This week, Margo is joined by illustrator and business owner Sarah Watts. Sarah graduated from Ringling College in 2008 with a BFA in Illustration but not without overcoming many struggles as a child including poverty. Luckily, her upbringing is what shaped her desire to have a creative (and successful) career. She landed her first job at Carter's/OshKosh, and then went on to design for International Greetings. In 2011, Sarah left the corporate world to pursue her work in art licensing and book illustration. She has collaborated with over 30 major clients ranging from brands like American Greetings and Hallmark, to publishing houses like Penguin Books and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Margo and Sarah discuss:

• How her childhood shaped her career and why she knew she always wanted to making a living as an artist
• The people that have shaped her within her career
• Why Photoshop is such a big part of her process
• The need to be willing to break rules
• Dismantling everything you were taught
• Incorporating fun into the workplace
• Her long term goals
• And much more!

Sarah's current work is focused on teaching Photoshop and drawing online, designing fabric for Ruby Star Society and running the stationery brand called Craftedmoon. She lives in Georgia with her husband and two daughters.

Sign up for 2021 From Paint to Pattern with Sarah Watts

Sign up for Explore Photoshop with Sarah Watts

Connect with Sarah:

sarahwatts.com

www.instagram.com/wattsalot

schoolformisfitmakers.com

Craftedmoon.com

Resources Mentioned:

Atomic Habits by James Clear

From wholesale home furnishings, to wholesale and retail artist, to tv host, to actor, to restaurateur, there aren't many things Aaron Foster hasn't dipped his toes into as a serial entrepreneur. Aaron and Margo go way back to a time where Aaron didn't even consider himself creative. That was until he began making license plate art which has been his main gig for the last 17 years. Aaron likes to keep things interesting as you will hear in this episode.

Margo & Aaron discuss:

• The traits of a good business partner
• The 80/20 rule and why it's not always a good thing
• Hitting his big break through creating the license plate map
• Why high standards can sometimes become an obstacle
• The importance of understanding your strengths and weaknesses
• Why you can be multi passionate and successful
• And much more!

Join the Relish Your Creativity membership today!

Connect with Aaron:

https://aaronfoster.myshopify.com/

@aaroncharlesfoster

@thefoodanddrink

This week, Margo is joined by multi-passionate creative, middle-aged first-time mama, impostor syndrome warrior, Korean BBQ connoisseur and the CEO and creative director at Dear Handmade Life, Nicole Stevenson. Nicole's desire to help other creatives pursue their dream business and discover the joy of making led her away from her own handmade business and into teaching, consulting, running her own workshop studio and eventually co-founding Dear Handmade Life in 2007. Now, she connects, educates and shortens the learning curve for other creatives by sharing what she's learned through the Dear Handmade Life events like Craftcation Conference, Patchwork Show and Camp Dear Handmade Life, blog and podcast.

Margo & Nicole chat about:

• Holding on to old stories/needing to change
• Shifting perspectives
• Treating social media as an opportunity instead of an obligation when it comes to business as a creative
• Why finding community and connection is so important for creatives and how Nicole's contributing to hers
• The benefits and challenges that have come with becoming a mom later in life
• Why you have to using the analytical and logical side of your mind when writing your dream story
• Allowing your business to expand, evolve, pivot, and change
• And so much more!

She has a BA and an MA in English from San Francisco State University and a dual "PhD" in crafting to keep your sanity and badass business skills from the School of Life.

Connect with Nicole:

https://dearhandmadelife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/dearhandmadelife/

Dear Handmade Life Podcast

Resources Mentioned:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/raymond-carver

https://www.heymavens.com/

Join the Relish Your Creativity Community today!

Playing small will rarely get you far but Nedira Hansen is living proof of what can happen when you trust your gut, invest in yourself, and believe in your work whole-heartedly. In this episode, Margo speaks with Nerida about her early career in textiles, business as both a creative and an agent, working with major design houses such as Disney, Mattel and Warner Brothers, and her newest endeavor, app creation.

Margo and Nerida discuss:

• Her start in textiles and what it was like working as a junior buyer for Target Australia
• The birth of Nerida Hansen Fabrics
• How to continuing to believe in yourself after facing rejection
• The challenges she faced in her career as well as the biggest challenges she sees for artists in the surface design industry
• Resources for ensuring your creative business is sound in all facets
• Her new app for connecting artists with buyers
• And so much more!

Nerida Hansen is at the top of her game in the textiles market and building a stand-alone business through representation of artists from all corners of the globe. She continues to work closely with local and international illustrators and surface art designers and her integrity and commitment to her brand and her team is inspiring.

Connect with Nerida:

www.neridahansen.com.au

https://www.instagram.com/neridahansenfabrics

https://patternfieldapp.com

Join the Relish Your Creativity Community today!

This week, Margo chats with artist and illustrator, Mara Penny. Mara's love of art began when she was young and spending days with her grandmother, an artist and astrologer, further fueled her artistic leanings. She eventually went to study both jewelry design and interior design in college, and now runs her own successful art business and is represented by Lilla Rogers Studio. Her artwork starts with pen on paper and making her own watercolor washes, and then she assembles each one digitally. Her clients and collaborators include Moda, American Greetings, and The Boston Globe. Mara lives with her husband and two children in Oakland, CA.

