For most of her life, Michelle Stambaugh struggled to fully embrace her creative aspirations.

The resident of Sister Lakes had been crafting for as long as she can remember, starting when she began selling painted rocks door-to-door when she was just 6 years old. Even after opening her own pottery studio, she still was not sure whether she was just “crafty” or not.

“I had a very hard time calling myself an artist,” Stambaugh said. “I just never considered myself one. I just like to make things.”

If she still doubted the title at all, it was shattered last month.

Stambaugh has been named one of 26 women to watch for in 2015 by Sassy Magazine, based out of Granger, Indiana. The artist was selected from a pool of over 300 candidates, with the magazine’s publisher, Betsy Tavernier, personally visiting Stambaugh’s downtown studio on Oct. 25 to tell her the news.

The award is the largest accolade bestowed upon Stambaugh since she began for foray into professional pottery a decade ago. Leaving the hair dressing profession after 20 years, she decided to pursue a career in art, going back to school in hopes of learning how to teach it.

“I took a ceramics class at Southwestern Michigan College, and that’s where I ended up staying, working on pottery,” Stambaugh said.

She eventually started her own business, Mud-luscious, spending her time creating handcrafted mugs, plates and other clay-based products. After frequenting art shows across the region, she opened a store on Front Street, where she sold clothing and other goods in additional to her own wares.

The pressures of running a business stemmed the flow of her creative juices though, significantly reducing her output of new products. In July, Stambaugh worked out a deal with employee and friend Claudia Zebell, handing over ownership of the business in order to refocus on her works. They later relocated the business and her studio next door, renaming it to Rosy Tomorrows.

“Now, I don’t have to worry about all the other stuff. I can concentrate on clay,” Stambaugh said.

A frequenter of thrift shops, one of Stambaugh’s signatures is incorporating old jewelry and trinkets into her clay products. In additional to art stores, she gathers materials for her works at antique auctions and salvage yards.

“My mind is always going,” she said. “How can make that pretty, how can I make that fun, how can I make that personal.”

Making that connection to the people buying her products is something that Stambaugh strives for while making her works. Using blue paints to evoke the serenity of the ocean or making tiny songbirds to reference the calmness of the forest, the artist describes her work as being very natural and feminine, with its round, curvy features.

Stambaugh will be a part of a ceremony on Nov. 6 celebrating her accomplishment, held at the Morris Theater in South Bend. Depending on the audience vote, she may receive the opportunity to grace the cover of the upcoming issue of Sassy Magazine, and may even have a two-page feature promoting her business.

“It’s an honor, and I’m not taking it lightly,” Stambaugh said, of her achievement. “It’s not just about me, it’s about everyone who’s ever supported me.”