About The Makers
Amy (on the left), and Rosanna (on the right)
Hi! My name is Rosanna. First and foremost, I am a wife and a mom to 4 wonderful children and grandma to 7 grands! I am the founder/creator of The Wandering Texan. Like many of you, I have always loved creating beautiful things! But…creating keeps my crazies in check! Kidding, not kidding!!
About 20 years ago, a good friend from Church taught me how to make candles. Man! Time FLIES!! In 2010 when my oldest deployed to Afghanistan, the stress was just too much for me to handle. I found peace in making candles. Friends and family loved them and said that I should start selling them, so I dubbed myself “DogTag Candles” and hit the markets.
A few years later, my husband decided to return to the military and go back on active duty. Because my husband is part of the US Army, which if any of you are or have military family members, know that we never stay too long in one place! This is good and bad as a military spouse, because it’s hard to find a job that you can have longevity in. I have been fortunate enough to find work in many of the places we’ve been stationed but decided that I wanted to try my hand at being my own boss. Thus “The Wandering Texan” was born.
I have always loved creating unique and beautiful things but one of my most favorites things to make are candles. As you know, most candle vessels are single use and end up being thrown away after the candle is spent. I wanted to come up with a more sustainable and eco-friendly solution. So, I began creating my own containers. I love the fact that each jar is so unique and can be repurposed. Not only did I want to make jars that could be repurposed, but I also wanted to be able to offer insertable refills to make our candles more affordable. I do my best to source local, natural supplies to use in our candles. My feeling is that everyone should be able to have clean burning and beautiful candles in their homes.
Selling candles and going to markets in new places has been so good for me. It has helped force me to get out of my comfort zone and interact with people. As challenging as that has been for me, it has really been amazing to meet such wonderful people! Actually, that is exactly how I met my new business partner, Amy. She is amazingly talented and has strengths where I have weaknesses and vice versa. She brings a creativity to The Wandering Texan that just makes us that much more unique.
We hope that when you hear ‘The Wandering Texan’ that it evokes not only images of beautiful, handcrafted goods, but also stands as a symbol of unity and resilience in this crazy journey we call life.
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And here I am! I am Amy and I am a military spouse and a mom of 5. I am a registered nurse by training, but I have always loved my creative side. I stepped away from nursing due to military life and becoming pregnant with our youngest. Stepping away from nursing was difficult for me and I tried to find a new love through calligraphy and creating unique crafts.
But in November of 2022 I met Rosanna at our neighborhood holiday market and was captivated by her story and her candles/vessels. I couldn’t believe that she made them from start to finish! It was my first time seeing a candle vessel made of something natural and not glass! So, I started off as a customer and slowly we became friends. I loved her creativity, and she is very knowledgeable!
After some time, I started to help her pour candles and then learn how to make the vessels. This lit a burning flame within me, and she taught me everything to make her candles that she perfected through her 20 years of making them.
Her news of moving to another state came about and we discussed me coming on as a partner and here I am!!! We love to create and keep things new and interesting! Hopefully the single flame that was lit within me will light a thousand others.