Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Amy Butler: Listen To The Taps and Follow Your Creative Heart
339 Plays3 months ago
Sometimes moving forward is a challenge, but as Amy Butler shared with us, “We are trained deeply to hold on to things that make us feel secure or understand ourselves. To understand myself further, I needed to grow and change and allow myself to do that.” Hear how she listened to the taps on her shoulder. Amy seeks to uplift people and create products that enrich their lives and inspire others to seek out and grow their own creativity. Throughout the years, Amy has created fabrics, patterns, books, and extensive collections of home decor, craft and fashion products. Through global workshops and retreats, Amy gets to align with other like-minded folks to explore local cultures around the world and bring about a sense of our deep-seated human connection.
WEB SITE: https://www.amybutlerdesign.com/
CARAVAN SOUK ONLINE STORE: https://www.amybutlerdesign.com/new-page-4
GLOBAL RETREATS: https://www.amybutlerdesign.com/global-retreats-workshops
BLOSSOM MAGAZINE: https://www.amybutlerdesign.com/new-page
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/amybutlerdesign/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/amybutlerdesign
Our Podcast is proudly sponsored by Jet Creative and UrbanStems! Jet Creative is a women-owned marketing firm committed to community and empowerment. If you are looking to build a website or start a podcast--visit JetCreative.com/Podcast to kickstart your journey. UrbanStems is your go-to source for fresh gorgeous bouquets flowers and gifts delivered coast-to-coast! USE: BLOOMBIG20 to save 20%!
Subscribe to this podcast and follow us on Instagram and Facebook @rebloom.podcast
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Hosts
00:00:01
Speaker
Do you have a dream that is a small seed of an idea and it's ready to sprout? Or are you in the workplace, weeds, and you need to bloom in a new creative way? Perhaps you're ready to embrace and grow a more vibrant, joyful, and authentic life. If you answered yes to any of these, you are ready to re-bloom.
00:00:24
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast where we have enlightening chats with nature lovers, makers, and artisans as they share inspiring stories about pivoting to a heart-centered passion. Hello, I'm Lori Siebert, and I am very curious to hear from friends and artisans about the creativity that blooms when you follow your heart. And I'm Jamie Jamison, and I want to dig deep into the why behind each courageous leap of faith and walk through new heart-centered gardens.
00:00:54
Speaker
Each episode of Rebloom will be an in-depth conversation with guests who through self-discovery shifted to share their passions with the world. Get ready to find your creative joy as we plant the seeds for you to Rebloom.
Guest Introduction: Amy Butler's Creative Journey
00:01:12
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Rebloom. Boy, do we have a treat for you today. Hi, Lori. How are you? I'm doing great. And I'm so excited to talk to my friend Amy Butler, who I've known for a very long time.
00:01:29
Speaker
ah Amy, maybe your friend, but I think she's going to have to be my new floral friend and inspiration because she's incredible, incredible. Tell us a little bit about Amy before we have her welcome and join us. Well, I've known Amy for a long time ah and her husband, David. um We actually I hired them to do illustration work long ago in my graphic design world.
00:01:54
Speaker
And Amy did illustrations, both of them actually did ah illustrations for different projects. So that's how we met. And I used to do these things called crafternoons where I'd have artists come and we'd make stuff. And then we had a big auction at the end of the year. and donated the money to different charities and David and Amy were part of those sometimes. So I and I actually own a couple pieces that I i wanted to bring it up with me.
Early Career and Community Support
00:02:22
Speaker
I forgot I have this angel that Amy made. I wanted to show her. But anyway, another time. um So I've watched her pivot many times and we don't get to be face to face. We talk mostly through social media these days. So I'm excited to talk to Amy. Welcome.
00:02:40
Speaker
Oh, thank you. I'm thrilled to be here with you ladies and ah so admire the work that you're doing and who you are as creators and collaborators. And you're just such a bright light for all of us. Oh, well, we love sharing these stories because we're finding that everybody has had to pivot some time along the way, some more than others. And I think you've made several pivots. So we just want you to take us back and take us through your journey.
00:03:09
Speaker
Yeah, started to in starteded the seeds of your career and sort of how you got started and and sure where where yeah, tell us about it. Well, Laurie's been a big part of my career because early on, um we we first moved back to Ohio in 1992 and that's where we actually started our studio. So Dave and I is in some form or another have been self employed with our design work since that that time period. Shortly after we moved back to Ohio, we connected with Laurie and um we started doing some illustrations with her.
00:03:44
Speaker
and then building this wonderful friendship and connecting with some other wonderful creatives and that that web gets started and the snowball starts rolling down the hill and all the synchronicities just start happening. And I think the collective of people at that time in our lives was so supportive that it helped our radar sort of pay attention when those little taps on the shoulder were coming as opportunities and for creative fulfillment or happiness. and a lot of times it did involve um creative income and developing that way you know as a as a business person, as a creative business person. But then it really just sort of the the thrust of it all has been coming from and the the central core of
00:04:32
Speaker
what our current passions have been at the time, what my current passions were at the time. So shortly after working with Lori, she introduced us to Jane Jenny. Do you remember that, Lori? I have a vague, vague memory. My memory is not the greatest. but Mine's up and down,
Building a Brand in Design and Fabric
00:04:49
Speaker
but it may I was thinking about this this morning and um how wonderful it is to talk about our relationship and knowing each other and how it was such a huge part of.
