Published: January 09, 2006 10:33 am            

The Country Cabin offers crafts, quilts, florals and more

paul.lorenz@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Kim Mellott and Ashleigh Clark used to sell their crafts at a flea market and in a beauty shop.

Then the beauty shop operator — who happens to be Mellott’s husband’s aunt — suggested they take their wares to a craft store to sell.

Instead, Mellott and Clark decided to skip the middleman and open their own shop.

The Country Cabin — a shop offering handmade crafts, quilts and florals from Southern Illinois residents — opened Monday at 1908 Broadway.

Mellott just loves to create, she said.

“I like working with my hands,” said Mellott, who has a vocational degree in floral design. “I love putting arrangements together, sitting back and looking at them ... and I love creating something that someone else will enjoy, too.”

While Mellott specializes in floral arrangements and wreaths, Clark is a painter. Her work includes rustic signs; in one instance, her “canvas” was the back of a pane of glass in a window frame.

In addition to their own work, Mellott and Clark will rent space to other crafters; Becky Marcum and Jamie Richardson, both of Mt. Vernon, and Erin Pennington of Carmi already have work on display in the shop.

“We buy, sell or trade,” Mellott said.

Mellott’s background naturally led her toward opening a craft shop. Her mother had her own crafts business when Kim was growing up in New Jersey, and Kim worked in a flower shop in Arizona, she said.

She met her future husband, Jason Mellott, in Arizona; he’s from Mt. Vernon, which is how she ended up here. In addition to being business partners, Mellott and Clark are also neighbors.

According to a Craft Organization Directors Association survey announced in 2001, there are 106,000 to 126,000 crafts people working in the United States today. The average gross sales/revenue per craftsperson is $76,025, according to the survey on the National Craft Association Web site.

Regarding their new business, Mellott said she and Clark are starting out small and “will see how it goes.”

        

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