Artist Inspirations - PopTopLady

Today I have Claudia the PopTopLady sharing her story about working with recycled pop tops to create beautiful accessories. I am so glad to have Claudia as a guest blogger, I hope you enjoy her story as much as I did.
Thanks Claudia for sharing!

Looks Like Sea Glass Pull Tab Necklace

Pop Top Lady

Tell us a little about yourself and what you sell.
I am a Brazilian national. I have lived in North America since 1993, first in Canada, then in the US. I have relocated to Houston after Katrina claimed our home in New Orleans. I teach 6th and 7th grade Science, but crafts are my second passion...maybe first, then teaching...or...there is my husband and my daughter...oh well...this is tough all of a sudden! I like to draw, spend time with my daughter and husband (not as much as they would like me to) and do needlework.

A while ago, I took to incorporating recycled soda pull tabs into my crochet and fell in love with the possibilities...

Gold Pull Tab Cuff Bracelet

Why and how did you decide to work with upcycled/recycled/repurposed materials?
Crochet with pop tops is a very popular craft in my home country, Brazil. I always loved to crochet and how it allows you to go from something very "patterned" to total free form. In one of my trips back home, my sister shared a pull-tab crochet technique she learned from a patient (she's an occupational therapist) and we made a tiny backpack-shaped coin purse (like this: mistura-dartes.blogspot.com/2010/04/mochila-de-lacres-e-croche.html). Since then, I have not only amassed tons of tabs, but all kinds of textiles, yarn, chord and accessories to use in my crochet (I buy old purses at the resale shops to recycle zippers, metal parts, magnet clasps, linings, straps). I have always been very environmentally conscious and grew up in a relatively poor country where you don't throw stuff in the trash unless it is completely useless, which made me the pack rat I am today.

CAMO Pull Tab Coasters Set of 6

What inspires you to create/sell what you do?
It started as a hobby, but then I had to do something with my creations so that I could keep on creating... That's how I started selling them. I started selling to friends, then on Ebay but I got very frustrated, because it seemed to me that people wanted bargains and that's not what I was selling. One day I read an article about Etsy. It was just starting and I found my marketplace....

Touch of Gold Pull Tab Purse 

What is your favorite thing about creating/designing?
Completely immersing myself in it so that I do not think about my other responsibilities. Creating is such a mental hygiene for me...almost addictive.

You can find Claudia online at:
www.facebook.com/pages/Pop-Top-Lady/119279167491
www.squidoo.com/poptoplady
www.squidoo.com/pulltabart
poptoplady.etsy.com