I moved from Toledo to Columbus in 2008 to be closer to my boyfriend, Joe. It took some time to start to get familiar with the art scene in the area. I knew there were a lot of opportunities, but I was a little shy about getting started. A friend told me about Etsy in 2009, which lead me to open my own shop. It was a way for me to start getting my work out there even if I wasn’t doing a show locally.



I posted a few things initially, but then we got engaged and the wedding projects started, anything unrelated to the wedding got put on hold, including my Etsy shop. After the wedding and we started to get settled into married life, I returned to focusing on my Etsy shop. I joined a local Etsy Team (Etsy Team Columbus), to familiarize myself with the happenings in the area and also to get some tips on the best way to present my items. For my wedding I had made our unity candle set, which made me think that perhaps other brides might be interested in custom unity sets as well. My custom unity set was one of the first items that I sold and I recall the excitement of the sale. It gave me some validation that other people liked my designs as well.



We began growing our family with the birth of our son in May of 2011, which added a whole new set of challenges. I no longer had the freedom to just sign up for shows or spend hours in the studio working. My studio time became more unpredictable and less frequent, but spending time with my new son was so precious. My Etsy shop gave me the freedom to spend as much or as little time as I had available. I could post items for sale and forget about them until they sold.



Life changed again with the birth of my second son in October of 2013 and then our third son in July of 2015. It's a crazy new adventure, but I love the chaos. I'm still working on trying to fit in creative time, but my boys are only young once, so I am trying to make them my first priority. Stay in the present and enjoy the wonderful gifts you are given.