Hello and welcome to the new Black Sheep 303 Creative! If you are new to my blog then this won’t seem like any big deal but if you are a returning visitor, you are probably like “WTF?” When I started my blog and more prominently, my YouTube channel, in August 2016 I was not at a great place in my life. I was depressed. I had a series of jobs in the interior design industry over a number of years that were a bad fit for me and left me wanting to run for the hills as a designer. I needed some healing. I decided to try my hand at card making tutorials since this is a hobby I love and have always admired the people on YouTube who inspired me and others with their creativity. I spent a bit over 2 years doing that and managed to grow my YouTube channel to nearly 5,000 subscribers and was able to make enough money to pay for my supplies used in videos. But, in June of 2018 I needed to get a part-time job to provide more money in my household income and this resulted in complete video burn out by December 2018.
A LITTLE HISTORY
I was on the Design Team for Elizabeth Craft Designs in 2017 and 2018. For those who don’t know, this means that the company gave me free supplies in exchange for doing posts for them. They required 4 posts a month (2 on their site and 2 on mine) which isn’t that many as far as design teams go, by the way. With working a job 3 days a week, that meant I could only produce 1 blog/video post a week and that had to be for Elizabeth Crafts (4 weeks in a month, 4 required posts). If you don’t already know, shooting, editing and uploading videos to YouTube including creating the project, taking photos, etc. is A LOT of work. Maybe I’m slow, but it took me 2 full days to shoot and edit one video and create the accompanying blog post. Unfortunately, having to stick to exclusively Elizabeth Craft Designs projects was limiting me creatively (not that they don’t have great products, mind you because THEY DO) and my viewership was falling off on YouTube. I gave up on Instagram altogether (no time – something had to give) and all of this was leading to less income from my blog and channel. Also, between being tired from my job and being “required” to produce videos, my projects were becoming less and less inspired. By the time Christmas 2018 rolled around, I was off the Elizabeth Crafts Design Team for 2019 and really didn’t want to be forced to do another card making project for the foreseeable future. Hence no new videos (yet) on YouTube in 2019.
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY LIFE?
During this break, I began to think more and more about what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I wanted to work for myself, doing a primarily creative something but what would that be? I am no spring chicken and time feels like it is moving more rapidly than ever theses days. I have worked several different types of jobs over the years but nothing has really clicked for me like interior design. But, I really didn’t want to go back to work for someone else and I didn’t want to open my own design firm just doing design projects for clients and nothing else. I wanted to make a living do all of the things I’m good at and I wanted to do it in a different way that focuses on helping you, my reader, not only create a space that looks nice but one that expresses who YOU are and how YOU want to live and makes you HAPPY! The most common question I get asked is something like – “Oh, you’re an interior designer? What’s the style that you design in?” Well, the answer is “YOUR style.” I am not about imposing my style on YOUR space but helping YOU discover YOUR style and then providing a map (colors, fabrics, furniture, tile, cabinets – whatever is needed) for how to bring what YOU want to life. I’m not living in your house/office/store/RV, YOU are so it should reflect what is unique about YOU!!
THE NEW FOCUS
As a result of this, the new Black Sheep 303 has been born. I won’t be giving up crafty projects entirely because I still love them and really enjoy DIY projects as home decor. For now, my intention is to focus on YOU and helping you bring your own interior design ideas to life. But there is a black sheep twist – I am not your normal shiplap and neutrals farmhouse loving blogger. I love color! I love pattern! I love the unusual and the out-of-the-ordinary! I encourage people to take risks and embrace their uniqueness. There will also likely be a healthy dose of my personal life and quirky sense of humor to add to the advice, ideas and tips. I hope you will join me on a fun-filled adventure into the space of your dreams!