A little about me...


Hey everyone!  I'm Michelle.  I’m an Arizona girl turned stay at home mom who is now living in southwest Missouri. I wear many hats around here.  Some of them feel like a large Texan sized 10-gallon hat (primarily my mom hat) and others like a baseball cap or white chef hat.  When I create, I get to take off all the hats and just wear my hair down...or maybe in a ponytail because you know, hat hair. 

I first got my start in the world of creating digital art when I was looking for a seamless repeating pattern to use as the background on my blog.  I couldn't find what I envisioned anywhere!  My curiosity was peaked and I began the arduous process of creating one myself.  I was hooked! Soon I opened up an etsy shop.  For a few years I was a sponge!  I loved learning and creating new designs for my shop.  I expanded to other platforms.  With all the learning and creating, I found that my favorite thing to create was seamless patterns- or surface pattern design.  I enrolled in a very expensive course with the hopes of one day designed for a fabric company.  This was right before giving birth to my 3rd child.  Screech!  What was I thinking?!  It was near impossible to keep up with my now 3 kids and the sleep deprivation that came with a newborn.  My shop stayed open, but adding new designs slowed to a trickle.  Adding a fourth child slowed any artist pursuits even further.  For a time, the demands of my family took me completely away from designing.  

One day, during this creative drought, I was vacuuming and found myself pondering how we are promised that if we lose ourselves to serve others, that we will find ourselves.  I had been trying to put aside my creative desires for years to serve my family.  But I didn't feel found.  I felt lost.  This phrase came to my mind, "When seeking to lose yourself in the service of others, it's possible to have an identity crisis".  And I was having an identity crisis!  My identity crisis prompted an intensive period of soul searching and prayer.  Little by little I began to discover that God didn't expect me to sacrifice something I loved so much.  It is a gift to feel desire and passion and he had blessed me with talents and desires to bless the lives of others. 

So here I am today in the fray.  Some days I feel like God is using my love for art to serve others, especially with my children.  I light up inside when my kids ask to paint with me or geek out when I get to teach my oldest or nieces and nephews about different drawing programs.  My heart skips a beat when I receive a heart felt drawn picture from one of my kids or when I see someone else using their creativity as they incorporate one of my designs in their own creation.  And I love techy questions from friends and family about programs and supplies and classes.  But then there are the not so clear days where I just can't catch a break!  The house seems to be one perpetual mess and I'm playing referee more than mom.  But despite this chaos, I know it's important to me to continue to create.  So I keep up the good fight to find time where I can wear my hair down and create.