I like art & handwriting; you know, the good old-fashioned kind when you sort through old family boxes & find your great grandmother's letter to your grandpa during the war. Anything born of genuine thought & heart behind it is beautifully artistic to me. There's something so timeless & fragile about it. Simplistic, yet important. & somewhat underrated & unexpected.

Art has been my sixth language as long as I can remember. Some of my first masterpieces were of unicorns flying with daisies blooming down below. Refridgerator-art-worthy stuff. I'm not sure why, but I was always happiest & able to get into a zone when I was playing with art supplies & getting my hands dirty. My family always knew I'd go in the direction of the arts--& I rebelled for a time & took interest in other things (like, choosing Spanish as my major just because I liked to travel. You know, the smart kinds of choices), just to prove I had other things I was capable of. Turns out, after much prayer & thought, I filtered through the noise of trying too hard & gave in to what was natural for me: art, & all of the things that come with it... resulting in a degree in Fine Arts & Art Education. God must've enjoyed my Spanish journey knowing full-well where I'd end up.

Starting my super artistic career as a graphic designer for a couple of financial companies (not artistic at all. We all have to start somewhere, don't we?), I learned a ton about branding & what I didn't want to do art-wise. I then opened my Etsy Shop in 2010 to help in providing a creative outlet for myself. Starting with custom painted maps & lettering prints, I received many requests to address wedding envelopes with my lettering style. With calligraphy + wedding invitations becoming such a trend at the time, I was quite busy & not the best with handling an actual calligraphy pen. So, I decided to start the journey of teaching myself (at least my Art Education degree helped in some fashion?). After some time, I saved some money, moved to Philadelphia for a time, & I was able to freelance for Anthropologie. Working here helped me narrow in even more on my handwriting & calligraphy skills, which I'm so grateful for.

Now, I am coming upon 11 years of having my shop, & have taught many calligraphy workshops based on what I've learned myself. As stated above, I've always gravitated toward timeless & simplicity in art, with that touch of unexpected; & have thus found pleasure in creating pieces with a light + airy feel to them...whimsy included for good measure.

Now, I reside in Cincinnati with my husband, son, & cat. & I sometimes open the windows & pretend I know how to sing to the birds, too. Who knows, perhaps I'll start painting birds & animals next. The life of an artist is never a limited one!