Kathy Cano-Murillo

People most know Kathy Cano-Murillo as The Crafty Chica. She has been profiled for her art and crafts in The New York Times, USA Today and NPR.

Kathy has been a writer longer than she has been a crafter, inspired in grade school by Erma Bombeck and Judy Blume. As an adult, Kathy went on to have a 13-year newspaper career at The Arizona Republic as an entertainment reporter, all while running her award-winning web site, CraftyChica.com. She has authored seven books including Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul and Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing.

In 2004, Kathy pursued her dream of writing a novel and finished her first draft for National Novel Writing Month. She wrote from 10 pm-2 am every night while her family slept, a tradition she still carries on to this day. Her manuscript sold in 2007 in a three-way bidding war to Grand Central Publishing.

Kathy's debut novel, Waking Up in the Land of Glitter released in March 2010 and her second, Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing in March 2011. She is currently writing her third book.

Kathy designs her own Crafty Chica product line through iLoveToCreate, a Duncan Enterprises Company, and she is also the Crafts Editor for BlogHer.com

Kathy's mission with her novels is to share stories about contemporary Latinas living and working in the creative arts. She lives in Phoenix, AZ, with her husband, two kids and five Chihuahuas. Her motto for life is "Crafts, drama and glitter".