The Beginning
I've always been creative. As a kid I would color and draw, as a tween/teen my grandpa would cut out wooden creatures for me to paint and in college I was constantly doodling on my notes. I did not go to school for art however. I was interested in it but was encouraged to look elsewhere for a ‘real job’.
I had our first son in 2012. Even though motherhood kept me busy, I had the opportunity to stay home for the first time. I gave so much of myself to being a mom that I found myself needing to do things for me to keep my sanity. So I naturally gravitated towards making things. I sewed stuffed animals ( and even a couch cover) and also did some painting.
In 2013 I ventured into some other things. I had been interested in photography for a while and transferred some of my images onto wooden plaques. I got into wood burning and made Christmas ornaments. These were some of the first things I sold at my very first fall festival booth at Sojourn church in Louisville, KY. It was a HUGE deal for me. I had always loved to go to art festivals and dreamed of setting up at one
In 2014 we began to pursue adopting our second son from China and had a large amount of funding we needed for that. I decided to use my art to raise some of those funds so during 2014-2015 I ventured out into finding other art festivals to sell my things in and 100% of sales went towards our adoption. I actually think this helped me to put myself out there a little more. I’ve always struggled with confidence as an artist because I never went to school for art. But using my art to raise funds gave me a purpose and made it meaningful.
I also opened my Etsy shop in 2014 and sold my things in a couple of small shops. I started doing custom ornaments and in 2015 I had to put my Etsy shop on hold 3 different times because I was selling ornaments faster than I could make them. It was insane but encouraged me in my creativity.
Read Part 2 HERE
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