Hello... so you are wondering a bit about me, eh? Okay, I will oblige. (You might as well sit back and get comfy, as this may take a bit.)

For starters... I am a wife and mother living in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Montana with my wonderful husband and six children. We live in the country and love being close to nature in our everyday lives. Our main focus and desire in life is to serve the Lord God, maker of heaven and earth. May our lives bring glory to Him, whether that be in great ways or small.

A bit more about me and the things I enjoy... I enjoy spending time with God and with my family, I enjoy reading and learning, I enjoy taking walks in the country and hikes in the mountains, I enjoy seeing and photographing the beauty all around me, I enjoy expressing my creativity by making things with my hands and finding ways to organize things to make things work better, I enjoy gardening to produce some of our own homegrown food, I enjoy making bread and other homemade goodies for my family and others, I enjoy selling the things I make both locally and online, I enjoy working on my website and online stores, I enjoy visiting with friends and family, I enjoy going for drives on the backroads and up the side of the mountains, I enjoy standing at the top of the mountain after a long day's hike looking at the valley below on one side and many more mountain tops on the other... etc., etc.... the list goes on.

As to online selling, I have had stores on the internet for quite some time now. My husband and I started our first online store at eBay a few years ago and decided to close up and move our store when eBay started getting too greedy. Since then, I have set up shop at a few different places, all the while not quite finding what was right for me. After eBay I tried Wagglepop, Etsy, eCrater, Blujay, and my own website at BISI. While I did make sales, none of these venues was quite what I was looking for. I think I have finally found what works for me... I have set up specialty stores at Bonanzle, and set up this website at Synthasite to link to them all from one place, thereby making it simpler for marketing and easier for customers to remember one website address instead of many different ones.

Read on to find out a bit about each of my stores and how they came about.


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Handmade Treasures Gift Boutique

How Handmade Treasures began...

I love to make things (always have), but eventually came to the conclusion that I cannot keep everything that I make without it completely taking over my house and then some. I began giving much of what I made to family and friends as gifts, but while they always loved my handmade items (and would occasionally put in special requests), their houses can only hold so much too. I soon realized I must sell some of what I make in order to continue making more things.

When it comes to things I make, many of my friends and family consider me to be somewhat of a perfectionist. What does this mean to you? It means that I give much attention to detail to everything I make; if it's not good enough for me, it's not good enough to sell. I don't even like to give away something that is not up to my standards, as it still represents me and my work.

I first began selling at craft shows a little over 20 years ago.  After some time, I began selling my handmade items at local gift shops as well. I've also sold some of my items by way of home gift parties and then began selling my items online in 2005. I have had many satisfied and repeat customers, both locally and online as well.

One of the things I have enjoyed most with selling my things in person at craft shows and home gift parties, is interacting with my customers and seeing their excitement over the things I make.

I also like when my online customers share their excitement with me through their feedback and emails after receiving their purchases. I hope to have the chance to do business with you and hear your excitement as well.

Even if you are not in the position to make a purchase at this point in time, if you like what you see in my store, I'd love to hear from you about what you like. This kind of info is always helpful to me, to know what people like most. It helps me to focus on what is of most interest to others besides myself. If you are interested in something but don't quite see what you would like, email me and I will see what I can do. I have filled many special requests in the past for local and online customers.

~Nikki / Handmade Treasures
Photos of Montana ~ Gallery & Gifts

Photography by Craig & Nikki Weiss

There is beauty all around us. The question is whether or not one sees it. I think the thing that draws me to a love of photography the most is that it helps me to see the beauty in things all around me that I might not ordinarily take the time to see. We all love the beauty of a sunset, a flower, or a beautiful scenic picture of mountains and a lake. But what about the beauty of the delicate winter frost seen up close on pine needles or an ordinary section of barbed wire fencing? How about a lonely tree captured against a backdrop of early morning fog? Maybe an old outhouse still standing that represents a past era? Or the personality of a shy horse hiding behind a fence rail?

I enjoy taking many different kinds of photos, but what I really like most is taking my camera and looking for the things that someone else might not even notice until it is captured in a photo.                

~Nikki / Photos of Montana


Logos by Nikki ... and banners too!

I love to design and create with many different mediums. A long part of my creative expression has included scrapbooking family memories. Since switching over to digital scrapbooking a few years ago, I have also added logo making to my endless list of creative outlets. The results of this has been 'Logos by Nikki' for some time now and recently I've added the '... and banners too!' part to emphasize the fact that I can make logos and banners in any size for any place on the web.                 

~Nikki / Logos by Nikki


Montana Mom's storage shed

Last but not least is Montana Mom's storage shed. This is my catch-all booth for an assortment of things. As a mom of six with changing circumstances as children grow older, we are often sorting and reorganizing to make room for what we need and use most. As a result, we end up with many useful items that need a new home simply because we do not have enough room to keep them or no longer have a use for them ourselves. We also have some leftover inventory from our eBay store, so you will find some new items listed in this store as well.                 

~Nikki / MontanaMom