About

My name is Chase Lometa Clark and I live in Berkeley, California with my wonderful husband Andrew, our dogs Henri and Richard, our cat Banjolina (aka Boops), and our goldfish, Spunky. At the moment Oh the Cuteness is paused as I'm now running my very own local yarn shop, The Black Squirrel, and it takes up almost all my time! In the past I have done freelance work for creative companies in the area, helping awesome people produce their beautiful handmade goods, as well as custom sewing and crafting, organizing, and photography for individuals. I love to sew, knit, crochet, paint, draw, collage, cook, bake, garden, take photographs, dance, play ukulele, yoyo, and collect antiques.

Oh the Cuteness! as a company is dedicated to using vintage and recycled materials wherever possible. I run a no-waste sewing studio wherein even the tiniest scraps are saved and turned into stuffing for my owls. I started ohthecuteness.com in July of 2005 during my second year of college at Cal State East Bay. I had moved up to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004 for school after living in Paso Robles, California for most of my life. Being away from my family for the first time and taking a billion art classes really let me open up to the world of self-expression. Art and craft had always surrounded me as a child, as my mother and grandmother were both accomplished artists, and my mom was always setting me upon crafty tasks like making holiday decorations or homemade gifts. When I got a little older she gave me her old sewing machine and my friends and I would make cosplay, Halloween, and bellydance costumes.

Collage was my first love and I still do it from time to time, but crafting really took over when I was on my own. I can't imagine what my roommates in the dorms must have thought of me when I unloaded my sewing machine and fabrics from the car. They warmed up to the idea the moment I made fancy pillow covers for the living room though. Crafting came naturally and made perfect sense; as a poor student I made things I needed, and then I started making things just for fun when I got my own place, and I learned how to crochet amigurumi. Making things was a great escape from reality for me, and friends suggested I start a blog, and then a shop to sell my wares. Oh the Cuteness! on Etsy opened in the beginning of November of 2006 and I sold my first owl pincushion later that month, and I was in love.

Six years later and I have written many patterns and tutorials, had a couple published in a book, done product photography and a book cover, and done quite a few craft fairs. I want to keep doing this as long as people are interested, because it makes me happy and I hope it brings a little joy to other people's lives too. My crafting philosophy is pretty loose, but I firmly believe that we should surround ourselves with things we find beautiful. I love taking useful objects like pincushions, draft snakes, or jelly straining bags and adding color and life to an otherwise dull everyday object. If you need something to be there, why not make it a pleasure to look at too? But I also like really quirky, purely decorative items, and overtly fancy nonsense. I'm a little all over the place when it comes to style, but using vintage materials has been a running theme for me for as long as I have been making things, thanks mostly to my mother's influence. She was an antique dealer when I was young and I grew up around so many beautiful old items, and she collected and reused art supplies wherever possible. And my father is a brilliant inventor and has always inspired me to create new things and think outside the box. And my beautiful big sister has influenced my style and tastes in fashion for a long time. I'm very thankful to have grown up in such a fun and creative home, and I hope to make the same kind of home for my own family someday.

I hope this little blurb has helped you to get to know me and my little business, and thanks so much for reading!

Happy Crafting!

     ^_^ Chase.

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