It all started with my sister Ellie and her husband. They were teachers and needed a way to make a little extra money during the summers. It was the early 1970's, the handmade movement was in full swing, and I started helping them while a college student. I was soon designing for them as well as helping in the woodworking shop and running the laser engraver for many years. My husband Tom and I built our own shop in 1997 in Kiel and created Heart to Heart. I designed a line of signs, birdhouses and yard art and have recently been spending a lot of time on a plasma torch cutting lacy patterns into salvaged metal items. Ellie continued in her woodworking shop with her laser, fabricating the engraved signs until last year. She retired and we are folding the engraved wood part of our business. It was a long, great ride! My sister Peg spent many years doing shows with me and then started her own business cutting and welding metal. She fabricated a lot of the great garden art that I designed for Heart to Heart's booth for many years, as well as being my "wing man" at dozens of shows every year. My brother Bob and his wife Karen lived in Washington state, worked hand-in-hand with us and did shows for many years as Cascade Designs. Bob now makes his own line of metal luminaries and still travels to many shows in the West with his partner Darlene. My husband, Tom, quit his "real" job and joined me full time in 1995. He's a mainstay not only in the wood shop, but at shows as well. Thank goodness he does the books, too! We've done art and craft shows across the country for a long time; perhaps you've seen Heart to Heart at one of your favorite events. It has been a grand adventure.
 
Shari Grenzow Mauer