Hello, Beautiful Peoples!
I'm Alissa and I'm the owner and creator of All Things Sensory by Alissa!
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Who I am:
I am a 30 year old (she/her) who loves the sun, but the sun hates me. I live in Michigan and have for most of my life.
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I LOVE animals! I currently have a dog named Pixel, a cat named Nero that I found outside of Vance Refrigeration and a kitten named Roomba, (and had 2 rats named Twitch and Oreo who recently passed).
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I also have a fish tank with a pleco, a blue mystery snail, a catfish, a killifish, 2 loaches, 2 scissortail fish, 3 tetras, 4 guppies and a handful of ghost shrimp!
I am Autistic and have SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder), PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), ADHD, and struggle with anxiety.
I love talking about and advocating for mental health topics. In addition to promoting my products, the goal of this site is to spread acceptance about all the aspects of mental health that Hollywood and society tend to overlook or portray in the wrong way.
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Hopefully, together we can work to change that!
My Interests:
I have definitely gone through my phases of things that I get hyper-focused on, a "special interest" as they are sometimes called. Taco Bell sauce packets, straws, wheat pennies, penguins, coffee mugs (even though I hate coffee), piggy banks, Star Wars, maps, encyclopedias, rocks, fossils, and more.
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Lately, my interests have been my shop and my blog, Star Wars (my first and one true love), aquariums, coloring, and The Office! You will see The Office sprinkled in a bit throughout my site, so keep an eye out for some hidden gems to earn a Schrute Buck!
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Or a Stanley Nickel...whichever you prefer!
A little about me
Alissa Merklinger
Owner, Creator, Writer, Nerd
How I Got Started:
I started by selling stress balls, slime, and homemade playdough at craft shows in late 2018. I was always tagging along with my mom, who is a bridal seamstress, when she went to the shows. I was already making fidgets for myself so I thought, "Hey, why not?"
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I doubled my stock every single show and sold out every time. I was constantly adding more and more products until eventually, I had to rent 2 booths just for myself! I was using about 10 feet of table space for all my products.
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Then 2020 hit. All my usual shows were cancelled and in September of 2020 I finally started an Etsy Shop. Now, I have nearly 200 items in my shop and I'm able to make a living doing my dream job!