Margo and Mara discuss:

• Owning your style
• Progress by way of doing the work and honing your skills
• Putting yourself out there, facing rejection and stepping up to the challenges
• Long term goals
• Her manifesting skills
• Some of her favorite projects
• How to get licensing deals when you know nothing about licensing
• And so much more!

Connect with Mara:

www.marapenny.com

www.instagram.com/mara.penny

Resources Mentioned:

Make Art that Sells

Finch & Foxglove

Zoe Ingram

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year

Join the Relish Your Creativity Community today!

In this episode, Margo is joined by jewelry maker and owner of Grace Gow, Cat McCadden. Inspired by where the city meets the sea, Cat McCadden transforms oceanic forms into an extension of her modern and sophisticated style. Cat's art practice draws inspiration from the natural environment, the sea, and coastal culture. In her work, she mixes traditional metalsmith fabrication techniques, the lost wax casting process and an edgy eye for design with other traditional gemstone and jewelry references. The result is a hybrid contemporary style with textural motifs and lively depictions of oceanic forms.

Margo and Cat discuss:

• Her original hopes of being an architect
• Her journey from high end print and into art directing before having her entrepreneurial epiphany
• Her favorite part of the creative process
• How she got into teaching courses and why she loves it so much
• The three buckets to balance as a jewelry designer
• Her favorite mediums to create with
• The feeling she strives to create for her customers
• And so much more!

Cat has exhibited on the West and East coasts and currently sells her collection in over a dozen different cities from Boston, MA to Hanalei, HI. She maintains a retail e-commerce website, develops commissioned sculptural pieces, develops private-label product design solutions and re-imagines family heirlooms into new modern pieces for private clients. She currently lives and works on Vashon Island, Washington.

Connect with Cat:

https://www.gracegow.com/

https://www.instagram.com/gracegowjewelry/

In this episode, Margo is joined by maker and creator of Urban Craft Uprising, Kristen Rask. Kristen opened her first store, Schmancy in downtown Seattle in 2004 just before she started curating an annual show titled Plush You! at the shop that soon got international recognition. In its second year she received a book deal with f+w publishing to publish Plush You!: Loveable Misfits to Sew and Stuff. Since then she has come out with 7 more books. She started her first craft business when she was just 12 and has loved crafting and small business ever since.

Kristen and Margo discuss:

• Kristen's first creations and getting burned (and burnt out) by her largest buyer
• Sage advice for creatives interested in being vendors at craft show events
• Navigating in-person events in a COVID/Post-COVID world and the challenges that come along with it
• Why Lisa Congdon had her first show at Shmancy
• The importance of understanding logistics yet still jumping before you're ready
• The Artist's Way
• And much more!

Connect with Kristen:

Purchase books by Kristen Rask

Learn about Urban Craft Uprising

https://www.instagram.com/schmancytoys/

https://www.schmancytoys.com/

Margo is joined once again by Lisa Congdon. This time, to discuss pushing past your limiting beliefs and doing the hard things. Lisa specifically shares her experience of getting involved in gravel racing and recently competing in one of the hardest gravel races in the world - The Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder Race. Although this challenge was not directly related to her career necessarily, there is so much that can be taken away and compared to the challenges of getting creative, entrepreneurship, learning new skills, and so much more.

Lisa and Margo discuss:

• The importance of detaching from your work at times
• Challenging yourself in new ways
• Resilience and how we're often much more resilient than we think
• Feeding both your mental and physical endurance
• Why you have to get uncomfortable in order to level up
• And more!

Connect with Lisa:

https://lisacongdon.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lisacongdon/

Learn more about the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder Race

Margo goes solo in this episode and shares all about niching down. From practicing what you like, to understanding what you're good at, finding success in your creative career will require a niching of some sort. Margo dives into the many challenges of feeling novice in your business and how niching can actually help you expand as well as ways to reflect growth and the old adage, practice makes 'perfect'. Niching down is one of the many topics discussed in the Relish Your Creativity membership community which you can join today!

Learn more about Relish Your Creativity

Connect with Margo:

https://www.instagram.com/mtantau/

https://www.instagram.com/windowsillchats/

This week Margo is joined by Elizabeth Silver, a professional surface pattern designer and a licensed artist for the stationery, gift, and textile markets. With 18 years in the industry and hundreds of designs in her portfolio, she also teaches beginner surface pattern designers how to move past overwhelm and obstacles to create a profitable creative business in her 'Start Your Surface Pattern Design Business' course, a straightforward blueprint to help artists find clients, pitch their work with confidence, and build the business of their dreams. Elizabeth is passionate about design trends, keep-it-real business advice, and sugary treats.

Margo & Elizabeth discuss:

• How she honed her skills and the art of collaboration
• Her experience working with many well-known names in home and apparel
• Why she started her own business and the things necessary to make a creative business successful
• Understanding business finances and structuring
• The importance of connection within the art industry
• Awareness around personal wants and needs
• And so much more!

After diving head first into running her own business, Elizabeth branched out from textile design and now spends her days creating art for all kinds of industries, including stationery, dinnerware, stamps and socks. Working with clients to come up with trend forward illustrations and prints and then seeing those drawings become products on the shelf never loses its appeal. By designing for so many different end products she's learned a versatile set of skills that clients love. She is always looking for new ways to decorate the world.

Connect with Elizabeth:

http://www.elizabethsilver.com/

https://www.instagram.com/esilverdesign/

https://www.youtube.com/c/ElizabethSilver