Painting Kits

Hey all! Guess what? It is finally happening! I can proudly say I am ready to present to you my adorable new watercolor card making kits!

I gotta be honest though, this process has been quite the undertaking. I mean, tears for days and so many “fuck its” I lost count. At this point some of you might be wondering, “Wow Jess! What in the world were the issues?” Well, pull up a seat my friend and let me regale you with this little hero’s journey.

Starting something new is always a vulnerable situation to put yourself in. Why? Because there is a 99.9% chance you are not going to be good at it. It’s a brutal truth. Most of us thoroughly enjoy being good at things and so we stay securely nestled in our comfort zones. If I don’t try anything new I won’t fail. I won’t feel embarrassment or the sting of disappointment. Everything about creating this kit is new to me.

I had a vision of what I wanted and began by making everything by hand. The case: I designed it and hand stamped each one individually not forgetting to add a ribbon to the zipper for optimal cuteness. The palette: I fussed over what colors blend together beautifully and how to provide the actual paint in the kit. I cut and folded each bit of paper. The pattern: I tediously drew each one and made a way to transfer it. I wanted you to feel like you received something incredibly special, something that someone lovingly labored over and cared about deeply.

Then came the video tutorial. . . Dear God in heaven this was the most trying thing for me. I am shy! I hate when I have to leave a message because I hate the sound of my voice. I am also not fond of cameras. Sprinkle in the fact that I have zero tech savvy skills and you have a perfect storm of awkward.

Last step, give kits out to “safe people” and see if they can create some cards and provide me with a little feedback. Remember when I just said the video content was the hardest thing? That was a lie, this was. Talk about exposed. I put it all out there and asked people to judge it. Gulp. Most of the feedback was fine. Some of the feedback was extremely painful but I learned from it all.

Fast forward 6 months, after giving out samples for research purposes and making what feels like a million and 1 tweaks to the kits, here we are. I’m proud of myself. These are by no means perfect but they are authentic. These kits are my little babies and I’m hoping they will be embraced and loved. I hope that if you purchase a kit it brings you an abundance of joy and you create your little heart out! My other hope is that now that I’ve made one kit there will be momentum enough for multiple options. I’ll keep you posted.