00:04:58
Speaker
um our confidence building and stretching our wings and exploring parts of ourselves that um especially me as an illustrator, I never saw myself as an illustrator. And so a lot of that kind of work I was doing at the time was born from the fine artwork and and folky illustrations and the stitching and the fabricy stuff that I was doing. hey So it's interesting how, and I think we can all relate to this, where all of our external internal passions end up finding out how to knock into each other. They bump into each other in all these interesting ways. So, ha gosh, jumping ahead, I'm going to take you ahead a few years from that point. um During the process, one of our big passions was becoming homeowners for the first time. And we found our first home in Mount Vernon, Ohio. It was a ah turn of the century hip roof
00:05:51
Speaker
house, so we turned it into a folk art and jewel box. It was like every bright color you can imagine in this inside. I loved, of course, I've always loved textiles and I had a huge vintage fabric collection decorating the house, just sort of living creatively from that point. At that same time, we were doing illustration work, design work, and building a lot of freelance. We met friends in Granville, which is where we live now, yeah and their home was in Country Living magazine and said, hey, we're going to put your home forward to the editor. We think she'd love it.
00:06:21
Speaker
We became, um our home is in the magazine. We've soon became creative freelance contributors for the magazine, collaborating with... That's right. Was that through Keith Keegan? That was through Keith Keegan and Monique Keegan. Yeah. And then our friends Kevin Reiner and his partner Chuck Ross and Nora Corbett and Brian Corbett. And these were all our soul people, which is actually what brought us to Granville, which is why we moved to Granville.
00:06:46
Speaker
here So there's a there's a thread that just keeps pulling all the way along. And then after being in the magazine, we built this really beautiful relationship with Nancy Sariano, who is an amazing creative. She was editor-in-chief of the magazine for many years.
00:07:05
Speaker
And she um encouraged us to produce stories and textile stories. She really loved my fabric collection. So I started designing and creating projects, and this was before the internet. So I love dropping that bomb because we're also we're so connected to that interweb, which is also encouraging because Your energy extends out in the world without the internet. So I just like to remind everybody about that. You can do it. Yeah. You can do it. The good old fashioned way. Yes. Good old fashioned way. And um so they didn't have any way to get the instructions to their readership.
00:07:50
Speaker
They had a fulfillment service at the time and um my good friend Nora Corbett was doing cross-stitch embroidery design. She's still an amazing cross-stitch pattern designer and she's like, hey, why don't you just, you know, create sewing patterns. We'll show you how to get them printed and do all the stuff and then you can sell them to the magazine and create a fulfillment and get the projects to the readers who wanted the projects.
00:08:13
Speaker
And then this turned into Amy Butler sewing patterns for Country Living magazine. That's how I got started with sewing patterns. And that lasted for two or three years and the readers were still really interested. And I'm like, oh, this will be a fun side business. And at the time I was doing an illustration full time with Jane Jenny. ah And who The fulfillment stopped with the magazine, life was starting to shift and I had all these sewing patterns and the readers still wanted that. So I went to my local quilt shop where I spent a lot of time collecting fabric because I always had mixed like the vintage fabric with new fabrics.
00:08:50
Speaker
and asked the quilt shop owner, what are the ideas for these patterns? You know, it was mostly bags and like home decor kind of things. And there weren't really things like that in the market at the time. She was like, I don't really know. We don't really sell those kind of patterns. But there is this wholesale trend show called Quilt Market.
00:09:07
Speaker
It's like, and okay, I'll try it. you know I have a lot of patterns to sell. so That's how my fabric life started because I went to that first quilt market and I set up a booth. I'd never done a booth before. Drove out to Kansas City, Missouri with a buddy.
00:09:21
Speaker
and put together this booth that didn't look like anybody else's because I didn't know what I was doing and I'm just like I'm just gonna make it pretty and bring all the things I love and try to style it and do all the things I would for a photo shoot. I'm sure it was amazing. It was beautiful. Definitely colorful. be like sort of um shabby chic vintagey, patinaed furniture, like turquoise, ands and pretty floral fabric, of course, everywhere. And I had the samples of the patterns. And that was that quill market I was approached by five different fabric companies to design fabric. Wow. Wow. And that's kind of, I get goosebumps talking about it. It's pretty magical. I didn't know this part of your story. This is yeah awesome.
00:10:06
Speaker
ah So, and I love I love what you said in the very beginning. It's the tap on the shoulder. So
Global Expansion of Amy Butler Design
00:10:11
Speaker
you took your creative passions, which were in your heart and you followed it down a path. And that's what we we talk about all the time. You don't necessarily think that that was the end. You weren't going to that show to get licensed or to find people, but you were taking you just took your passion there. And look what happened. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It's pretty funny.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah. And on and i I would go to those quilt shops and I would look at the bulk and I'd see the designer's names. And it was right when Kay Facet's fabric started launching with Westminster Fibers. I'd been obsessed with Kay Facet for my God. Who isn't? Oh my God.
00:10:52
Speaker
Like, how do you do that? And, you know, that was just like somewhere in the back of my subconscious, like, how do you even become a fabric designer? It was is truly a passion. and And then I started working with Free Spirit Fabrics and had a license with a Japanese company called Koko Fabrics at the same time because one company only did an extent in um interior fabrics and the other one did quilting fabrics. And then it morphed into, at the time it was country living sewing patterns, but I had all this international interest.
00:11:21
Speaker
And that was my first far way into licensing too because I had the license with Hearst Brands and I would send them my little checks of $75 a month. That's royalty payments. but And they were so gracious for that $75. It was unbelievable. I just kind of had to digress a minute. So we're like, okay, Dave and I are like, okay, what do we do? Country living brand cannot be sold outside the United States. At that time, their brand license only existed within the US. So we came up with another logo and that's how Amy Butler Design started.
00:11:58
Speaker
where it's the the classic green logo where I started and we we had one foot in one world and one foot in the other world for maybe a year and a half. We're like, we gotta make this easier because um we're like trying to organize this international business and this domestic business. And that's where we ultimately let go of the country living licensing so that everything can come under the same umbrella.
