26 Sep 2009 Inside and out: Making beautiful things

While she worked as a floral designer for a number of years, today she fashions wreaths and assembles arrangements as a hobby. Well, she says it’s a “hobby run amuck.”

With a workroom akin to a flower shop, Sheila creates the items at home and then has three “open house sales” a year although she sells by appointment year round. “This is not a job for me,” she said. “It’s a hobby. I get to make what I want to make.”

Sheila’s beautiful two-story home north of Greenbrier offers a picturesque view of the scenery along the Cadron Creek. She and her husband, Dewayne Nash, lived in Texas for 24 years and decided to retire to Arkansas. He was originally from Greenbrier and she was from Conway.

Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer shortly after they arrived in the state. “A brain tumor was not in our plans but we landed in a good place,” she said. “It was a blessing that we moved back when we did.”

Sheila had held open house sales in Texas and a neighbor encouraged her to do the same in Arkansas. While she was skeptical that anyone would travel several miles into the country for a sale, Sheila moved forward with plans. When someone at her first fall sale asked if she was going to have a

Christmas sale, she knew there was enough interest to make all the time and effort worthwhile.

The open house sales have continued ever since and this year’s fall sale represented the eighth annual event. Typically, there are about 100 who attend the sale, held over a Friday and Saturday. About half of the customers travel from Conway for the event.

There is no formal advertising or publicity for the events, and promotion is “strictly just word of mouth.”

“Somebody will come and they will come back and bring a friend and so on.”

The sales have given Sheila the chance to meet people and make friends with individuals she otherwise probably would not have met. “I have met some of the nicest people,” she said. “Some have become good friends. It has been a really good way to get acquainted with a lot of people.”

While most of the items are the wreaths and arrangements Sheila has created, over the years others have also sold purses and jewelry at the sales.

She also has five or six partners each year who lend a helping hand.
With the wonderful landscaping around her home as well as the lovely arrangements inside, it is obvious that Sheila has a love for flowers and plants.

That love was cultivated years ago by her grandparents and parents who had vegetable and flower gardens. “As a child, I remember my mother participating in flower shows,” Sheila said. “I’ve just enjoyed growing things.

“When it’s warm, I play with the live flowers outside. When it’s cold, I’m inside and I play with the silk flowers.”

In addition to the items she prepares for her sales, Sheila does custom arrangements. “I have also had people call and ask if they can shop at my house.”

Her flower hobby and in particular the sales require a lot of time and energy. As the days approach for an event, she displays wreaths and arrangements throughout the home for shoppers to peruse. For her fall sale, there were nearly 50 tagged items in the living room alone, with 13 in the entry and eight in the adjoining half-bath.

“As long as it can be fun, I’ll keep doing it…I sell enough stuff to support my flower habit.”
For Sheila, it’s not difficult to come up with an idea for a wreath or vase. The challenge is picking one from her many ideas. Rarely are there two items alike.

The wreaths and arrangements vary from the traditional to the contemporary. “I try to do a variety. Some want a big wreath to hang on their door but some want a small wreath.”

Sheila’s workroom in her home is stocked with flowers, containers, ribbon and other materials for “visions of things to come.” She shops “everywhere” for materials and nearly any item can be used as a container. An adjoining closet is used to store items by season. When the fall sale is over, she returns leftover items to containers to store, and makes room for the Christmas materials.

“Christmas is my favorite season because there’s so much variety,” she said. “That’s part of the fun of doing something different.”