Crafts supply glue for togetherness

By Cherry Sokoloski
Fossil Creek Current

It takes lots of work to earn money from crafts. Loading up the car with crafts, unloading them at the craft fair, visiting with folks all day and then repeating the process in reverse might not be some families' idea of a good time.

But for the Dean and Donna Miller family, it has been fun - for almost two decades. Their business, Miller Family Crafts, involves three generations and trips to numerous shows each year in Colorado and Wyoming. On the first weekend in December, the family will be trucking their wares to the Stove Prairie Winter Festival and the Greening of Red Feather.

Dean Miller, 78, began his woodworking hobby when he was 60 and now devotes his entire basement to this endeavor. He works for hours at a time with his scroll saw, carving out shapes for tree ornaments, nativity scenes, napkin holders and wooden puzzles.

One of the interesting aspects of his hobby is the wide variety of hardwoods he is able to employ. He recycles wood scraps from two local custom door shops and ends up with unusual woods such as coffee tree and wormy maple.

Miller is always trying out new designs. This year's newcomers include "telescopic" trees, three-dimensional art forms that make a fun addition to holiday decorating. The telescopic idea is also used in some of his nativity scenes, with cutout figures pushed partway out from a flat background to create the effect. Most of Miller's ornaments and napkin holders feature animals such as elk and moose.

Miller's two daughters, Nancy Miller and Deena Burford, also get involved with the family business. Nancy Miller makes fleece hats, including some done up in local school colors. She also creates "candy-grams," small heart-shaped fabric packets filled with candy and a friendly message. Burford, who lives in Tennessee, is a quilter. She comes to Colorado each summer to chat and sew with her sister in preparation for the winter craft shows.

Nancy's son Logan Miller, 7, is the youngest of the Miller crafters. This is Logan's second season of selling his special candy-cup ornaments.

Donna Miller doesn't do crafts, but she helps with the organizational end of the effort.

One of the benefits of selling crafts, Nancy Miller said, is the "mad money" it generates. Her father's generation, she pointed out, doesn't believe in spending much money on fun, but with the craft money, "it's OK to play."

When she was growing up, the family always worked and played together, Nancy said. As long as the wood and fleece hold out, that pattern seems likely to continue.