Connections and Creations
(Our sticker friends are not just cute; they also inspire creativity and fun. Use them to brighten up your workspace, share them with friends, or even gift them to someone special. Each sticker is a reminder to embrace your artistic side and celebrate the little moments in life.)
This year has gone by too quickly. I am terrible with time… I always think that I have not accomplished a thing because I am too busy working on what I want to do next. There is always something I am chasing. This year I am learning it is important to look back if you want to move forward. The most important thing, if you look back, is to be aware of how you are looking back. If you look behind you with resentment or regret you can become lost, you can lose time. If you look back to evaluate, accept, and learn, you can then take those thoughts and plug them into your goals and priorities.
This year we have some good reasons to look back. Tiffany and I have made so many leather, jewelry and transfer prototypes. We have recruited young family members who have helped us sample designs on t-shirts, hoodies, and other clothing as well as share with us the designs that catch their attention. Tiffany and Bethany made the whole family (more than 75 people) pajama sets with our designs, for Christmas!
We have been excited and happy to be involved in setting up a nonprofit in Potter County PA, that will help support and encourage creative entrepreneurs, with a heart toward improving our quality of life in this, our rural community. The Potter County Creative Council (PC3) will be a valuable asset and I look forward to sharing it with other local creatives!
We were also fortunate to be awarded a grant from Elk County Council on the Arts (ECCOTA) and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to participate in the CEA Program. We were given quality mentors to help with business and marketing. We are still currently working with Jason from the Small Business Development Center at PennWest University, and slowly working through the steps it takes to change a lifestyle into a living. We are grateful for the generous help from the Pa Wilds Coop team and look forward to using the system they have created for local artisans and entrepreneurs.
One of the tasks on our business building checklist is to get our designs into stores. We are enormously excited to announce the opening of The Wartrace Emporium in Wartrace Tennessee. This amazing creative hub and artistic boutique is under the visionary care and direction of Julie (The Professional Bohemians and Julie Barrett Mixed Media). She and my brother Benjamin thought this was exactly the kind of thing middle Tennessee needed. Being located almost exactly between Nashville TN and Chattanooga they feel that our gifted creative community in the Bedford County area can be a great destination point for all the bold and adventurous art lovers out there! You can find ProBoh tshirts, art bags, jewelry, stickers, and other Art pieces there, nestled happy amongst the work of our long time friends and creative community!
The last project of 2024 and first project of 2025 has been a valuable collaboration with Arowyn’s Realm. Arowyn (my daughter and the owner of Arowyn’s Realm) has built a tiny empire on TikTok and when we heard that TikTok was in serious jeopardy we had some worries. Being in rural Pennsylvania does not make having a career centered around selling handmade, on of a kind items easy. We decided to collaborate on designing the cutest little art doll we could possibly produce and deliver on a consistent basis. We have a new design up and running with so many ideas we are excited about. Thank you for the overwhelmingly positive response and we feel a little bad that they sell out immediately as they are listed. We will try to make enough so that everybody that yearns for one can have at least one squishy little darling of their own! (Please follow how this project develops and look for Arowyn’s weekly drop, Fridays at 6:00pm EST, on her website.)
I would like to close by saying Happy New Year to you all! I hope this year is filled with music, visuals, and experiences that encourage and inspire you! I hope you learn and grown and THRIVE! Thank you for being a part of our life. Thank you for your attention, kindness, and support. I hope that you appreciate us as much as we appreciate you!
