By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor
Not everyone would take a tumble down a steep set of stairs, break both hands, and then take up a new craft – designing and creating jewelry.
But it was while Yvonne Burns was recovering from her accident that she decided to quit her job at Walmart and open her own shop, Krazy Girl Kreations, in Kendall.
Just down the street from Burns’ store is her mother Cathy Smialak’s shop, the Painted Pony. It was her mom, Burns said, who suggested opening a shop in a building vacated by the Village Gunsmith, which moved next door.
Burns has many years of experience running similar shops in Arkansas, but after her husband passed away, she decided to move back to Wisconsin to be near her family.
With her fiancĂ© Jesse Krueger, Burns is filling the store with her own creations, along with Krueger’s. They also are seeking crafters who would like to consign their work.
“Most everything is one of kind,” Krueger said. Krueger and Burns each have a specialty, although they appear receptive to just about any idea.
The jewelry is uniquely Burns’ handiwork and is primarily silver and turquoise. Krueger came up with the idea of using spent shells from the gun shop next door to create earrings, which have been a good seller.
Burns also does cross-stitch and hand-painting, plus she creates wall hangings and many other crafts.
The two collaborated on making gift baskets and have many more projects in mind.
Many of the items are a little offbeat, such as a graniteware teapot turned into a clock.
“We like to re-purpose stuff,” Burns said.
She admitted that the ideas fly at home as the two bounce proposals for new products off one another.
“It’s all we talk about all day and night,” she added.
Krueger, a former truck driver, said he always had been interested in woodcraft and liked to turn old things new and new things old. He is also the idea man behind introducing more “manly” items into the shop.
Although the shop has been open for only two weeks, it offers a good selection of items, with room for more. Burns said she would soon begin adding Halloween items to the inventory.
She conceded that Krueger is the more social of the two and mostly runs the shop while she is busy creating new items at home.
“I like to be behind the scenes,” she said.
The new store is part of a revival in Kendall. An area where most of the buildings were once empty and deteriorating, one block of the downtown now is home to the Painted Pony, the Village Gunsmith, the Smoke Shop and now Krazy Girl Kreations.
Down the street, a new restaurant and bar, Kick Back, has opened.
That means Kendall now offers more to do than it has in a long time.