00:12:20
Speaker
notcha yeah It's just really, it happened very fast, but in my mind it happened very um at a very peaceful pace. I had never felt stressed or out of control or it was just continuation of an exploration of an idea and let's see where this goes. And it just happened to be the right time for me to be in that market because um I was something that people were looking for and I didn't know that, but I was just really being true to myself. And this is that that idea of that that hidden things are happening on our behalf. We don't even know our people are there waiting to connect with us, even though in this reality, it looks like
00:13:01
Speaker
no one's going to get what we're doing. We might have this internal dialogue that would like hold us back from actually being ourselves. And in the end, we're having fun and I didn't even know better. I had no idea what was existing in that world and I didn't compare myself to anybody. And I think that's really important for creators.
00:13:20
Speaker
not to see what's there exist or say, oh, I need to be that or do that. And it's really, really hard right now with our world so interconnected with social media and all the things we see with other people doing. So at the time, I really it was sort of a little bit of dumb luck, but not dumb because it was just.
00:13:39
Speaker
I feel like both you and Dave have always lived very authentically like both of you. That's something I've always admired about you as you and as a couple that
Passion for Vintage Fabrics and Personal Growth
00:13:51
Speaker
you're both doing things that are so authentic to yourself, which that's such a great thing to share with our listeners, because when you lead, I believe when you lead with that, as you said, the universe kind of just steps up and embraces that and then things happen that you don't even expect to happen.
00:14:13
Speaker
and Yeah, I i would 100 percent agree. And I wish our listeners could see both Lori and myself nodding on our video because we've just got audio. But everything, Amy, that you're saying is so true because I think particularly today with social media and there's so much noise out there, we do tend to look left and right. But you don't need to look left and right. You just need to look within your heart. And when you look within your heart, you do create.
00:14:40
Speaker
something that's unique and authentic and that's the best thing. That's the it's a huge piece of advice for anybody listening is look within. Well, the other thing I think is interesting is that you've always collected vintage fabric. Fabric was always something you were drawn to.
00:14:57
Speaker
But maybe, I don't know, did you ever think that you would design it? And then ultimately, just that little passion you had led to you actually creating the things you'd been collecting. Yes, it's it's true. It's initially my my passion for collecting the fabrics was just out of a open mouth, like in awe of these beautiful textiles and the designs and the color.
00:15:25
Speaker
And then, you know, later on when I was actually working on the sewing patterns and I was sourcing other fabrics to combine with the vintage fabrics, that's where I was like, oh my God, I did study textile design in college and fashion design in art school. and
00:15:44
Speaker
I kind of maybe it in the back of my mind had a full circle thought that that's possible but I think it wasn't in the front of my consciousness for a lot of years until this opportunity came about. So it's definitely a part of who I am and I think it was like an inner desire that was there and it did feel like a a dream come true. So there was something there about it that connected me into that opportunity and recognizing that that was an opportunity linking to something in my heart that I wanted.
00:16:17
Speaker
I remember, too, you had a stack of I came to visit you once, I think, and you had a stack of oil lily catalogs which were amazing. And I still have some of them, actually, because I think you gave me a handful of them. But I feel like the spirit of the oil lily catalogs kind of you you started a magazine called Blossom. And there's there's a spirit there that I feel like is a connect.
00:16:46
Speaker
um Do you want to talk about blossom a little bit? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Oh my god. I i forgot about oil Lily. I Think they're so brilliant and beautiful and um Yeah, that was that was a such a huge passion it was right there if you think about what cave facet looks like and what Lily looks like and you can just see um that's definitely a huge draw for me. yeah and And also ethnic design and you know global patterns.
00:17:19
Speaker
Howard Finster. I just watched a documentary about him and I thought of you. It was so good. ah You'll have to send me the link to that. I would love to see that. We still have all the pieces that we've collected from him that
Blossom Magazine: A Creative Outlet
00:17:34
Speaker
we admire. But yeah, definitely. I will send you the link. Yeah, all of the layers come together. The Blossom magazine started out as an idea to can connect what we were doing with the fabrics and the sewing patterns because that all really grew into actually a huge business for us, the sewing patterns initially and then the fabrics were seen behind and they one really flowed beautifully into the other in terms of the fabrics and sewing patterns I was able to integrate and show the inspiration with my actual fabrics.
00:18:17
Speaker
And then during that time, we were also doing quite a bit of how to selling books and publishing and things like that. yeah And another huge influence to what we do, what Dave and I did with the photography and marketing, which which is also applied into that layer of Blossom magazine, was being inspired by Rowan magazine. I don't know if you're knitters or you're familiar with the early Rowan brand.
00:18:42
Speaker
And a a woman named Kate Bowler had been the art director for that brand for years and she was way ahead of her time in terms of photo quality and just such beautiful emotive styling and Martha Stewart also. So I just wanted to plant those seeds and and show how important these inspirations were in guiding us in interpreting how we wanted to speak to folks about what we were doing. So initially Blossom started out as a marketing idea. It's like, why don't we do a digital magazine that shows people, you know, a story with the fabrics. we We kind of doing that at the time, of course, the internet was present through our website and other vehicles, going to the trade shows and doing
00:19:26
Speaker
making little catalogs and illustrating the ideas with the fabrics. But I wanted to create something more intimate for people and and really weave in the story and the feeling behind a particular collection and tell a story by the atmosphere where our shooting location is and also show the how-to projects and all those pieces. But at the time, this has been sort of my my M.O., really my entire life, especially started soul searching in my 20s and spirituality, self-discovery,
00:20:00
Speaker
self-esteem, embodying an inner knowing of myself and appreciating and figuring out how to cultivate love and peace and balance. And all of those things were weaving into my radar of what I was doing and creating and Blossom turned in that first issue turned into new i I really like to share some life stories of some of the people that inspire me because I think it's important that we all understand our stories and that we all come from somewhere. We all go through challenges and we're all evolving and changing and that we can be inspired by someone else's journey or a location or a place or an energy.
