Let’s Get Crafty: Angie Oglesby

let’s get crafty

ANGIE OGLESBY: CREATIVITY EXTRAORDINAIRE

By Hayli Zuccola Holly Frazier Photography

As a nancial advisor with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Angie Oglesby spends her work days crunching numbers and developing detailed, customized plans for clients, but when her spare time allows it, she puts a halt on her left-brain way of thinking and leans into her artistic side—dabbling in a variety of crafts and creative e orts including everything from wreath making and drawing to jewelry making and paint pouring.

“I’m like an ultimate crafter,” Angie said. “If there is a craft out there—the way I’ve gotten into all these little things that I do is because I’ll see something, and I’ll want it. Like, I can do it; I can gure out how to do it.”

Whether it’s attempting to replicate a piece of jewelry she saw and admired, making oral bouquets for a friend’s wedding or altering past Halloween costumes for her son, every imaginative endeavor Angie has pursued is in an attempt to unwind.

“It’s what I use as a stress reliever, well, now as an adult. As a kid, I always drew or sang or wrote poems and things like that, so I’ve always been artistic,” she said.

While sketching and poetry are still hobbies Angie revisits during long car rides or if the mood strikes, one of the rst three-dimensional crafty activities she gravitated toward was wreath making. Ever since, she’s experimented with new projects whenever something captivates her attention, guring out the how-tos along the way.

“If I don’t know how to do it, I’m not scared to gure out how to do it or to ask someone,” she said.

Wanting to nd a thrifty way to recreate the elegant, but rather expensive styles of Mariana Jewellery, Angie decided to customize necklaces, earrings and bracelets for herself and sought advice on how to get started from a few helpful Etsy makers. After learning the proper terminology for the tools and di erent pieces, she purchased premade settings and plenty of gems, crystals and stones from a company in Israel and has spent the last four years making colorful sets for friends, ra es and even sold some of her creations on her Facebook page: Dream a Little Gem.

“What’s fun about it is that you can change any color scheme you want or just try something di erent—and that was me. I just love putting di erent colors together to see how they would look,” she said.

While she’s inclined to favor neutral tones when making jewelry, Angie ops for multiple layers of bright colors when switching gears to her latest discovery: paint pouring, which is a less meticulous, more free- owing hobby she’s still learning the ins and outs of.

“When I see something that inspires me, that makes me want to do it. So, that’s why I started the pour painting because it was beautiful and just watching the paint flow. I mean, I can’t take any credit for how it comes out because the paint does what it wants to. I mean, there are certain techniques that you can use to make it do somewhat what you want to do, but it’s going to do whatever it does when it mixes,” she said.

While Angie is still in the process of perfecting the consistency of her paint, practicing new pouring methods and decorating her dining room table with un nished canvases, every artistic escape she explores, she does without fear or hesitation—viewing each craft as an opportunity to decompress and try something di erent—encouraging others to do so as well.

“The advice I would give is not everything turns out. Even for the individuals that are true artists that actually sell their paintings for thousands of dollars, I mean, and that’s what kind of made me feel good was that you know, they have a bad day too. They may not post it; you may not know it,” she said. “And that happens even to these people that are constantly making these videos that I’m thankful that they do because people like me can learn how to do it.”

“My advice is, I mean, if it’s something you want to do and it doesn’t turn out the rst time, just try it again. What’s the worst that can happen? You paint over it or you don’t wear the piece of jewelry you made.” ■