Retiring from Designing (yeah, that happened)

In 2009, I decided to take my 7 and 5 year old kids into Michaels and picked up a couple of little clear stamps from the $1 bin to make our our own Easter cards.   Those little clear stamps started multiplying like bunnies after I was bitten by the card making bug.   I spent hours watching tutorials online to learn new techniques and I learned how to color with Copics.

I discovered SplitcoastStampers and was obsessed with checking out others work in the galleries, learning from the tutorials, and playing along with the challenges.  I stalked the "Dirty Dozen" and wanted to learn as much as I could so that I could create the beautiful cards they were creating. 


By July of 2011, I landed my first design team position and things just took off from there!  In May of 2013 I became a member of the SplitcoastStampers Dirty Dozen and joined the elite group of paper crafters that I had admired for years.    I had the honor of designing for some amazing companies such as There She Goes Clear Stamps, Kraftin' Kimmie, Tiddly Inks, Stamping Bella, C.C. Designs, My Favorite Things, and of course, SugarPea Designs. 

I have met so many wonderful people along the way in this crafty little world of ours!  Wendy Ramlakhan is one of them.  Though I live in MA and she lives in FL, we became real life friends and I have hopped on a plane 3 times so far to see her in person.  I had the honor of being part of the development of SugarPea Designs.  I can still remember the day that I was sitting in my car at a field watching my daughter's softball practice while brainstorming with Wendy about how to make SugarPea Designs come to life.   SugarPea Designs is now celebrating its 2nd birthday and I am SO proud of Wendy for the success that she has achieved! In December I stepped down from my position of Creative Coordinator for SugarPea Designs and after the January release, I told Wendy I was stepping down from the design team.   It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made.  

At one point, I was on 6 design teams at a time.   Honestly. I simply became addicted to the success I was having with my hobby.  Over the past few years, I started giving up some of my design team responsibilities that were sort of taking over my life.  In 2015, I limited myself to 2 teams.  By the end of the year, I was down to one,............and now I have retired from designing.

Why?  Perhaps it is the 7 year itch and I am just looking for something new?  I don't think so.  Honestly, I think that my hobby became an addiction and my addiction became a job........and that job became work and I lost my passion for it.   In April of 2015, I took on a new job as the Memory Care Director at Brightview Senior Living's Country Club Heights.  Honestly, I have never been happier at a job and my job has become my passion.  There is nothing more rewarding than shaping a memory care  program into something special by educating the staff, by educating the family members, and by ensuring that the residents experience moments of joy throughout the day as they navigate the world doing the best they can living with dementia.   I am driven by goals.  I was once driven to be a member of the elite group of designers that make up the SplitcoastStampers Dirty Dozen.  CHECK!  I was once driven to design for My FavoriteThings.  CHECK! I was once driven to help my friend launch a new stamp company called SugarPea Designs.  CHECK!  

I am now driven to make a difference in the lives of those living with dementia and the family members who are watching their loved ones as they progress through the stages of the disease.  I am driven by the dreams of advancing my career into upper management at Brightview Senior Living.   I am driven to never miss one of my kids' field hockey games, basketball games, and football games.  I am driven to be the best mom I can be as my kids begin to navigate the teenage years and begin to spread their wings.  I am driven to have date nights with my husband and to nurture our marriage.   Sometimes, I will be driven to shamelessly sit and watch 4 seasons of "The Killing" on Netflix  in less than 2 weeks time. CHECK! 

Does this mean I will never create a card again?  Hell no!  I'm sure I will and I am sure I will post it here on my blog, BUT my blog is likely to turn into a mish mosh of random postings as I venture on to the next stage of my life.   Being without a hobby is strange at first.   What's my "thing?!"  I am without a "thing" at the moment.   In the past, I worked for a wedding photographer and that later blossomed into my own little business photographing children and families.  I ditched that hobby when I caught the card making bug.  I kind of caught the photography bug again after doing a little photo shoot of my kids for our Christmas card this year.  So, maybe you will see me post some of my photographs here on my blog now like this:

Lauren - 13 yo

Jack - 12 yo

Lauren & Jack

Lauren, Jack & Cavin (8 yo)

I also recently dusted off the Silhouette Portrait that I bought roughly 5 years ago and never used.  I just didn't really have the time to figure it out.  My mom asked me if I could make something for her that she saw online and I thought, "I could do that if I could figure out how to use the Silhouette Portrait".......and so I did.   So maybe you will see me post things like this:

And once I figured it out, I had to make something for my own house so I made this for the bathroom:

I have a friend who is into wood working and creating projects out of pallet wood.  We have talked about some ideas.  He will do the woodworking and I will do the finishing.  So maybe you will see something like that on this blog.   I also plan to refinish my server in my dining room this spring so you will likely see that here as well.   I love to cook.  Maybe a successful recipe or two will show up here. Who knows?!

This blog will be something new.  That I know.  I am retiring from designing for stamp companies.  This blog will be filled with what interests me at the moment.  I may not post as often.  In fact, I am sure I won't.  I won't disappear from the blogging world.  I am sure of that as well.  I will still admire all of the cards created by the crafty people I have come know and love who live in my computer in my crafty world.  Wendy Ramlakhan, Tracy Valure, and Jenny Peterson, you will continue to be my "real life" friends that I have adopted from my crafty world.  I look forward to our next get together........hopefully in the fall! 

Lots of love,

Kim