00:20:42
Speaker
So each issue of Blossom kept expanding more and more. And I did not look hard for any contributor. I mean, it's like you said earlier, Lori, the universe opened up. It's like, here's an interesting person you've never never met before. And here are all the different steps that happen in order for them to align with you.
00:20:59
Speaker
And I'm getting goosebumps again. Yeah. I'm getting i'm getting goosebumps. And the other thing I'm thinking of is what you're to but you're describing in Blossom is how we feel about Rebloom too. And it's about telling your beautiful story as well as others. And you did you were ahead of your time because you were there are so many beautiful stories that we need to share. And oh my gosh. ok keep going, keep going. I'm just, I can't. So, so you've got Blossom and and, and it's still available on, well, I'll let you tell about that, but it's on your website. And I was diving into each of it. They're gorgeous, gorgeous stories and the photography and everything about it is just beautiful. Yeah. Oh, tell us, saying so tell us, ah you you developed it. Go ahead. And I i i should let you continue, please. Well, no, I'm so happy you're excited. It excites me, too, because Blossom's waiting for us to, like, re blow the dust off the last issue and, like, re-blow. It's re-blowing. Because it has its own energy. I mean, honestly, when we were producing the last few issues of Blossom, we had a relationship with Chronicle Books, so we have a published version of the first two issues of Blossom that are still out in the world. It's not printed.
00:22:16
Speaker
But you can find it through my website. I have a section on my website where you can learn about Blossom magazine. You can see every issue we've done online on issue digitally for free.
00:22:29
Speaker
and um We we had to put it on hold and it's still waiting on us. And I think what's been interesting is it's it's there. And I think about what I'm what I'm building right now in my life. And now Blossom is evolving into some other ideas that still hold, you know, still a container for this way of expressing and sharing. But it can take a different turn. And so it's still developing. But we actually had to um step away from Blossom and sort of reshake and rebalance our priorities because we were primary caregivers for my mom for six years. And that started a couple of years before COVID. And we were, organ and I know many of you have been seeing these same shoes and you know exactly what I'm talking about.
Transition from Fabric Industry
00:23:14
Speaker
You have so much energy every day and your priorities have to shift. And so it was between balancing time and helping mom.
00:23:21
Speaker
and balancing time in keeping our business going and trying to work satellite and all the different creative ways to keep our lives functioning while we were in that that process with my mom. So Blossom had to go on hold and then COVID happened.
00:23:38
Speaker
and and which created a whole lot of new opportunities. But at the same time, everything we were currently doing in our business completely stopped. Many folks experienced the same thing. So we were in a stage of reinvention with that as well.
00:23:53
Speaker
and yes. Can I ask a quick question about that? Sure. so i'm So I'm wondering since you were doing fabric and so many people were at home and like fabric sales like went out the roof during COVID I thought because people were embracing making and doing things at home So, was it your fabric business that sort of took a hit or like how talk about that a little bit? That's a great question. I had actually exited fabric design at that point. Oh, okay. Yeah, I i left the fabric industry.
00:24:30
Speaker
almost six years ago now. ah so I had already been on the other side of that part of my life for about two and a half, three years before COVID happened. So I'm curious about that decision. Can you talk about that for like, what brought you to that decision? Cause I was driving business.
00:24:49
Speaker
Yeah, it wasn't and it wasn't um because ah we had for years, I mean, we we were in that world for almost 20 years. So I think at the time when I decided to leave and it took me about two years so to make that decision, it wasn't a quick decision. um Our fabric sales had gone down quite a bit and not that it's not all about money, but at the same time,
00:25:15
Speaker
I had already been shifting into these other areas in my life because we're all changing all the time. And I i was really wanting to build more with Blossom. Our global travel experience had really expanded quite a bit and I had been studying Reiki and I'm i'm a Reiki master.
00:25:34
Speaker
Hmm. I didn't know that. but yeah Wow. So I was in at the same time, everything was going on with my mom, too. And so it just sort of my heart was pulling me forward and I did not exactly know what I was going to do. I just knew it was time for me to move on.
00:25:52
Speaker
And I had already, I found myself in this very tough position of only having so much energy, so much creativity and creative space. I had one foot in one world and one foot in the other world. And I was straddling that reality because I think and I feel with your fabrics and things you're sharing,
00:26:11
Speaker
It takes a lot of energy to do to do it justice because at that point, I had a lot of folks that were looking for inspiration, the fabric story. All these pieces are really important along the way. The trade shows, all of those elements, it takes a lot of energy and finances to produce that.
00:26:33
Speaker
and I love doing that and i it has changed my whole life because I design fabric is why I'm wearing them today and what I'm doing and what I'm loving in my life today.
00:26:48
Speaker
Let's take a quick minute and thank our amazing sponsors. Our podcast is proudly brought to you today by Jet Creative and Urban Stems. Jet Creative is a women-owned marketing firm committed to community and empowerment since 2013. Are you ready to rebloom and build a website or start a podcast? Visit jetcreative dot.com backslash podcast to kickstart your journey.
00:27:14
Speaker
They will help you bloom in ways you never imagined. And bonus, our listeners get an exclusive discount when you mention Rebloom. And a huge thanks to Urban Stems, your go-to and our go-to source for fresh, gorgeous bouquets and gifts delivered coast to coast. Use Bloom Big 20 and save 20% on your next order.
00:27:39
Speaker
And don't forget to subscribe to this podcast and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Rebloom Podcast. Thanks to our sponsors and thanks to you for joining us today.
