminded me that I love being a doll maker. I started working on a line of dolls based on that first doll and my Dream Elements Dolls were born. It was also around this time that I took up Bullet Journaling and started to make my own journals. In the late summer of 2016, I was invited to participate in a huge holiday art and craft show at a local art gallery. My old Etsy shop name did not serve the new direction I was heading so I completely re-branded and became Leaf and Yard.
Leaf: for books made with leaves of paper and personal care items made with essential oils and herbs.
Yard: for dolls made with yards of cloth and a variety of things made with yards of yarn.
The maple leaf in my logo is a credit to my favorite tree and my favorite season. The carrick bend, or Josephine knot, is a reference to another of my hobbies as a recreational sailor and is one of the first decorative knots in macramé that I mastered.