finding myself via maya road

i still can't quite believe my luck on this one. there's so much to this story and i've been trying to figure out just how to share it all in a cohesive manner. here goes :)

last july, i was leaving CHA, the show floor was closed and tear-down was well under way. i hadn't had a chance to stop by maya road and really talk with caroline much during the show, anyone's who's been to CHA knows that the maya road booth is always busy. it's something i always try to do, chat with caroline at the show. caroline and i have gone from casual acquaintances (due to the proximity of the october afternoon booth where i was working 4 years ago to the maya road booth) to facebook friends a couple of years ago (funny story there, will share in a minute), to actual friends.

i thought this might be one of my last shows and just wanted to stop and share with her how much i enjoyed actually seeing her every six months. i told her of my decision to not renew a contract i  had coming up, and that i probably wouldn't be in CA. that's when she asked me if i'd like to try out for her design team. hello out the blue question!

here's that funny story:
a couple of years ago, there had been a lovely mini album shared on facebook, i messaged caroline saying how lovely it was and that she had an amazing design team. i mentioned that i'd never be on her team because a: i couldn't put that many products together, and b: i was so not a mini album person. i freak out at the thought. that was the last we discussed it.

until that day in late july.

i have always loved when i'd get a pack of maya road products in a kit. i think these little clouds and suns were some of my all time favorites.

i was even inspired to make a MINI mini album because of maya road chipboard (yes, i said i freaked out a at the thought, but once i get an idea, i do enjoy the process and the completed project).

see completed album here

and while i don't consider myself a user of mists (it just doesn't sound right to say a mister :), i do use them a lot to recolor things or in small doses, like how i masked this journaling block on this layout:

i like hydrangea blue maya mist. a lot.

but you'll notice, i don't use a lot product, by any manufacturer. so when caroline asked me that question, i think i said yes because i was in shock :)

however, i did try out, caroline coaching the whole way by reminding me to just be myself when i was creating, don't try to use the maya road products like i think someone else might. here's what i came up with:

the beginning of my love affair with chevrons, which really are just a bunch of ric-rac, which if you know me, you know i have loved that stuff for a long time...

notice, this is a mini album. 

here's what it sort of looks like inside. i stamped all the different things we were up to in september on the canvas pages.

i decided to not analyze what exactly caroline sees in me as a designer, i'm just going to love this new journey i'm on. i'm still pinching myself that i'm a part of this amazing company. 

in my post from a few days ago, i shared that i'd been struggling (don't worry, it's all good, i promise) and that while trying to figure this thing out, my creativity had suffered. i've been creating the whole time, and i've been proud of what i've made, but it's been a lot harder to tell my stories. i might have even mentioned that i didn't have any more stories to tell. well, in creating for maya road's booth this last month, being able to use any paper i wanted, be it brand new releases or OLD OLD OLD stuff, i found that spark of creativity again. it was fun to just play. i had to still use maya road products, but that was easy because i could make it mine. i could emboss, paint, or spray the chipboard. i could make the flowers and ribbons any color i wanted with mists. i could just play. 

so thank you caroline for seeing something in me and helping me get past the hopeless place i was in. i am really glad i stopped by the booth that day. and someday i might stop freaking out about making a mini album.

stay tuned next week for my CHA booth work, which included an assignment to make a mini album... and my take on working a booth that is ALWAYS busy.