I’ve known for awhile now that I wanted to pursue my dream of being a designer. For several years, I followed a safe path in education. However, I’m taking a leap of faith and following the desires of my heart. Join me as I share my journey.
Life Before Design
Anyone who knows me, knows that I became a teacher for one reason: school supplies. Maybe I am over-simplifying matters. In actuality, I had planned on being an orthodontist, but life happens and adjustments are made. Shortly after starting college, I got married and moved from Oklahoma to South Carolina. At the time, I was a military wife and the prospect of attending dental school seemed far-fetched. I needed a career that would allow me to work anywhere. Teaching seemed like a safe bet.
I know a lot of teachers choose the profession because they love kids. However, for me, that wasn’t the case. Although the kids have become one of my favorite aspects of the job, they weren’t the reason I started. For me, it was my obsession with school supplies: the markers, the pens, coordinating binders and pencil bags. Education offered me the chance to use those materials every day at work. Plus, I created lesson materials and classroom décor. Many times, I spent weeks of my summer vacation deciding on the theme for my classroom. Then, I built a collection of materials that would reflect that theme to anyone who entered. Picking out the borders, letters, and material for my bulletin boards. Creating table top signs, job charts, and incentive plans that would tie everything together. Planning and designing has always been my favorite part of teaching.
The Creative Call
If you know anyone who works in education, you know that there are years when the students are amazing and super easy to work with. However, there are years when it takes all your effort to get up and go to school each morning. During those years, I longed to change careers. When I thought about what I would do instead of education, I never considered dental school. Every possible alternative centered around creativity and design. I thought about opening my own scrapbooking business, becoming an interior designer, or going back to school to learn graphic design.
I actually had a small craft business for a bit. During Christmas, I would sell paper craft items that I made in my spare time for the people I worked with. Over time, I exhausted that audience and didn’t have a way to reach more people. Although I had a strong desire to chase this dream, I didn’t have the support at home or the money needed to invest in my business. Truthfully, paper was my medium, and I thought I had very few skills beyond scrapbooking and paper crafting.
Following the Call
Then about three years ago, my outlook started to change. I went through a difficult divorce. There was a time the idea of that divorce would have incapacitated me. However, thanks to God, I emerged a better version of myself. During the separation and divorce, I spent a lot of time figuring out who I was and what I wanted to do with my life. I continued to scrapbook and paper craft, but I also started learning to draw and hand-letter. At the same time, I worked on a master’s degree in library science and discovered new digital tools and skills. When I became a librarian, I had more time on my hands to practice these new skills. Then, I began researching opportunities for creatives.
I knew I wanted to reach a wider audience with my creativity than before. Soon, it became clear that a blog was a fairly safe and easy place to start. At first, I wanted to create a book review blog with the occasional craft project. I worked on this idea for about a year, but I could never quite get it up and running. Because I had already selected and purchased a domain name, I thought I had to stick with my original plan. I tried adapting librarian with a latte into a design blog. Still, I knew if I wanted to be found by other people, my blog name had to reflect my blog’s niche.
Becoming the Bookish Designer
Finally, my new husband encouraged me to pick a new domain name and do what I really wanted to do. He was right, of course, and so the Bookish Designer was born. I’ve been working on this blog for about two-weeks. It’s coming together so much easier than the first one. I think this is because I am finally on the right path. I am pursuing the dream God placed in my heart a long-time ago.
Although it has taken me awhile to get here, I am excited about the journey I will take as the Bookish Designer. My ultimate dream is to work each day from home in my pajamas drinking coffee and making pretty things. Until I get there, I plan to continue adding to my creative skill set. Using my love of color, patterns, and fonts, I will design beautiful original artwork for home décor, stationary, scrapbooking, and more. I haven’t figured out my exact place in the design world, but I am fairly certain it’s where I am meant to be. Each week at bookishdesigner.com, I will share the projects I am working on, tips and tricks I learn along the way, and inspiration for the creative journey. I hope you will join me.
Until next time,
Michelle