Make What You Love with Katie Sabin

Caroline Hull December 10, 2019

I was so happy to speak with today’s guest, Katie Sabin. Katie is a maker who got started on her creative journey after having her twins and realizing she wanted to create something for herself. Today she shares how she got started with her Etsy shop and how her husband helped her come up with her business name, Just Add Sunshine. We discuss imposter syndrome and how she struggled with identifying as a “creative” and “artist”. Like me, Katie feels most alive when making things with her hands. In fact, she’s made it a practice to spend time creating every single day because it helps her feel more like herself.

What’s in this episode:

How Katie got her start on her creative journey after having her twins
How she got started selling at craft shows
Getting started with her Etsy shop
How Katie and her husband came up with her business name
Why she struggled to identify with being called a “creative” and an “artist”
How Katie’s home is set up for her work
Where she finds her inspiration for her work
How Katie and Amy met each other
How she got into creating stickers
What balance means to Katie and how she manages her role as a mom, wife and creator
How exercise has helped Katie in all areas of her life
Where Katie wants to go next with her business
How she crafts a life that she loves by surrounding herself with things and people that she loves and finding inspiration from things around her
Katie’s advice for someone wanting to make their hobby a side business
Her advice for staying positive during hard times

About Katie:

Katie Sabin is a maker, a creator and owner of Just Add Sunshine Inc, a successful at-home Etsy shop that is filled with colorful signs and happy stickers. She is married to her high school sweetheart, a mom to four great kids, and an avid crafter. Katie loves bright colors, creating of any kind and filling her home with positive, uplifting messages.

Connect with Katie:
Etsy Shop | Facebook | Instagram

Links:
The Original ScrapBox (USE CODE: AMYTANGERINE for $100 off any furniture)
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
The Magnolia Story by Chip Gaines, Joanna Gaines and Mark Dagostino
Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff by Chip Gaines

I would love to hear from you! Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. If you enjoyed this podcast and you haven’t already, I’d like to encourage you to subscribe that way you won’t miss a single update. Craft a Life You Love by being true to you and finding what works best for your family’s happy, harmonious life. Continue to focus on the good and look at the positive side of things.

Creating Atomic Habits with James Clear

Caroline Hull December 3, 2019

As 2020 is approaching, I thought today’s guest would be the perfect person to come on and chat about forming better habits that are aligned with who you want to become. I was joined by James Clear, author of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. James and I discuss why he first became obsessed with habits and the best ways to set yourself up for success when creating new habits. He shares how social norms affect habits, the three core ideas of atomic habits and how to become an architect of your habits.

What’s in this episode:

How James got started as an author, writer and entrepreneur
Why he became obsessed with habits
How starting a business made him research how habits are made
Looking at habits as an entry point, not an endpoint
Giving yourself permission to show up, even if it’s in a small way
Why you shouldn’t use time as an excuse for what you want
What environment design or resetting the room is
Creating an environment that leads to the path of least resistance
How social norms affect habits
The three core ideas of Atomic Habits
Becoming an architect of your habits rather than a victim
Why your habits matter for embodying the identity of who you want to be
How the greatest outcomes are often delayed
Becoming comfortable with sharing your life
How to break a bad habit

About James:

James Clear is an author and speaker focused on habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur, Time, and on CBS This Morning. His website receives millions of visitors each month and hundreds of thousands subscribe to his popular email newsletter at jamesclear.com.

Connect with James:
Website | Instagram | Facebook

Links:

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
TextExpander
A Manual for Living by Epictetus
The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant
Clear Habits Journal Planner

I would love to hear from you! Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or on my website. If you enjoyed this podcast and you haven’t already, I’d like to encourage you to subscribe that way you won’t miss a single update. Craft a Life You Love by adopting better habits for a more creative, healthy, happy and productive life.

