A new face is coming to the Canton Spring Market April 24-25 at the McPherson County Fairgrounds, but it isn’t her first rodeo in the arena of craft shows.
Carol Milleson, 72 of McPherson, has been crafting for most of her life. After stepping away from her creative work to take care of her ailing husband, she’s firing up her heat press, laser engraver and 3D printer once more.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “Crafting has always been my first love.”
Milleson’s booth will be located on the west end of the Bradbury Company Show Arena, and she plans to have a variety of products available for purchase.
for sale at the Canton Spring Market April 24-25 on
the McPherson County Fairgrounds north of Canton, Kansas.
These include 3D printed items featuring local schools and sports teams, including select college and professional teams she has licenses for; embroidered towels, hats and T-shirts with designs focused on highland cows and other down-home, rural motifs; drink tumblers wrapped in various designs, such as several Canton-Galva Eagles focused graphics; laser engraved dog tags, plates and cutting boards, and Christmas ornament bulbs complete with custom images and 3D printed filigrees, which are items Milleson is known for making.
“I think I’m the only one around here that does the ornaments,” she said.
Also, Milleson plans to have her heat press on-site to print custom T-shirts.
“Am I crazy? Yeah, pretty much,” she said.
Involving the Entire Family
Though Milleson produces most of the items she sells, the entire family contributes.
“They’re all kind of involved,” she said.
Milleson’s three sons all help in various ways, whether assisting with ideas or working on her laser engraver, multiple 3D printers, or her four heat presses, and her 13 grandchildren lend a hand when needed, too. Two of her granddaughters will be in Canton to help her in whatever way they can.
Even her 11-week-old male Morkie—a cross between a Maltese and a Yorkshire Terrier, or a Yorkie—Barrett gets in on the action, even if just to keep people calm and happy.
“They’re pretty good to me,” she said.
The extra help is important as Milleson begins rebuilding her crafting business.
After 52 years of marriage, her husband Steven died in 2025 at the age of 75 after battling the rare blood cancer myelodysplastic syndrome, which attacks the bone marrow.
Milleson said her husband was in the United States Marine Corps and fought during the Vietnam War, where he received a Bronze Star Medal for heroism, outstanding achievement, or meritorious service in combat.
Recent medical research has linked Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam War to individuals developing myelodysplastic syndrome.
“Thank you very much, Vietnam,” Milleson said.
Facing Life Changes
Losing her husband has not been easy.
She used to live on a 23-acre farm near Falun in southwestern Saline County, and her husband built the house they lived in.
“He supported my crafting,” she said. “He had a great sense of humor. He was very quick-witted.”
In fact, he would even make benches out of old bedroom set headboards, and he would often come home with items he found at thrift stores that he thought she could use.
After her husband died, though, she had to move off the farm where she had numerous outbuildings and a 1,900-square-foot basement for crafting.
She landed in McPherson to live closer to some of her sons, but that meant downsizing to a 400-square-foot basement to do her crafting, which is why she’s also converting her house’s sunroom into a workspace and adding additional electrical outlets in the basement.
“I might have to put on an addition if this takes off,” she said.
And that is the goal.
“I’d like to see this take off and be a good side job for me,” she said. “I would like for it to become a full-fledged shop.”
Developing a Retirement Plan
After being part of the second graduating class of Salina South High School, Milleson retired after working 27 years as a legal assistant and office manager in the Salina Regional Public Defender Office, which is part of the Kansas State Board of Indigents’ Defense Services.
“I love retirement,” she said.
In that role, she dealt with difficult cases. These involved issues of child abuse and murder, and she wrote up motions and other legal briefs for all of them.
“I had a lot of sick cases,” she said. “Those were not fun.”
While working in the legal system, she traveled to craft shows on weekends to sell her wares, which helped her to get away from the horrors of her daily job.
Milleson said she often participated in the Hillsboro Arts and Crafts Fair, frequently selling out of items such as T-shirts, her trademark Christmas ornaments, or custom decorative paintings.
“I couldn’t paint fast enough,” she said.
As was the case while her husband was alive, Milleson goes to auctions to look for pieces she can use for crafting.
“I find stuff cheap, and I use it,” she said.
Crafting as Therapy
Without having to go to work every day, Milleson said she needed something to do, especially after her husband died.
“I was spending all my time sitting in that chair crying and being lonely,” she said.
Milleson said getting back into crafting gave her a new lease on life.
“I needed something to motivate me. I needed something to occupy my mind,” she said. “It got me to start living again.”
Milleson said she believes her husband would approve.
“I’m pretty confident he’d be happy with what I’m doing,” she said. “It’s time I went back into my crafting.”
Growing as an Artist
When it comes to her crafts, Milleson focuses on creating items people can’t get anywhere else.
“No two are exactly alike,” she said.
Customers can request certain colors and other design attributes, but Milleson said there will always be slight differences, even if she tries to duplicate one of her pieces.
These include coasters and rally chains.
“Each one would be different,” she said. “Each one is unique.”
For what it’s worth, Milleson wouldn’t have it any other way.
She doesn’t like seeing wholesale items for sale at craft shows.
“That really disappoints me,” she said. “I like craft shows where everything is hand-made.”
The longer she has been crafting, the better she’s gotten at it. She said she looks back at pieces she made in the past and doesn’t like them as well anymore.
Milleson draws her inspiration from the world around her. If she sees an image or a design she likes, she makes note of it and works to recreate it with her own twist.
She looks to websites like Pinterest and Etsy to find other ideas, and YouTube provides tutorials for learning new crafting techniques.
In addition to making items to sell at craft shows, Milleson also does custom work, even for smaller runs of items.
“It’s OK to do them one at a time,” she said.
Milleson also quilts. She has made regular quilts, and she really enjoys putting memory quilts and T-shirt quilts together.
The hardest part of what she does, Milleson said, is figuring out what to charge for one of her creations.
“I learned a long time ago that in the craft business you can’t count your time,” she said.
Even so, Milleson’s looking forward to spending time in Canton and seeing her business start to grow.
“I would like to get a Facebook Page set up, too,” she said.
Until then, Milleson encouraged people to email her with custom orders. She can be reached at cmilleson@yahoo.com. She said she might even be able to get custom orders done in time to be picked up in Canton.
“We’ll see how this works,” she said. “I’m just naturally nuts. That’s what I tell everybody.”
NOTE: This feature story was written for the Santa Fe Way newspaper serving the central Kansas communities of Canton and Galva. It was published on April 3, 2026.
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