My snappy self

I guess you can say I wear many hats 🙂
I grew up in a very crafty house. My mom is the crafty queen and best business owner you could ever meet…seriously. She has a natural talent for selling and making things come to life. For years, my main “craft” was tole painting. I started selling things in mom’s large gift shop and then started teaching classes. I had a tole painting book and several magazine articles published (this was before “online” was even a thing), and then traded my brushes for hooks. Crocheting is much more portable. Have you ever tried to paint while riding in a car? Ya, doesn’t really work unless you are going for a “i’m outta my mind” look.

I also love to work in my yard, basketweave, read, and anything to do with my family.

Crochet and Knit Hat
I started selling finished hats through a local shop after my youngest son was born in 2006. The more patterns I bought, the more I was frustrated with 2 things: patterns which were expensive and offered a very limited project; patterns that seemed to be designed for tiny little gnomes. The kicker was when I spent several hours making a crocheted ruffle skirt for a newborn…the waist band was so tiny I had to cut the back so I could slip it on a small newborn for photos. YIKES! Hence, the pattern writing began.

Designer Hat
Patterns for knit hats and baby cocoons were my first. I LOVE to knit and wish I was a guru knitter. Unfortunately, overtime, knitting decided it doesn’t like my wrists. I switched to crochet and opened “Snappy Tots” in May 2011.

Over the years my designs have evolved and I like to think my patterns have improved greatly. I am slowly working through all of my patterns to bring them up to my current format.

Most important things I aim for when designing:

• Create patterns for all levels when possible.
• Includes LOTS of variations and sizes so the pattern can be used many times.
• Make it a fun adventure for everyone. We crochet because we like to…no fun when the pattern is a pain in the you-know-what.

Blogger Hat (aka Rambler Hat)
Many eons ago I designed business websites under the name “the doodle pad”. I loved learning and writing code. Nowadays pretty much anyone can build a site with all of the online products available. My goal now  is to utilize my blog more by sharing free patterns, biz tips and other ramblings.

Wife Hat

I have been married for 15+ years to the love of my life, Mr. Snappy (aka Brandon). He is a Sgt with our local Sheriff’s office. I am very proud to be a married to a LEO ( law enforcement officer). 

Big-Gap-Mom Hat
My number one part of life is being a mom to three amazing “kids”. Two are very successful, wonderful adults and then…the big gap (due to a divorce and remarrying)…and our youngest. It has been an experience and one that surprises me almost daily.

My oldest, Nicolas, has been in the U.S. Army for 12+ years and deployed five times. He is married to a wonderful young lady, Kayleigh, who recently graduated with her masters! They have 2 children, Leland and Granger.
It is because of Nicolas that I started “Beanies For Bravery”. This project is very important to me and because of hundreds of wonderful people we have sent thousands of handmade beanies to soldiers and those in need around the world.

My daughter, Hillary, just completed her second masters! She has an extreme love of books and writing (you can follow her writing adventure… which she adds to occasionally… at “The Riveting Raven”). She is in charge of the curriculum for a local school district… the perfect job for her. Hillary is married to an artist young man, Peter who also was in the Army and is now a full time college student. They have one child, Lucy.

Our youngest son, Hayden, is a teenager and the one many of you have watched grow up modeling my hats. 

Grandma Hat
In 2015, our first grandchild, Leland, was born. In winter, 2018, our second grandchild, Lucy, was born. Our third grandson, Granger, was born in 2020.

It has been a lot of fun watching my kids become amazing parents and even more fun loving those cutie patootie kids!

Furbaby Mom Hat

I have two furbabies, Brookie (Brooklyn the New Yorkie) a nine year old yorkie and Oila (oy-lah) a five year old black lab. 

Thank you Hat!
I appreciate you reading this and supporting me. With gazillions of blogs, pages, shops, sites and forums out there, each second you spend on my behalf means a lot to me!