Happy March 1st! As many of you know, I celebrate the first day of the month to remind those that every month, every day is a new beginning! If you are on my email list, you have been receiving an email on the first of every month as a happy reminder. Happy First started out in 2007 as a movement, a philosophy, to inspire others to "find your passion and pursue it". The egg logo represents the limitless potential for growth living inside each one of us. I believe everyone has creativity inside just waiting to burst out of it's shell.
Happy First's product line started with women's tees, then baby and kids clothing, then yoga wear for people "to wear happiness on their sleeve". I started a blog to reach out to others and share my optimistic philosophy. I envision it as a community of ideas and people encouraging each other. I wanted to share my cancer story-Hodgkin's Lymphoma-to give hope to others and connect with each other. I didn't want cancer to define me or Happy First, that's just what I went through to get to my new beginning. Everyone goes through something and the Happy First philosophy is about starting over and realizing your potential.
Back to the clothing- I got busy selling on my site and to stores and doing shows. Somehow over the years my creativity has been suppressed and put on the back burner. I started getting busy with the business of selling clothing and promoting. My business was pulled in different directions, due to me listening to others instead of myself. I didn't know what my passion was! I was getting burned out. I wasn't "Happy First"!
So for the last 2 years I have been "incubating" on a creative journey. I have many mentors that have guided me to find my creative self. I will tell you what they told me in upcoming blog posts. I am learning to let go of some things and and streamline and declutter to make time and make way for what I truly want to do. I have found that I love to draw, draw, draw. I get in the creative zone and get lost. The hardest part has and still is making time to get creative. I have immersed myself in books and videos. I am taking classes both online and in person on Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, drawing, art journaling, printmaking, even knitting! I love learning-always loved school and I have loved to do all things creative ever since I was little. It makes me so happy!
I have created time and space to just be and let go and the weird thing is that that's when things started happening! I started designing notecards and notepads this past fall and friends and stores just started to order without me really trying to get orders. I am now also designing logos for people and loving it. Another exciting thing coming up is my illustration will be the cover of my author friend Kayce Hughlett's new book "Blue"coming out this fall. Kayce has been instrumental in me finding my artist self.
On the right is my first logo I designed for my friend Kayce.
I have learned to BE ME. Embrace the way I draw and create, and not worry about what people think!
I have been wanting to tell you all for some time but haven't taken the time to sit down and write. I still don't have it all figured out. Happy First will be changing but the philosophy is stronger than ever. I am actually living my dream of being an artist and illustrator and being "Happy First". I am truly finding my passion and pursuing it. I want you all to come along with me! Everyone is good at something and has potential; it is just taking the time to reflect and figure it out. Then taking action, even if small at first!
I am still decluttering and streamlining. I need to clear space both physically and mentally to create NEW. I am having a huge sale on my site, check it out! Great time to stock up on tees and baby gifts and to get some fun things for spring break.
I have so much more to share with you but don't want this to be a super long blog post, so just keep watching (join my blog feed and join my email list) for the next post.
Celebrate a new month and find your next adventure and find yourself!
What's your word for 2011?
Where did January go? Did you set any goals, resolutions? It's not too late! Every day is a new day! That is what the egg in Happy First represents-new beginnings, breaking out of your shell.
Last year I chose the word Create. I looked up the definition in the dictionary and it means "to bring something into existence, to cause something to happen as a result of one's actions." Part of what Happy First is all about is breaking out of your shell. I believe everyone has creativity inside and will be happiest when they burst out!
I am happiest when I am creating. I love to play in my craft room and draw and sew. I felt like I wasn't making time anymore for fun things like that in my life so I decided to focus on it. My friend Amy and I ended up taking a knitting class last year. I still didn't get to do as much as I wanted to do creatively last year so I am still working on it. For Christmas I got a Bamboo Fun Wacom tablet, which enables you to draw on your computer. I just need to block out time each week for me to be creative.
This year my new word is Pursue. The Webster's definition is "to find or employ measures to obtain or accomplish." My quote on www.happyfirst.com is "Find your passion and pursue it". I have lots of new ideas for Happy First and my life in general so this is my year to get out and pursue! To quit thinking and do!
Some other words people have come up with for this year (I posed this question on www.facebook/happyfirst ) are balance, lean into the fear, trust, love, overcome, inspire and believe.
So what is your word for 2011? I would love to see your ideas. It would be so much fun to share and inspire each other and maybe even be accountable to each other!