If you watch Bluey, that was my spin off of The Wise Old Wolfhound. If you don’t, I’ll try to keep my Bluey jokes to a minimum.

Anyway, hi! My name is Kelly, owner and freelance designer through my Etsy shop Plentiful Designs. After an eventful and eye opening round of research and reflection, I am focusing my efforts to bring you this DIY blog.

Why?

Well, as it turns out, the title says it all. My husband asked me a deep question about why it was so important to me to start a blog. I mean, I spent almost all morning trying to figure out the back-end business of running WordPress on a local server, enough so that I could even communicate with the jargon at the bare minimum with my cyber security level smarty-pants of a husband. I felt the need to at least try not to waste that glorious I-can’t-believe-I-got-hours-to-try-to-do-this time and ask for help.

Any parent at any parent level knows what I mean. Getting time is like hitting the lottery. So of course I wanted him to be somewhat proud of me that I understood what an Apache server was and that the firewall isn’t something I should punch holes in. At the very least, I learned that last one in sixth grade.

No, no… I couldn’t be letting him think I was so far gone that I didn’t know at least that one. With that being true, he did stall in his walk when I brought up Apache and couldn’t come to terms with why I would need to do that for writing on an already hosted blog.

The thought of which made me stop, panic a little, then reach out to BlueHost, where almost automatically their representative confirmed that hubs was right. As I calmed down, I still had this cloud hovering over my head. I stewed in it, fogged it up, then stewed again. Being deep in thought and a mom does not mix, however. There were needs. Desperate ones to fix, such as occupying the same space. Not playing, just fulfilling the udder need to know that I did in fact still live there, and was not, by any means, looking at a screen.

My children were aware of my workings and had applied the: Oh, Absolutely Not Act, letting me know that there would not be any reason to go back to said device. Or further more, figure things out. This is also applied to other, Please Apply the Sarcasm Amendments, and Motherhood: Knowing How to Put My Kids Before Myself Act.

My kids really are so important to me. There is fun and creativity in everything we do. At that particular moment though, it was time for lunch and I happen to know where the food is. …It’s in the kitchen. They won’t eat without me. Isn’t that sweet?

Anyhow, upon leaving my laptop and heading back into the real world that is our bustling, idea driven home, hubs came up to me and said, “I’m not trying to bust your bubble,” he paused, making sure I heard him. “Just, what are you trying to do with this?”

I didn’t even hesitate to say, “I want a place where I can put all of my ideas.” I looked around as if I could see them all within the room, my audience of the arts and media, before adding, “There’s so much.”

As the time stood still, and hubs was processing why I valued it so highly, the list continued in my head:

Stuff to help people.

Projects to try.

Activities to develop lesson plans with.

Actually cool connective reasons to do it.

Students might want to do more.

Truthfully, that last one is tested and approved by high school students while I did my student teaching at Arts High School in Newark. While both elementary and middle school students had the same excitement, high school, back then, was where I felt the most confident.

After becoming and being an active mother and going back into the workforce as an Applied Behavior Analysis Therapist (ABAT) as of last year, I love seeing the special way that each grade and age level shows that they’re ready. It’s almost like a maturing process, where we learn a skill and turn around and apply it. It’s amazing to see their AHA moments and I firmly believe that participating in art is the gateway to get there.

As hubs followed up with what I said, he was encouraging. He likes to give facts with a little bit of sweetness so I can cushion the fall, but then, he looks right at me. That one little message leaves his lips and I know he’s giving an unsung concert of support.

“Figure it out.”

For some, that might feel like being swatted away. As if the idea stopped with him and never mattered in the first place. That, friends, is not what it means.

“Figure it out,” felt like that for a long while, but eventually, I could see what he was saying. He’s giving me the reigns. He wants me to, in all of my assertiveness, apply myself.

Over the years, he’s learned that I will figure it out. He knows full well, that obstacles will fall away, and I’ll know what I know, like a science.

Does that mean that I know everything? No, that’s ridiculous. That’s a huge amount of pressure to work with and stress is not the game plan here.

What I mean is that if I experience “figuring it out” I can turn around and teach it. I can welcome learning the opportunity in depth. I can explore more than one application of it. In a sense, it is the art or the process of learning.

So when I hear hubs say those three freeing words, I know that he supports me. I know that he might not have the answers I’m looking for, but he won’t let me fail in the answers he has.

That’s a good hubby.

Of course, that doesn’t clarify my initial position. It feels nice. It’s just, not specifically all I needed. I still had a floating blog host that was paid for the entire year. What was I going to do?

Last year I chickened out. I went right to WordPress.com and attempted a blog there. Only, I wasn’t entirely sure what to categorize it in. The blog had so much to do with wellness and slice of life entries that when I’d add my learning sessions as an ABAT, it kind of made a mess of things.

This time, I’ve got it. I don’t know why it didn’t come to me before.

Plentiful Designs is the name of the game throughout my entire life’s focus. My freelance business is fun. It’s been a wild ride of connecting with all types of individuals with beautiful ideas and goals. Like all of them, I too have ambitions that I’d like to share with readers on this blog.

Here, there will be art in many fields. There will be more of the process—the behind the scenes. There will be instructions on how to do what I have, so you can enjoy the end result too. Here, I’ll be sharing more.

It is an effort to do such things. However, in a way, I’m hoping to remind readers here that video tutorial and shorts are often edited. I want to remind readers that there’s no shame in the time it takes the artist to create their work… That speeding through, if even using the time shortening edit, is not helpful to the human mind. It creates unnecessary stress.

The mind will combat the problem and desire control. Here, we’ll avoid that. We’ll work through problems and come up with great solutions with the ability to finish what you’ve started.

Many of my DIY projects fall within the art world. There’s traditional art, digital art, the art of gardening and landscape design, culinary arts, and artisan crafts that are all combined with the art of teaching.

To give accreditation to my claims of being able to not only teach but also my background in the arts, I did graduate as an art teacher, years ago, in 2008 from Montclair State University. I hold my Certificate of Eligibility with Advanced Standing for New Jersey as well as my own business as mentioned earlier.

With that said, I can’t wait to dive into the seemingly endless possibilities art and a positive outlook can supply.

Thanks for reading and see you soon!