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Hi! I'm Tania Wojciechowski.
Welcome to manusade!

 

I've been a maker at heart since I can remember (and definitely since the time my maiden name was Dolphin)! I learned to sew when I was probably around 8 or 9 years old and eventually learned to make skirts, tote bags, and gifts for family and friends. I realized how good it felt, even back then, to feel accomplished, productive, and creative, even if the seams all fell apart weeks later. It was the 70s and 80s, so of course I also learned to do latch hooking, macrame, candle making, and weaving. Mostly from kits - if I got a crafty kit for Christmas or my birthday, it was happy for days!​​​​

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Life has a way, however, of taking over sometimes, whether that's through work or families or health, or unexpected twists that make you rethink everything. Over the years, I continued to sew here and there and be drawn to creative activities, but there were many years where I didn't. The fun crafty stuff kept falling to the bottom of the to-do pile and I felt less and less creative overall. My creative spark had been buried.

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​After I turned 40, and was burning out from work, I decided to focus more on my creative endeavours - I started making handmade goods for the home  - tea towels, aprons, cushions, and napkins - and sold them on Etsy and at craft shows across Eastern Ontario! Which was fun for a few years, until it wasn't: I spent hours every night making the same thing over and over again to sell in the online shop. I was drained. The thing that was supposed to bring me joy had become a second j-o-b.

 

One of the bright lights during this time was that I had reached out to a few fellow crafty folks and created a retreat space for women who also felt like they had lost their creativity. Spark Retreat, set in the warm, sunny hills of New Mexico, in 2012 and 2014, was an adventure, a haven, a new community. 

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​​Eventually, I stopped making things as I forgot how to just make things for myself instead of constantly figuring out how to sell everything I made.  

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After a big renovation on our house, I finally had the space for a beautiful craft room. I created a space that I wanted to be in and re-learned over the years to make things just for the sheer joy of it. No pressure, no hustle, just hands-on creativitiy and a little bit of play. I played with different crafts and ended up falling in love with rug hooking. I like punch needle as well, but traditional rug hooking definitely has a bigger piece of my heart! During that time I also started playing around with fashion and colour analysis and Kibbe body types and have been thrifting my heart out as a eco-friendly way to express myself through clothing.​

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I still have periods of not making things - I've noticed it's when I go through periods of big emotions, stress, or am working through an issue that gets stuck in my head. But I've realized that if I continue to get into my craft room, even during those times, and get my hands moving, designing things, making things, exploring, it actually gets me out of my head and helps me process those big things. 

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If you've made it this far, thank you! I'm so happy you are here. I hope my creative journey inspires you to pick up that project you've been dreaming about or gets you excited to try a new craft.

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The love of making has led me back to something familiar: my Etsy shop, manusmade—named for the Latin word for “hand.” Ten years ago, manusmade was all about hand-sewn goods. Today, it’s evolved into a space that celebrates creativity in many forms, to represent all the creative ways I choose to express myself.

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Here’s what you’ll find:

  • Handmade rug hooking pieces—each one crafted with care.

  • Rug hooking and punch needle patterns—so you can create your own.

  • Ebooks about creativity and crafts—because making is as much about mindset as materials.

  • And a playful twist: a line of print-on-demand goods (think t-shirts, aprons, tea towels) printed with witty, maker-inspired statements. With a few GenX throwbacks thrown in!

 

manusmade is about more than products—it’s about inspiring creativity, sparking connection to ourselves, and reminding us that making matters. Whether you’re here to shop, learn, or simply soak up some crafty vibes, I’m thrilled to have you along for the ride.

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