When my son was a baby, I'd be sad when he ruined a cute bib with food stains. I realized how ironic (?) that was, being that catching stains is the point of a bib, so I designed the "Blank Canvas Bib" that features two art patrons who admire each mess and stain as a large-scale, ever-changing work of abstract art. After I quit teaching high school art to stay home with my kids, I had the time to pursue producing the bib in mass quantity. I picked up a couple clients, my first being the gallery shop at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and then the catalog company Uncommon Goods. I was hooked. I'd always loved being creative, but I found being able to sell products I'd designed was really rewarding.

I opened my Etsy shop in 2007, and began adding products such as recipes hand-batiked onto dish towels. Eventually my elderly neighbor George gave me his handwritten recipe for Rhubarb Cake, and I decided that his handwriting was what I wanted on the towels instead of the batik design. I was selling a few of George's recipes on towels when a customer asked if I would consider printing her grandmother's recipe on towels for the women in her wedding. I found a local apparel printer who would print small volume orders, and that's the origin story of custom recipe towels! It's now my most popular item, which I absolutely love, because every day I'm fortunate to be able to help people make something beautiful and meaningful.

From the custom towel idea came custom kids' art printed onto t-shirts and towels. I also love these orders, because as a former art teacher, I still have a love for kids' art. Every design I print makes me smile. :)

One of my other popular items is my Cycles of Life design, printed on towels and t-shirts. When my son grew out of his balance bike and started riding a "big boy" bike, he was so proud of himself--I started thinking about my own phases of life on different bikes, and created a life-bike timeline from tricycle, to recumbent. I've since revised the design to end with the e-cruiser. From this design came the opportunity to design two fabric collections for Maywood Studio (Portland, OR), Cycles of Life, and Fishline. I've stepped away from designing fabric, but will maybe return to it one day in the future...

I absolutely love what I do, and find that my Etsy customers are really the best people in the world--I feel so fortunate to be able to do this for a living. Cheers, and thanks for stopping by!

Kristen