However, a little over one year later, three days before Thanksgiving to be exact, my husband lost his job of 20+ years as an equipment salesmen in the printing industry. That was a very scary time for us but I distinctly remember standing on my back deck talking on the phone to my mother-in-law and telling her, “I know God told me to be a stay at home mom and I don’t understand this at all, but I know when He brings it full circle I will stand back and say…..Well how cool was that?!!”

I’m typically one of “those people”... you know, the one’s that are usually done with Christmas shopping well before December begins. But having two small children in tow does not make for practical or even enjoyable shopping! So, I was behind that year. In light of the circumstances I decided to make the remainder of my gifts that year and opted for a medium that is my first love as an artist…watercolor painting.

It’s funny how God works!

It just “so happened” that two of the last gifts I had to buy were for my mamma and mother-in-law…two fairly new grand parents! So what better gift, I thought, than to give them something that my boys and I had made. We pulled out the paints and paper and began to play. And voila! My first painting was born!

I was promptly asked for more!

Later, as a surprise for my sister-in-law who had just had her first baby, I secretly collected tiny handprints and footprints from my new niece and painted her one as a baby gift. After picking it up from the frame shop I met my good friend Susan for lunch who immediately wanted to know all the details of who, what and where? After painting her one as a little “happy” she and another good friend Kathy convinced me to do a party. Susan, the queen of parties, hosted and Kathy designed the invitations and mailed them out.

This was an answered prayer!

Although my husband had gotten another job he had decided to make a total career shift away from printing – which meant starting at the bottom of the ladder again. So the extra income from my paintings was a real blessing!
As the demand for my paintings increased tons of offers from friends and family came in to do “anything but paint!” It became glaringly obvious I was going to have to do something.

So in 2009, in collaboration with my husband, we started a company from my idea and Doodlebugs, LLC was a go!

Now how cool is that!