News

Lifelong residents of Wyoming and outdoor enthusiasts

Owners of KicKassie'sKreations (Kassie and Shane) are a husband and wife team who grew up surrounded by nature.  They both come from ranching families that were homesteaders.  The outdoors became each of their playgrounds while growing up, and each appreciated its beauty in his/her own way.  Kassie grew up taking weekly rides to the mountains, just minutes from her family's home.  Camping, hiking, fishing, floating the North Platte were all common activities enjoyed by all.  Kassie also became very interested in crafts and art and loved to make and look at beautiful things.  From a very young age, Shane worked on his family ranch which sat at the base of three mountains and learned how preciously valuable nature was all around him.  In his spare time on the ranch, he enjoyed learning to tool and sew leather.  The two started dating in high school and moved to Laramie, WY where they both graduated with degrees in psychology/education (Kassie) and business administration (Shane).  This all occurred simultaneously to having two children, which Kassie stayed home with while Shane worked construction jobs.  The values of spending time together outdoors in nature have been passed on to the couple's two children, Kodi (13 years old), and Tristan (10 years old).  Family time is enjoyed in the nearby mountains hiking, fishing, camping, snowshoeing, paddle boarding, and kayaking.  Strongly influenced by nature, KicKassie's Kreations was formed as a means for the couple to reconnect with and share their creative abilities.  It began with Kassie making and selling her nature-inspired bracelets at the local farmer's market, which evolved into Shane adding some leather work and building a website.  The business continues to grow thanks to the support of loyal customers who both enjoy seeing and visiting with at all of the markets and shows.  Both feel that creating things is a part of who they are- it's something that helps them feel at ease and also challenges them to incorporate novel designs and ideas to keep customers excited to check out their creations.  Each creation has a story written by Kassie to tell about the inspiration and feelings behind the piece.  According to the couple, details are crucial-just as in nature so many details exist if we stop and look around long enough to appreciate such brilliance. 

~Be Still~

Calming stones rest amongst light leather with an antique silver closure.  In a world that sometimes gets wild, loud, and crazy, this adornment is a reminder to "be still", even if it's just for a short moment. Nature itself finds a balance between movement and stillness.  Water rushes to where it needs to go, wind can gust at many miles per hour at times, and life can grow and change at rapid rates; however, nature also balances these feats with a quiet stillness while snow softly falls, the peace offered at sunrise/sunset, and the slumber many living things experience during hibernation.  We too must be reminded to take the time to just be... Be still...

Beauty is everywhere. Take the time to stop and see the world around you. We take the back roads whenever we travel and go slow so we don't miss it.

Yesterday we took a drive up to the mountains. Saw this amazing butterfly at 9,000 ft. It was odd to see this little guy so far up on the mountain still. We couldn't pass up the chance to stop and take a picture with it. It sat on the branch not moving much since it was chilly. After we took some pictures and enjoyed the area around for a while that had a thick 8" blanket of snow covering it a week ago, we watched him fly off into the trees.

What a difference a few days makes. The snow was still in some of the shady areas, melting away slowly. Water making it way down to the streams that feed the rivers and creeks that are so low this time of year.

A little further down the road we saw another little creature. A porcupine meandered  across the road. Of course we had to stop and admire him. We left our dog in the car for obvious reasons and kept a safe distance so we didn't scare him. He walked over to a log about 20' away from us stood up on his hind legs and looked back watching us. He made my kids think of the character from Over the Hedge. He stood there watching us looking and wondering what we were and what we were doing. He was not camera shy, we may have been the only people this porcupine had ever seen. We bid him farewell and were on our way home.