My Creative Journey Starts
In February 2013, my husband and I traveled down to Seaside FL for an oh-so-needed little getaway. Our anniversary was just around the corner and my husband was feeling stressed from work. So, a quaint little cottage on the beach sounded dreamy. I admit that I might have been most excited at the thought of sleeping in for once! At the time, our son was two and he didn’t do the sleep in thing, but what toddler does? It was indeed a refreshing trip. Seaside is an absolutely adorable little town and all of its cute shops, the sound of the ocean, and the laid back atmosphere were calling to my creative side. One morning we stopped in for a Starbucks and while my husband waited for our beverages, I strolled over to this artsy shop next door and picked up a package of oil pastels and a drawing tablet, just to doodle. Later that evening, sitting out on the balcony, I doodled a bird. I’ve always loved birds, maybe because they sing and soar through the skies. I kept looking at it wondering why my doodle didn’t feel finished. I decided to add a locket around the neck of my little bird because I wanted him to feel loved and special. He was a loved bird! I loved him because I was really enjoying my time out on that balcony with the breeze from the ocean hitting me in the face and I was really appreciating the time to relax and recharge. This trip is where my shop name was born. We finished our trip feeling great and telling ourselves that we’d have to get back to that beach cottage again!
Now, let’s go back before this trip to early 2012 and we arrive at what started me on this creative path. My son was just a year old. Maybe this is a good time to mention that I also had a wonderfully smart and beautiful 13-year-old daughter too, but worked full time in the music industry during her little years and never really had extra time to start creative projects. Back to my story… looking at Pinterest one day, I came across this super cute teepee with DIY (do it yourself) instructions. I couldn’t sew one bit, but my mother in law had, on a whim one day, bought me a starter machine. So, with my starter machine and my determination, I made that thing! See my picture here. So, as they say, where there’s a will, there’s a way, right? After that, my creative spirit just kicked in and I started making lots of pillows, first for my friends and families and later for them to give as gifts to their friends and families. In the summer of 2013, it seemed like a good idea to rent a small booth in a cute little shop in town and things have blossomed since then - both business and my skills. Oh how I chuckle when I think back to when I started and was using MS Word to create designs (Whaaat? Yeah, crazy, I know!). There were definitely challenges with that, but I got pretty good at making the most of it. Thankfully, I educated myself on a creative program enough to get started and have been learning more along the way. New ideas provide great motivation to learn. In addition to a new design program, I switched from a tedious hand transferred, solvent based process, to printing my designs onto the pillows. It looks much nicer and my shoulders really appreciate the break!
Whether I am working on my own ideas or trying to bring the ideas of others to life through custom orders, my hope is that someone else will connect with my work and love it. I am grateful for this hobby job, as I call it. It has provided me with a happy balance between work and family and fulfills that need in me to use my hands and creative mind.
