It’s Christmas year round at June Van De Kerckhove’s acreage near Moosomin, Sask.
She begins designing wreaths and tree ornaments early in the new year after the completion of a whirlwind Christmas craft show circuit each fall.
That’s followed by months of cutting, sanding and painting hundreds of tiny wooden treasures.
“In the heat of July, I’m making snowmen,” she said.
Van De Kerckhove began the business 13 years ago, seeing it as a way to make extra income, set her own hours and be her own boss.
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“I’m free to chaperone a bus trip or take in a daughter’s game,” said the mother of three children. The youngest is finishing high school, while the others are in university.
Van De Kerckhove tries to use January every year to relax and enjoy country living with her menagerie of animals ranging from Scottish terriers and cats to goats and horses.
For an artist and a crafter, the home-based business worked well with her husband’s job and frequent transfers as an elevator agent. Today he works in the potash mine at Rocanville, Sask.
The family helps out at shows occasionally, but Van De Kerckhove creates the snowmobiles, figure skaters and host of other figures herself.
She once made dried flowers for year round craft markets but found people in a stronger buying mood at the Christmas sales.
Van De Kerckhove continually tweaks her product line to stay ahead of fads and offer new items to repeat customers each year.
“Trends change and you go with them,” she said.
Her guiding principle is keeping the items affordable at $5 an ornament and $15 for wreaths and by using her own tastes as a guide.
“If I don’t think I would buy, it I’m not going to make it,” she said.
“I’m not going to make something I don’t like.”
Middle-aged women comprise her biggest market, but others visit her booth.
“Everyone has room on the tree for another Christmas ornament,” she said.
Van De Kerckhove said her product stands out from others because she personalizes each ornament free of charge upon request.
She knows how to write Grandma and Grandpa in more than 20 different languages. She prefers craft shows to retail or wholesale markets because they give her direct contact with her customers.
“That’s the most fun of this business, that interaction with customers and meeting so many people,” she said.
Setting up the booth each weekend is less fun and often leaves her with little enthusiasm for her own Christmas decorating and baking at home.
“By the time I decorate and undecorate my booth every weekend, I don’t feel like doing it.”
She did find time to do a sketch of a local landmark, the Fleming elevator, for a fundraising drive.
Her husband worked as one of the last elevator managers there and they remain close to the community where they lived for seven years.
Her craft business generally leaves little time for her own painting, which she does in acrylic or oil.
Van De Kerckhove prefers not to sell those pieces, instead keeping them for herself.
“I don’t want to make that into a job. It takes the joy out of it,” she said.