00:27:53
Speaker
Well, ah and I think you bring up a good point that sometimes in your career, you have a season and it's okay to have it start and blossom and grow, which your, which your fabric design business did, but then it can, it can end. And I think sometimes people hold on to things a lot longer. And so that's very, it's a very, very brave decision that you had. And probably I'm, I'm sure, was it scary for you to sort of close that chapter a little bit too?
New Endeavors and Cultural Inspirations
00:28:22
Speaker
it It was, that's why it took me two years because yeah i I think, but I was thinking about this this morning, how how I wanted to share about this because I had never in a place in my life had experienced that much success or financial abundance.
00:28:42
Speaker
And we come from a culture that very much supports success in a very linear way, financial abundance not in necessarily and also in a very linear way, kind of black and white. And so we were trained deeply in our person to hold on to things that make us feel secure or understand ourselves.
00:29:09
Speaker
and I think I had gotten to the point finally after two years where to understand myself further, I have to grow and change and allow myself to do that. And so by the time I made the decision, I was just like, yes. Yeah. I was so relieved and I don't want to mislead anybody that's ever followed me or loved what I do. All that's still part of who I am. I haven't left that part of me behind. I'm bringing it with me to help inform where I'm going next. Right.
00:29:41
Speaker
Yeah, because sometimes you need to make space for something new to come into your life. And if you've if it's filled up with both things that you're doing personally, spiritually, like your Reiki, anything, the travel, all of that. I mean, there's only so many hours in a day. And sometimes you do. You have to be brave to just let it go and you're right it still stays with you but you've got to you've got to say no to some things and and that's hard for people to do because they think oh it's so financially six I've got to do it I've got to do it right yeah but maybe there's going to be a financial it and financial win down the road I don't know Laurie had something else she wanted to I was just gonna say and you alluded to this that um the financial abundance isn't always what it's all about
00:30:32
Speaker
You know, and I think you're, you're gearing more towards maybe spiritual abundance and which maybe can lead back to financial abundance. I don't know. They could be linked, but I don't know. i So I'm curious about like how did Caravan so did that come from you starting to travel more and then that got wound into that business. That is definitely a huge part of it because when COVID happened, Dave and I would get up every morning and we're like, okay.
00:31:03
Speaker
I've got an idea." He's like, okay, let's finish the Lakehouse and start renting that. So, yeah, Jadehouse. Another part of your story. Yes. And then um another idea was, you know, we developed this brand. This is also, we have to, it's fun to be able to look back when something doesn't work out. That means oh there's something in the wings waiting to come forward. So it's like to stay curious about, OK, so it's not negative. I'm just getting an opportunity to shift in the direction I'm supposed to go. Oh, my gosh, I so I give that advice to my daughter. She years ago, I remember she had applied for something governor scholar and it I think she ended up with mono so she couldn't go and was devastated or
00:31:53
Speaker
There are a couple times along the way with both of our kids that something didn't work out. And I always say, that just means that wasn't meant to be. And there's something else waiting for you that's maybe even better. Yep. Yep. I think it I think if we all were honest with ourselves and we looked back at our history, we can find all the evidence that proves that. Guaranteed.
00:32:15
Speaker
and um and So, the Caravan Suke was a brand that we developed for a relationship with our friend, Robbie, who I had a rug license with for years. And um that's how I first got to India also. And the licensing came from my fabric collection. Yeah, threads, all the threads. Yeah, all the threads.
00:32:44
Speaker
and It ended up, this was before COVID, and we were all heading in one direction, and his family reached out a little bit of financial challenge, and we didn't have the financial resources or the are vendor situations and setups that would allow us to create the products behind the brand. So, Caravansuk was a global-inspired brand. We loved the idea of it, and it was inspired by our travels.
00:33:13
Speaker
So that was a COVID morning. Let's do something with Caravian Souk. Oh, I love that COVID morning. I think a lot of us were doing that during COVID. What are we going to do now? What's what' going to happen next?
Adapting to Changing Marketing Landscapes
00:33:28
Speaker
And that, you know, and as challenging as COVID was for everybody and devastating for many, it did provide us all that opportunity to pause, to just pause and say, okay, I've been working so, I've been going so hard and so fast, and we were all forced to pause and really reflect and look within. And yeah, and great things were born by a lot of people during that time.
00:33:51
Speaker
Most definitely. Yeah. I think the creative community like really loved that pause. I know I did because I did. I'm an introvert so you know I started doing the making it challenges on Instagram and making wigs out of cardboard and all kinds of great stuff that I didn't have time for before because of licensing so Yeah. So I don't know. There were a few gifts, even though it was not the best time in our history. That's right. So what's happening now? where what What's your world look like these days? so Yeah. Oh, gosh. So a Caribbean soup. Soup. I called it soup. i Might be hungry. that might be a new That might be a new business. Who knows? That's right. Let's hold on to that idea. Yeah. so Caribbean soup.
00:34:45
Speaker
has blossomed because um the i we started out with bringing in my love of fabrics again and the relationship I had with a good friend of mine, Harsh, and his family when we were we taking the tours over. They are block printers and they have resources to beautiful fabrics. And a lot of my my friends in my social community are all stitchers, creators. So we started bringing in the fabric bundles and that's where that idea came from.
00:35:11
Speaker
And then other things that he had available. So our first Caribbean souks all took place on my Facebook, Facebook Lives, which during COVID, we were all homebound. It was hugely successful and popular. People really enjoyed it. And I got to share my stories about all these makers.
