How It All Began

“Artfully Composed?  What exactly is that?”  That is a question I have received many times since I embarked on this endeavor.  ”Oh, how cute, you have your own little crafting business!”  Well, I suppose there’s some truth in that, but I like to think that there’s more to it than that.  To accurately understand the founding of the company, we must take a little trip back in time.

If you’ve read The Alchemist or other books promising to reveal your “true vocation” in life, a substantial number of them tell you to go back and think about what you aspired to be as a child.  Though an overachiever with Type A tendencies by birth, I can only remember having a sharp internal prodding to become a “Baylor Girl” – whatever constitutes that definition? – and I wanted to name Crayola crayon colors.  You remember the days of “Tickle Me Pink”, “Purple Mountain’s Majesty”, and my personal favorite – “Cerulean.”

As I navigated through the pitfalls and triumphs of childhood and adolescence in Shallowater, Texas, I was somewhere between Louisa May Alcott’s Josephine March and Election’s Tracy Flick.  In a town renowned for State Championship-winning basketball teams, I was nor an athlete or a cheerleader,which made me one strange child!  I was already dreaming of going to Paris, reading Vogue cover to cover, and the only way I would run for student council in the 5th grade was if my Mother Dearest would take me to go see Evita! My college essays portrayed me as a bit of The Coal Miner’s Daughter i.e. “To Whom It May Concern, I would be ever so grateful if you would take a chance on me and get me out of this cesspool of ignorance.  I promise to make extraordinary contributions to your university.”  As you can probably foreshadow, I left for the “real world” and figured out very quickly that you couldn’t sip sweet tea on the porch of your neighbor, leave your house unlocked, or count on the First Baptist Church to be there for every monumental or tragic situation.

I went to college with the craving ambition to enter politics, become the Secretary of State, and CHANGE THE WORLD!  Oh, over-eager visionaries.  The enthusiasm of being Student Body President only lasted so long until I decided to pursue one of my great loves, journalism.  I learned a great deal in Castellaw Communications Building – how to write, edit, fact-check, put together a press kit, graphic design and so forth.  The plan was to do an internship at a big-name magazine and be a real-life Carrie Bradshaw!  But my cohorts and I graduated in the year 2008, a year described by U.S. News & World Report as the worst possible year to graduate in the history of mankind!  (emphasis mine)  Rather than face another letter of rejection, I decided to do what any logical person would insist upon, I listened to James Taylor’s “Mexico” and decided it would be a FANTASTIC idea to move there!

The only employment I could find in my quest to become the female version of Jimmy Buffett and “explore all the world has to offer” was to become a teacher.  I taught ESL and was essentially hired for being impeccably American-looking and I have enough material for a full-length novel from this time period of my life – but I will share that with you another time.  What’s important is that this experience led to a deep conviction to help children in any way that I possibly could.   I consider it my mission in life to invest and build up a child’s self-esteem, confidence, and ability to believe in themselves.  This belief system has enabled me to work as Director of Development for a non-profit targeting resiliency-building in children, teaching 2nd grade Dual Language for Northeast I.S.D., and forming lifelong partnerships with Communities in Schools.

Throughout my 26 years in life, I have always had the nudging of an entrepreneurial spirit with affirmations along the way from others to tap into my creative pining.  I must confess, I was not the best teacher.  Fabulous intentions, bleeding heart for the kids, disgraceful attempts to have “classroom management,” but you take The Magic School Bus’s Ms. Frizzle and multiply her idiosyncrasies and neurotic tendencies by 100 and you have me.  I was really struggling with my career path at this point, and everyone kept telling me, “Do your art!  Do something creative!”  Yeah, Yeah.  That’s not even a legitimate occupation at all!  Fast-forward to the Spring of 2012 and I was asked to do some design for my first wedding.  The bride was happy, everyone said I could do design professionally, and the referrals started coming in – much to my surprise.  It was a total shock for me to learn that you could actually make a life by doing what you love.

So, here I sit at my laptop, by the window, writing this synopsis and I can’t believe that this business- my little eclectic dream – is actually coming to life.  The invitations have all been sent for the official launch and there is no turning back.  Fail or succeed, I am proud for trying.