Digging Deeper for Inspiration with Alisha Cohen

Caroline Hull November 19, 2019

We’re all so fortunate to be able to do work that is fun and creative every day. No matter who you are, how old you are or what stage of life you’re in - following your passions and what’s meaningful to you is always an option. Sometimes this means making big moves. Today I am joined by Alisha Cohen, a photographer, stylist and creative director who had a dream of leaving her corporate job to pursue something more creative. We discuss how she came to start her own creative agency and how she’s used platforms like Instagram to grow her business. She shares how she finds inspiration, the importance of setting boundaries as a creative and how she overcomes fears when starting a new endeavor.

What’s in this episode:

Alisha’s creative journey and wanting to transition out of the advertising agency
Making the leap to start her business
Why Alisha decided to do an Instagram meet up
How Alisha uses her Instagram as a portfolio
A typical day in Alisha’s life and what she’s working on
Her experience of moving to LA
Setting boundaries for yourself as a creative
Alisha’s creative process and how she finds inspiration from clients
Her advice for breaking into what you want to do
Alisha’s favorite part of her business
Amy and Alisha’s trip to Bermuda
Overcoming fears when starting a new endeavor
Moving into corporate training and teaching brands about creating consistent content
How Alisha crafts a life that she loves
Her experience of hiring her first employee and how she works with her team
Collaborating with brands for her wedding day

From Alisha:
I’m a photographer, stylist, creative director, and entrepreneur, but my story starts with an iPhone and a dream. I had no real photography training at all, and I got serious about Instagram as an experiment. I thought that If I could work to build a brand, agencies would hire me to do the same for the clients. The plan worked, and as a recent college grad, I was working as a social media manager and creative strategist for global brands in the advertising industry.

But I ended up hating it. I wanted the chance to be more creative and to develop my own point of view. I turned to Instagram once again and it quickly became my creative outlet. I shared the colors and things around me that brought me joy and people started to notice. Brands asked me if I could take photos for their Instagram accounts, so I bought a camera, learned how to use it through an online course, and went to work.

I hustled every night and weekend, creating content and building a client base. I would take conference calls on my 9-5 lunch break and meet potential clients at coffee shops near my office. When I had to start turning away clients because of my 9-5, I knew it was time to make a change. So at the age of 23, I left the advertising industry to focus on LISH creative full-time.

In the 3+ years since starting my agency, a lot has changed. I went from styling photos by myself in my parent’s spare bedroom in Pittsburgh, to moving into a Los Angeles Studio and hiring a team to help.

Personally, I got married, and my husband Graham finished medical school. He matched into an orthopedic surgery residency program, yay! So for the next 5 years, we’ll be living in the midwest and working to make our new house feel like a home.

Connect with Alisha :
Life with LISH | LISH Creative | Instagram

Links:
Bermuda Travel Vlog
Mixbook Photo Co.
Anagram Balloons
The details we SPLURGED and SAVED on for our wedding at Pittsburgh’s Energy Innovation Center!
Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee

Community Over Competition with Bonnie Kuhl

Caroline Hull November 12, 2019

As a creative business owner, it’s oh so important to develop a community of support to keep you going. On today’s episode, I am joined by Bonnie Kuhl, founder of Archer and Olive, a paper goods studio that she created after realizing the therapeutic benefits of journaling. We talk about the importance of community over competition and supporting other people in business. She shares how she set up a sourcing process, her experience with using a fulfillment center and how she knew it was time to hire a team. We discuss how being diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and bipolar disorder led her to journaling and her tips for sharing what you do with the world.

What’s in this episode:

How Bonnie got started in creating journals and notebooks
Recognizing a void in the market and deciding to go for it
The process of growing a team and when she realized she needed help
Bonnie’s advice for getting through overwhelm
Getting to the point where you need to pause and take a break to avoid burnout
Being diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and bipolar disorder
How Bonnie has used journaling and art to cope with anxiety
How she films her videos and the importance of working with what you have
Using a fulfillment center and when she knew she was ready to use one
The sourcing process she went through to create her products
Dealing with knock offs and copycats from other brands
Developing your community in business
Supporting other creatives and cheering other people on
Why Bonnie has decided to do collaborations with other creatives
Working with Amy to create a 2020 planner and sticker pack
Filling up empty spaces while allowing for white space in your journal
Why it’s so hard to be vulnerable and open up online
Being a new mom and navigating motherhood
The power behind showing your messes in an authentic way
Bonnie’s tips for sharing what you do online
How Bonnie runs her e-commerce business