00:35:28
Speaker
um that I've met along the way. And all all of the things we bring in Caribbean Souk are all handmade. And some of our artists and creators are from Africa, many of them are from India, and a lot of US creators as well. So right now Caribbean Souk is, um we've pivoted again with having a full-time web store, which we did not have before we were Solely relying on the Facebook lives which had been consistently a really good thread and Then opening the web store for two weeks at a time doing web drops so a promotional opportunity for people to come and have a More of a classic shopping experience a lot of folks the lives don't appeal because you're kind of bidding on the stuff You're not bidding, but you're claiming things. Yeah
00:36:15
Speaker
And where we are now is expanding again and in a situation where my social visibility is down 85%. So when you're a maker and you're making and you're running a business,
00:36:31
Speaker
I've lost sight of ah ah SEO and all these important things with my visibility online, the connections back to um how I come up in searches and all these things. and It's become ah an opportunity for us because now I'm learning about all of that. This this recent actually developed about and six weeks, eight weeks ago. And we have enough analytics that we can see on my professional Facebook page and so on.
00:37:02
Speaker
And I have a following of 73,000 on Facebook and about 42,000 on my Instagram. and Nobody appears appears to be seeing my things because that's my responsibility. So i mean this we're in this whole learning phase and it's been another challenge to reframe what's happened because again, we had all this success and visibility and connection.
00:37:27
Speaker
And i'm I'm only guessing, looking at my analytics, this is what's happened in the ships with Meta, which ultimately you're creating opportunities for people. And just really, once you learn how to work within that realm, you know that's the space we're in right now. So it's we're in an opportunity window.
00:37:45
Speaker
where it's it is what it is and you it's that shift again, that's that's that challenge or the change that's moving us into learning the things and doing the things.
00:38:00
Speaker
Well thank you for bringing that up too and I think that's important for our listeners because I i have been on and and so has Lori on social media for a very long time and the one thing i'm I'm a social media instructor and one thing that I share with my students often is we don't own social media.
00:38:18
Speaker
we and And so, yes, we all saw tremendous success and growth in the early days, but it's so important to know your analytics. It's so important to know what's happening because you need... it's It is a marketing tool, but we can't put all those eggs in that basket and you've got to understand where you are. And if you're not reaching people, then you've got to pivot your marketing efforts.
00:38:43
Speaker
And so thank you for sharing that because that's important for everybody to know that and to think about that in their own situations. But I would imagine, Amy, that you have a pretty significant email list, which, yes, you know, that's we do. We have a great email list. Yeah. i well Yeah. So, you know, I've always been taught that, too, that grow your email list because you own that. And if social media shuts down overnight You have you can still communicate with your people. My my favorite thing to teach is that it's about like it's about no liking and following. And you want to think of your social media like a porch where you're waving and you're getting people to know who you are.
00:39:29
Speaker
Then you draw them into your website, which is where they get to like you a little bit more and really get to see what your brand is all about. And then hopefully your newsletter and you write, Lori, the email list is so important. That's like sitting at your kitchen table where they really get to trust you.
00:39:47
Speaker
and they really get to know who you're all about and and that's where people make their purchasing. when I mean, if you're sitting at the across the table at someone and we're having coffee and I'm telling you how much I love something, that's really where people make the decisions and that's based on your newsletter. So that's you're right. So you have have had a huge following in the quilt and fabric world. Do you find that those people are following you now into what you're doing today?
00:40:16
Speaker
Like, are are a lot of those people taking the travel, the the experiences, the travel with you? And like, is there crossover in those markets? Oh, absolutely. That's actually been one of the most humbling and and wonderful things to realize is that when I did leave the fabric industry, people didn't leave. They so they were along for the ride and were willing and happy to to still connect with me. And a lot of the folks that come with us on our trips are from that sort of creative quiling quilting patchwork realm, or that's one of their passions. They're multi-dimensional creators. so
00:41:00
Speaker
And what's been beautiful is they'll join us in India, then they'll come with us to Morocco. didn't tell now and that That's inspired Oaxaca, so we're creating a trip for Oaxaca, Mexico. I call you in Oaxaca. So they inspired me but but to expand and figure in the next experience out for them.
00:41:24
Speaker
Well, I want to go to the Oaxaca one. Well, I want to go to any of them, but... I want to go to the Morocco one. I know, Lori, our road trips keep continuing. I know Lori and I are traveling everywhere, but that they sound... I mean, just the colors and the richness and the culture and everything that you're able to gather just by looking outside of... Now, Ohio is pretty colorful, not really, but...
00:41:46
Speaker
I want to make a trip to Granville though because Granville is pretty special. It's such a great town. I love it there. youre Your home is beautiful. And I got the to go to a retreat that Amy hosted and learned Intensati.
00:42:03
Speaker
a type of exercise and Amy's so elegant and is doing these moves and my friend Paul and I were in the back row cracking ourselves up because we our bodies weren't moving the way babies
00:42:19
Speaker
But I imagine because of who you are, like beyond your talent, your your spirit, because you're such a kind, loving, giving, inspiring person that people are going to follow you anywhere. No, I hope so. I i certainly am grateful for the connections that I do get to have with folks, and I really, really enjoy that. And that's one of the most positive things about social media online is that there are all these opportunities ah for connection. There are all kinds of things that exist in that realm that can be divisive or challenging, but I think your if your attention's in the space that you hold, you find like-minded folks that want to connect with you in that space. They want to join you there because there's something about what you're saying or expressing that they relate to. and you know
00:43:16
Speaker
takes them back to themselves. So we have so much to share with each other. I agree. I agree with that heartedly. Yeah. I think I've met some just really amazing people through social media. So your travel in Caravan Suke, are those the two arms of your current business then?
00:43:35
Speaker
the the travel experiences in the other. Yes, yes. For the most part right now, I'm i'm dipping my toe into, I'm also a sound bath practitioner. Oh my God. Oh, I love that. Oh, that is I've done that. That's amazing. We did that at a retreat I taught at in the Pacific Northwest. We had someone who was doing sound baths, which was amazing. Yeah.
