Do you wear different hats? Do you juggle family, life, work, hobbies, household duties and general adulthood?
Do you dream big?
I do. I do all of these things. Sometimes I rock it, sometimes I struggle, sometimes I just plain fail.
But I keep dreaming and doing, and I am here to share my journey with you.
I am Ellen. I am a mom of two. I am a wife. I am an artist. I am a woodworker. I am a business owner. I am a designer. I am a doer. I am a dreamer.
I started my maker journey as sophomore in college when I declared fine art as my major. I graduated with a BFA, emphasis in sculpture. I had to decide how to keep making without the wide assortment of high-end tools provided by art school. After graduation, in a new town, in our new rental home I set up a makeshift garage woodshop and started making again. I haven’t stopped since. My shop has grown, my tools are better, my skills have improved and making is my main gig. Wow, am I lucky!
The art of furniture making is my passion, form and function are my fuel, and my hands create the work I dream up. I am a trial and error sculptor. Plans are no more than a simple sketch on an envelope and often never drawn out. I am guided by the process and material. I am always adapting and learning, and the occasional fail is eventually celebrated as a lesson learned.
I have always loved interior design. As a young child I watched HGTV instead of cartoons, I constantly rearranged my room, and always obsessively organized everything I could get my hands on. Two words, Label Maker. These things are still true two decades later. I love designing for purpose, creating spaces with functional style and the pieces that make a room work. I am constantly renovating our fixer-upper, building for my kids, and designing spaces and ‘purpose pieces’ for clients and my family.
I am a maker business, making more than furniture. Learning to balance life, physical making, bookkeeping, marketing, selling and networking.
Above all else, I am a mom. Motherhood is my calling. I carried a babydoll on my hip for far too long (like embarrassingly too long). My kids are my inspiration and my kryptonite. I work around their lives and they work alongside mine. We keep a minimal(ish) home. We function best without clutter, but we have more than a handful of toys, books, and plates. We read many books, my kids deserve toys as tools for their imaginations, and we love a good party and don’t expect our guests to eat out of their hands. I am the mom that goes way overboard on birthday parties and Halloween costumes. I love making and I love my littles. Naturally the things I make are often directly related to their sweet little souls. Motherhood is a journey; it is hard. It is fun and it is a lot of work. I am by no means an expert and our life can be pretty comical, but why not share? Everyone could use a good laugh, or cry.
As a wearer of many hats, I am a sharer of many things. Woodshop experiments, tools, tricks, projects, and functionality. Furniture pieces, process, fails, and finishing. Rooms and spaces that work for a purpose while still being beautifully and peacefully styled. I run a home based business that provides for our family. It’s hard, and I am still figuring things out. I am always looking for pointers and tricks to manage my time, sell my work, and maintain contact with clients and customers. Have any tips? PLEASE SHARE!
I want to grow as an artist and business. I want to share my designs, step by steps on projects, and tricks I have picked up along the way. I will remain transparent about motherhood, making, and entrepreneurship. No ride is without bumps and the occasional flat tire, let’s travel together and figure it out as we go.
I am so excited to share my dreams, my successes and challenges as I navigate my wonderfully wild life.
