I'll tell you the story...

of Able Mabel.

It all began in the fall of 2007. Sister JB and I were in charge of the LLCER Craft Sales. We threw ourselves into the details of the sales. Planning, buying, creating, assigning, selling, etc. In the midst of mod podge and Amy Butler (fabrics and papers), we agreed that we were having way too much fun to stop any time soon! We also had some stuff leftover and wanted to see if we could sell it elsewhere and see if we could make it an ongoing adventure.

I had found out about Etsy from the Scrapsupply message board. Without much hesitation, we decided to give it a shot. The main issue was coming up with a name. I wanted to get the store up and running before Christmas. I figured people would be in more of a buying mood. (I was right...we had all 11 of our sales around the Christmas season and so far nothing since. Hoping that will change soon!)

It was JB who came up with the name Able Mabel. As kids we had a some jump rope songs that we'd sing. One of them was "Mabel, Mabel set the table just as fast as you are able..." When she called to ask what I thought, I was hesitant. To me, Mabel sounded like an old lady with beefy arms on hips, wearing an apron and weilding a rolling pin. JB went on to explain that she came up with the name because we wanted to do a little bit a everything. To her, Mabel was someone who could accomplish whatever she set out to do. I had to agree with her. I wanted an "all purpose" name, one that didn't limit us to one certain area. So Able Mabel it is!

We decided at that point to ask the rest of our sisters and our sister-in-law if they could like to join us.

JH said she's sew for us if we gave her the ideas, fabric and such (sweet for me since I don't sew but I love fabrics!!).

K is our graphic designer and did these calenders as well as the logo. She's working on a banner for both the blog and the store (right, K?!).

Sister-in-law R is still being conviced that she is creative! Go R!

C is busy studying and we'll see what she comes up with.

H has been helping with the listing of items, dealing with the pesky sister (that would be me!) changing her mind about things, and also helping me promote as much as we can. She created this when she came over one day.

LD wrote up our profile (I think she got the biggest chunk of the "Dad Humor Gene"), made this sign, and has more projects up her sleeve. I know more of her humor will come out as the months go by.

M has done all of the jewelry so far. She's awesome (did I mention that she's only 15!!).

A and H are still pretty young and probably won't contribute much other than babysitting (a very important and much appreciated task).

We also invited our mother to participate in the store. Right now she is busy trying to get ready for her doll show in New York. We'll feature her dolls at a later date!