00:43:58
Speaker
So the thing that's always been true of me and I think we could all relate is I have so many interests. I'm also a horse woman. I have a a beautiful relationship with Harley who is our our horse that we're caregivers for and she has been transformative and had such a positive effect on me and in such a support spiritually, which is, ah well, that's another podcast, but in just, it's, she's been on quite the journey with me in just the three years we've been together. It's been great. Oh, I love that. Is she a rescue? No, she is a full blooded, papered Friesian. So I, a lot of secrecy in bringing her into our lives. Also, I went down the rabbit hole with horses.
00:44:49
Speaker
This is the universe completely doing a direct connect flow. Okay, you have this passion about these animals. And i was I was studying animal reiki and I really want to work with animals as well as people animals.
00:45:04
Speaker
and I can't even explain it you guys I just couldn't get enough information knowledge on horses especially in the natural realm in an energetic realm but it's just gone off the charts from there and I had um life friend Tiffany was my gate, her horse was my gateway drug. His name's Boyson. And she also, this had a huge impact on me and to our friendship and to someone that she knew that was on my Facebook live during COVID who found me through her and her social media. Hey, I was thinking about you, Tiffany, come on over.
00:45:46
Speaker
I have a mirror. I want you to meet. um I'm looking for a home for her. She's like, well, I'm not really looking, but I have a friend that might be in the rest of history. Oh, wow. That's amazing. Do you still have Jade House? No, we sold Jade House last fall. Okay. So was that correct? No, it was the fall before. So this October will be two years that we've so we sold Jade House.
00:46:12
Speaker
And a lot of that our listeners might not know what that is. So just tell a little bit about that. Oh, sure. So Jade House is and an A-frame cabin that Dave and I renovated down in Tennessee in the far eastern corner of the state, right at the Virginia border up in the mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains on the water.
00:46:35
Speaker
And we had been going there for lake vacations. We're big water people. We love lakes. And we traveled to this lake for probably six years before we found Jade House. And we were in the process of buying another property and it totally fell through. And we were staying at the property for another vacation. And I just hopped on, which I don't know what real estate app I was looking at. And there was Jade House.
00:47:01
Speaker
And I hadn't looked all online at real estate since the other deal fell through for probably six months. And we were getting ready to go home in like days. It had been on the market two days. Uh-oh. So that day when we were leaving town, the agent met us. We walked through it. We're driving home in the car making an offer. It's like our dream house. Wow. 1969 A-frame.
00:47:25
Speaker
pretty much pretty untouched. It needed a lot of love, but it was very livable and every stage of her spending time there, we enjoyed it and we didn't fully renovate until COVID to actually come up with a way to monetize the cabin so that we could keep it during that time in our lives.
00:47:44
Speaker
this And then ultimately selling it when everything was really escalating with my mom, just because it was just a piece of our lives we couldn't maintain any longer. Yeah. But you know some of those things you let go of, like you've talked about all along in our interview, and I bet another beautiful home will probably come to you. I mean, I, you know, I was thinking of the horse, your Harley, your horse. I was thinking if you, maybe if you hadn't let go of the the design, you know, you'd be so occupied by that you wouldn't have time to bring in Harley into your life or, you know, so I think, I do think we say goodbye to some things and then let other things, and then that does make the space for beautiful new things to come in, just as you had said.
00:48:31
Speaker
Absolutely. yeah Thank you for saying that. i and I've not heard anyone share it that way before, but I really appreciate that. It's new things, but it's also, there's a common thread through everything you've done. It just takes on a different look or a different face or a different phase, but they're definitely like, as you were talking, there are common threads that take you all the way through.
00:48:57
Speaker
Absolutely and the common thread that I see or I hear you telling is just your heart and your passion and your soul and your authentic heart and passion and soul that you're it's through everything that you're doing and touching and you're allowing those taps to just open yourself up to new opportunities but also being real about saying okay this has had a season and we're going to let this one go and ah you know What a beautiful story. What a beautiful, colorful story you've had. Oh my gosh. chair the likeche It looks like the wall behind you. yeah i know so i went in my head
00:49:33
Speaker
yeah we We must show and we will share when we um when we drop this podcast some of your beautiful work because people have got to just follow and be inspired by all the color and beauty that we're seeing in your studio and everybody must see it too.
00:49:49
Speaker
Ah, thank you. So I was wondering, you shared a lot of really wonderful nuggets throughout this talk, but are there any overarching pieces of advice that you have for people? Yes. I think, and I was thinking about this a little bit when Jamie was talking about
00:50:13
Speaker
listening to what's inside of you, where you are currently in your life, and kind of look at all the pieces that make you who you are to your and the level of understanding of yourself at that time.
00:50:27
Speaker
and One thing that I've been really focusing on these last couple of years is because I realized how depleted I was from putting the energy back to myself. So much of my life, my whole life has been putting energy out. And it's a really comfortable distraction at times. yeah But I think that I'm more able to hear my heart and myself and build the understanding of self so love and appreciation to know how to and be open to new ways of resourcing for my happiness, meaning self-care, rest, the types of relationships I have.
00:51:12
Speaker
where I'm spending my energy, now that I have a horse every day, I mean, animals especially are present moment creatures, reflecting that understanding, but being able to internalize more of self-compassion, how we have to nurture ourselves and we have to make time for that. and We're always going to have this sort of dualism you know because our ego is in us and our ego is here to help us survive. And it's very natural, especially in our culture, to
00:51:44
Speaker
The ego is going to want to take over to keep us safe by putting us outside of ourselves, working hard, doing hard, giving to everybody and and producing, producing, producing. Got to keep you safe and don't do that thing because it's scary because um that means I could look like a tiger and then I got to protect you. And so this is something that I bumped into this morning. A friend of mine were sharing back and forth we during our meditation session. She really wasn't meditating.
