Artist, Dreamer, Romantic, Creative Encourager

Although I enjoy a beautiful creative life now, that wasn’t always the case.

I have always lived a fairly regular life. I did all the things you’re “supposed” to do – attend college, receive a degree in Psychology, enter the 9-5 workforce. I met a boy. We fell in love, got married, and started a family. Everything was just as it should be.

As time went on, I struggled more and more with the question “what do I want to be when I grow up?” I had a decent job and a wonderful family, but I still felt as though I hadn’t found that thing that I was meant to do. I drifted around, going through phases of dreaming about different occupations: wedding/event planner, blogging, interior design, writer/novelist, antique dealer…I enjoyed aspects of each of these, but none of them felt just right for me.

In February 2012, I was 28 with a young child at home. I had just been let go from a long-term job that I didn't enjoy. Our family was suddenly down to just one income and I found myself scrambling to find a new position. I spend most of my time caring for our son and scouring the internet for job postings. When my son was napping, I thought about what I really wanted to do with my life.

I had been working in an office admin/accounting assistant role and while I could easily continue in that area, I wasn't sure I wanted to. My degree was in Psychology, but I only had a B.A. and you have to have a graduate degree in order to really work in that field. I enjoyed decorating/design, planning events, and dabbled in making scrapbook pages but had no idea how to make that into any kind of career.

I also loved to write and had just discovered the world of blogging (blogs of all kinds were exploding back in 2012). I thought maybe this was something I could do and enjoy, so I started my own. If you look way back in my archives, you'll be able to see some of those posts that I imported from that original blog.

I spent a good amount of time exploring what other people were writing about. The home décor bloggers were what really stood out to me: Miss Mustard Seed, Funky Junk Interiors, Jennifer Rizzo, and more. Someone linked to a giveaway for a cute bag from a blogger named Jeanne Oliver that I had never heard of. I liked the bag, so I entered the giveaway. I didn't win, but that got me looking through Jeanne's site and I bookmarked it to come back to.

I eventually enrolled in one of Jeanne’s online art courses and tried out a few of the lessons. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it and even more surprised by how my very first piece of art turned out.

Until that point in my life, I had always considered myself uncreative because I couldn’t draw. Through Jeanne’s classes and network, I came to the realization that artistic ability is way more than just being able to draw well. Looking back, I see evidence of my hidden creativity peeking through in many areas: drawing personalized place-mats for each family member on holidays, my love for reading and writing, making up stories and plays with my sister and performing them for our parents, and the carousel of different performing and musical arts I dabbled in. Even the career choices I had explored were very creative. My whole life has been an exercise in creativity.

Since then, I have explored many different creative disciplines: painting, drawing, mixed media, abstract, collage. That includes art but also hospitality, gathering, design, music, and encouraging others in their artistic passions. The list goes on and continues to evolve as I experiment and learn. I hope that by sharing my discoveries, others will be inspired to get in touch with their creative hearts also.