Welcome from Helen

Hello!

Welcome to “Handmade by Helen” where creativity is queen! I’m very excited to be editor of this column and can’t wait to share my ideas with you!

“Handmade by Helen” will include articles on how to make useful items by recycling current or outdated “stuff” to create furniture, accessories, picture frames, wine racks, and other great “bits and pieces” to fit into those empty “nooks and crannies” we all have in our homes. I’ll also be concentrating on household and personal items—made from scratch—such as cosmetics, dish soap, Christmas decorations, candles, and all manner of other fun things! Since so many items can be purchased in their raw form (unpainted, unfinished, or finished but not detailed) and purchased inexpensively because they have not been detailed, I will also offer detailed articles on how to easily and inexpensively personalize store bought objects as well as “find” and personalize Dumpster treasures. I welcome everyone to check the forum pages and let me know what ideas you’d like to have me work on, or those you’d like to share.

Helen's Bio

Helen Kay Polaski is the seventh child in a family of sixteen children, and she and her husband of thirty-one years have three grown children together. She began her writing career in the newspaper business where she excelled. She was promoted to chief photographer following her first photo shoot, and within a couple of years was promoted to newspaper editor. After seventeen years in the newspaper business, she took an early retirement and for three years she and her husband owned and operated Stella’s 16 Flavors, an ice cream parlor named after her mother.

During her career, Helen has written more than one hundred short stories and articles for anthologies and newsletters. Since leaving the newspaper business in 2001, her love for writing has forced her hand and she has returned to the workforce, written two screenplays, and has compiled and edited the following anthology books: “Forget Me Knots from the Front Porch,” “The Rocking Chair Reader: Co ming Home,” “The Rocking Chair Reader: Memories from the Attic,” “The Rocking Chair Reader: Family Gatherings,” “Classic Christmas: True Stories of Holiday Cheer and Good Will,” and “A Cup of Comfort for Weddings.” Currently, she is finalizing a companion book to her bestselling holiday book, “Classic Christmas.” The new anthology, “Christmas Memories,” is slated for release this holiday season.

Helen’s hobbies include spending time with family, gardening, sewing, and creating new and fun items, and gift giving. She can be seen around town at yard sales and antique shows where she picks up items to remake into “Handmade by Helen” creations. Over the years she has included various forms of home makeovers in her own home and has incorporated her skills in creating “treasures from throwaways,” for gift-giving purposes as well as in a variety of interior decorating venues. She has dabbled in crocheting, macramé, basket weaving, knitting, sewing, painting, mosaicing, gardening, embroidering, making molds for stepping stones and other fun patio and garden accessories, and many other types of creative endeavors. Because she believes life is to live to its fullest, Helen refuses to allow negative energy into her realm of consciousness, which, she believes, is what keeps the creativity flowing.

Currently, Helen is working on a Christmas anthology, several manuscripts, and another movie script, renovating her home and gardens, and enjoying the freedom that comes from being a work-at-home professional. She looks forward to interacting on this forum with others who share some of the same passions, including putting family and friends first.