From Bonnie:

Journaling has radically changed the way I experience the world around me. My self-discovery journey started at university when I received a life-changing diagnosis. After learning I had bipolar disorder and general anxiety disorder, I struggled to navigate each transition while prioritizing my own mental health. The overwhelming pressure to have it “all figured out” followed me wherever I went. It wasn’t until a mentor introduced me to the power of journaling that I began to fully embrace life with my diagnosis. Paired with doctor-prescribed treatment, journaling helped me organize my thoughts, reduce my anxiety, and take control of my mental health. After experiencing my own transformation, I set out to share the empowering tool of journaling with as many people as possible through my paper goods studio, Archer & Olive. We design dot grid journals and daily agenda planners to help ambitious, purpose-driven people like you achieve your goals and exercise your creativity while giving you the tools to manage your mental health.

Connect with Bonnie:
Website | Instagram | Facebook

Links:
Amy Tangerine for Archer & Olive Dated 2020 Planner + Sticker Pack (USE CODE: AMY10 for 10% off)
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

I would love to hear from you! Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or on my website. If you enjoyed this podcast and you haven’t already, I’d like to encourage you to subscribe that way you won’t miss a single update. Craft a Life You Love by choosing community over competition, and you and those you surround yourself with, will always win.

Not Chasing Perfection with Adele Toomey

Caroline Hull October 30, 2019

Life as a creator comes with its own set of challenges. Today I am chatting with my friend, Adele Toomey about all things scrapbooking and life as a YouTuber. We dive into how she got hooked on all things creative and how she manages her day to day as a wife, mom, creative and YouTuber (did I mention she runs not one, not two, but three different YouTube channels?). We chat about why she decided to create three different channels for her subscribers and how to figure out what content your viewers like best as a creator. She discusses what challenges she faces as a YouTuber including what she does when she hits a creative rut and how she overcomes mom guilt.

What’s in this episode:

What Adele did before she discovered scrapbooking
How Amy and Adele met
How she got hooked on all things creativity
Keeping up with scrapbooking and bulking her work
A typical day in Adele’s life as a creator, YouTuber and mom
Why Adele has three separate YouTube channels and how to figure out what your viewers like the best
How Adele stays inspired when she hits a creative block by looking at her supplies in a new way
The rollercoaster of feeling like you have too many ideas with not enough time vs. not enough ideas and hitting a creative rut
How her background as a teacher has helped her with her work
Dealing with mom guilt and how this affects your creative work
Adjustments that Adele will make to make her creative process flow easier
How to handle negative feedback on YouTube
Why Adele recommends having free content to go along with your paid content

About Adele:

My name is Adele and I am a paper-holic.

Yes, it may have taken years for me to admit it…but alas it is true. I am a primary school teacher by day (fourth year on Kindergarten this year) and often use the excuse “Oh, but I need it for work!” to justify my paper purchases. My husband has learned to “smile and nod” at my excitement over paper quality and adhesive possibilities…

I have been recording memories using art journals for many years but have embraced Project Life style scrapbooking for the last 2 years. I scrap weekly and use multiple inserts for each week due to the large amount of photos I take. I am almost finished my fourth PL volume for 2014 alone…eeek!

I love recording the simple moments in life, as well as the fun social times. As PL is my only means of photo-keeping, I tend to include as many important moments as possible through photos to remember life in years to come. I am an embellishing queen and cannot deem a layout complete without an embellishment cluster…or two…or three! I am also hoping to create an epic pocketed scrapbook style wedding album in the next few months.

Links:
Project Life
Spotlight
Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

I would love to hear from you! Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or on my website. If you enjoyed this podcast and you haven’t already, I’d like to encourage you to subscribe that way you won’t miss a single update. Craft a Life You Love by taking a small step toward spreading joy for what lights you up, even if it’s simply making a kit of supplies so you can get creative on the couch!