So if you’ve been following me on Instagram (@acalculatedmess), you’ve seen that for the past month of so, I’ve been pretty active- posting every day, actually. The reason I started A Calculated Mess in the first place was that I was looking for something ELSE. Something that was other than employee/mother/girlfriend/etc. Something that was just for me, something that I loved.
Art has been a part of my passion for so long, but since I graduated art school in 2005, I have barely touched a brush or a pen or a pencil. So many things got in the way, and I felt that I had no choice but to let it go.
Sound familiar to anyone else?
When I started back to work after my maternity leave ended in January 2018, I began listening to podcasts- craft podcasts, to be specific. The first podcast I ever listened to was Elise Cripe’s podcast, Elise Gets Crafty. It was life-changing. Seriously, if this is you thing, give hers a listen; you won’t regret it.
Click the image to be taken to her page- you’ll find her podcast there, along with everything else AMAZING that she does!
She talks about small crafting businesses, and I was absolutely sucked in. I have binge listened to the entire podcast twice already, and I’m sure I’ll do it again. It was so informative and easy to listen to. I loved hearing the stories of these people’s small businesses, and I began to follow my favorites on Instagram.
But most importantly, it changed my view on how I was thinking about MYSELF, and what I was making time for. I decided about halfway through the podcast binge that it was time- time to get back to it.
Somehow I settled on hand lettering as my first leap back into art. I’m not really sure how, but it was probably related to one or more “rabbit holes” of the Explore functions on Instagram. I’ve always admired people that had nicer handwriting, and thought it was as good a thing as any to start.
It took a bit to decide on the name of my brand. I didn’t want something that was restrictive because I knew I’d want to explore multiple art disciplines, and I also wanted something that I could associate with being a mother since part of the difficulty in what I’m doing is balancing art with all the duties that come with being the mom of two kiddos.
One day it just came to me- A Calculated Mess. It was perfect. Calculated fits my enjoyment of things to be neat and orderly (just not my house- I do have kids, remember), as well as my love of ombre, rainbows, straight lines, and gifts that fit perfectly inside a gift box.
And Mess? Well, that part gives me permission. Permission to make messes. Permission to accept that messes happen. Permission to roll with the messes (a la Bob Ross, #happy accidents).
Logo Design ideas…
Another happy accident came with another IG page I was following, @the.pencilbox. Right around the beginning of November, they started a #my100dayjournal project. The idea was that you would keep a journal for 100 days- that’s it. No other rules, you didn’t have to post every day, you just had to use the hashtag and tag @the.pencilbox.
This was it- this was a way to get started AND be held accountable. I had been practicing hand lettering since July. I bought a book, I printed some practice sheets, even took a small four day course at my local community college. I felt like I had something started, and I wanted to keep that momentum going.
Some of my favorite posts so far…
Today is day 56/100, and I’m thrilled to say that I have written (either a journal page, or lettering) every day since the start of that project. I’m so happy with my progress that I’m working on a way to push myself even farther, PAST the hundred days. I’m working on something for the new year, and am planning a blog post for the 1st to explain all the details! I can’t WAIT to get started.
If you want to follow along, feel free to follow me on Instagram at @acalculatedmess. It’s been such a great experience so far, and I’m excited to where it will take me in 2019.