00:52:09
Speaker
but the idea of making, becoming teammates with your ego and allowing and looking at yourself and allowing that there's some challenging, you know, negative programming or tough things that kind of become the blocks that keep us from taking a step forward or ah or um being in a space where you embrace that and say, yeah, that's okay that it exists and telling your inner self like, hey, I've got this. I think i'm I'm pretty trustworthy at this point. let me Let me try this. Thank you for your help and be able to do that and see that and have that inner dialogue. I have to slow myself down. I have to rest. I have to. It's a conscious thought process that
00:52:57
Speaker
paint painted with curiosity and freedom and ease. I think that's the important thing that I want us all to remember is that you can love all the parts of yourself and embrace all the things happening outside of you and inside of you. And if you need help or you need resources, you need a different circle of friends. You need a new space to live in. You need to support yourself in all these different ways. those All those little things are really important and and it's to to give yourself that wherever you can in the smallest of ways.
00:53:30
Speaker
And get the support you need. It's um interesting the way you describe that, because I was I guess it was on one of the retreats I was on. And this very conversation came up about it was it was said differently, where um fear your your body reacts in a way to protect itself when it when it senses something like when you're going to go try something new.
00:53:56
Speaker
your body will give you all the reasons why you should be afraid because it's trying to protect you. But if you you say to that fear, you know, like you said, embrace that and say, OK, I understand you're trying to protect me, but I got this and it's OK. I'm going to I'm going to move forward and I'm going to be OK.
00:54:17
Speaker
um So you kind of so when you were talking about that it reminded me of that conversation I had with somebody along the way and that that stuck with me. It's like yeah you're right all those fears come up in your brain and I think you're just wired to that way to tell yourself well this is all these are all the reasons it's not going to work why you shouldn't do it because you you know you should be afraid you should be afraid but then you just say okay it's alright I understand I acknowledge all that but I'm gonna do it and we'll I'll learn from it and I'll just you know I'll take a leap definitely and it's not about bypassing
00:54:57
Speaker
that fear that's there. Totally it's like about taking the one small action to so like sort of create safety in that experience. Like like I think ah a lot of us could be inspired saying like I gotta do all or nothing. I gotta do it this big. I gotta do all of it. I gotta do all the steps and it has to be like this.
00:55:16
Speaker
versus I think the reality is where we really feel best in our comfort zone is of dipping your toe in the water. And that one small thing that we do towards the shift of the change of the pivot we want to make is it's like building a muscle. And that's the good news. Our brain changes cells completely every month. Like we can have the ability, human beings are amazing. We create new neural pathways all the time. And so what we focus on, what we nurture within ourselves with compassion,
00:55:46
Speaker
is creating new channels of our understanding of ourselves that that helps us build the self-esteem and the confidence and the safety and the security that we do need to do these things. But we do, like you said, Lori, get to that point where I've got this. Did you give yourself opportunities to show yourself that?
00:56:03
Speaker
a Yeah, you've you've got this you've helped us all to get this because you've helped us not only Feel the tap on our own own shoulders about putting things out there, but also turning that beautiful energy towards ourselves, which I don't think we often do and Amy This talk has been, i am I am just lifted up. My heart is lifted. My soul is lifted just from talking to you. You're incredible. Absolutely incredible. i I knew this was going to be a really good one. you guys are hearing chris You're incredible. I thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. I mean, it's just been a it's been a joy to hear about how you've bloomed or blossomed from your magazine, but also, as we love to say, how you've rebloomed along the way. And I think the the reblooming for you is just going to continue because you're just such a beautiful soul. And thank thank you so much for sharing this this hour with us. Oh, gosh. Thank you, guys. Oh, my goodness.
00:57:07
Speaker
Well, thank you, everyone. Thank you for joining us now. Laurie, I think I am speechless. Oh, my God. It's so funny you said that because that's the word that came to my brain. I'm like I ah usually I write down like things to talk about and I'm processing so hard right now about like I feel like I need to go journal.
00:57:30
Speaker
I need to go journal. I hope everyone listens to this this episode multiple times because not only are we listening to it the first time but the pearls that she has given everyone and just but I mean just the beauty of creating and listening to your heart and saying no and and also not ignoring the energy. Yes, we all put energies out into the world and do it for others and feel like we have to do it, but you can't ignore the energies that you put into your own heart and soul. And I love that she's brought that all home to her.
00:58:08
Speaker
And also your body. I mean, just the whole idea of self-care. Yeah. Because I know i I have a really hard time just sitting in quiet. We were just on a trip and we it rained all day. So we were just sitting around talking and I don't deal well with that. And I i really like had to check myself. I'm like, Lori, you don't have to be doing something 24 seven.
00:58:37
Speaker
No. And that's, and you know, I know we were forced to do that in COVID, but I love how Amy has been so mindful about doing that intentionally now since COVID. And I think it's a beautiful gift. I think we forget that the most important and beautiful gift we can give sometimes is to ourself. And she has done that in the most unbelievable, um imaginable ways and unimaginable ways and imaginable. I hope, I hope that everyone um has enjoyed this episode as much as we have. And we thank you once again for joining us and peace. love Thank you both. Thank you. Thank you. And peace, love and rebloom.
00:59:22
Speaker
Life is too short not to follow your passions, so go out there and let your heart plant you where you are meant to be and grow your joy. We will be right here sharing more incredible stories of reinvention with you. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so you never miss an episode of Rebloom. Until next time, I'm Jamie Jamison. And I'm Lori Siebert. Peace, love, and Rebloom, dear friends.