Hi, I'm Jess.

I’ve loved creating since I was a kid. One project that I vividly remember working on was making clothes for my Barbies. I used the computer to make shapes filled with patterns which I then printed, cut out, and taped together to make “clothes” for my Barbies, Skippers, and Kellys. Sorry Ken, no homemade paper fashions for you. 

My love of creating probably comes from my mom. She had fun crafts for us kids to do in the summer, including painting t-shirts, friendship bracelets, pearler beads, plastic lace keychains, sun catchers, and always had supplies around for whatever we wanted to make. In the winter we made Christmas presents for our teachers and decorated cookies.

My enjoyment of the digital world probably comes from my dad. He is a computer programmer, so we always had a computer at home. He taught me a lot about how to use computers, but most importantly he modeled continual learning and staying up to date with new programs. 

As a teen and young adult I didn’t create as much, in part because I didn’t feel that my drawing skills were good enough. (Recovering-ish perfectionist here.) 

When I discovered drawing on my husband’s iPad, I remembered how much I enjoyed art. I got my own iPad and started drawing more for fun. 

At first, I used my drawings on cards for friends and family, and as stickers in my digital planner. 

Then, rather than keeping my art and digital design learnings all for myself, I decided to make them available for others to use. That’s the sort-of-short version of how Joyful Creative Co. came to be.