One Year Anniversary!
I'm super excited to announce that today is Chasing Linen's one year anniversary!
It has been quite a year and I've learned so much these past 12 months. I don't think I've ever explained (through blog form) why and how I started Chasing Linen and thought today would be the perfect day to share.
I've always had an itch to create a brand. Whether it was a fashion line or a coffee shop, I wanted to start something of my own (I actually started a couple other brands before CL). Last summer, I wanted to raise funds for Alaska missions with the church I was attending at the time. After going through several ideas in my head, I thought it'd be fun to make something that was nice to look at and served a functional purpose. I wanted to create something that would brighten the lives of people daily, which meant they needed to look at it every day. While organizing my schedule on my planner, I had an idea to make a calendar! Because let's be honest, pretty calendars are hard to come by and most of them are very generic. During this time, there was a huge rise in watercolor art and hand lettering so I began dabbling in it. I've been painting for years but was always intimidated to try watercolor. It's actually funny because I was an art teacher at the time and had to teach watercolor to my students (let alone, learn it for myself at the same time). While "teaching" them, I had so much fun that I ended up staying an hour after work just painting. The first watercolor piece I did was a fox that ended up being the January page of my 2014 watercolor calendar. I also added a little wooden easel to serve as a desktop calendar while showcasing the art. During the whole process, I was updating each month on my instagram so my friends could see the entire progress. Getting people excited about it and hearing their feedback was the best part! Long story short, I released the calendar and it became MUCH bigger than I imagined. The response was incredible and through word of mouth, I was able to raise triple the amount I initially needed for my trip. From then, I started getting custom order requests from friends and strangers alike. To keep track of all the orders, I started an Etsy account to keep track of it and voila, Chasing Linen was born.
It's still unreal that I get to wake up and do what I love to do. My whole life, I thought I couldn't start anything until I finished school or had a bunch of experience before starting a shop but I feel extremely grateful that things worked out. For anyone wanting to start their own brand/shop, I want to encourage you to go for it! It may be a slow process but you learn so much along the way and your business WILL improve as time goes by. Through Chasing Linen, I'm able to meet so many like-minded people and creative types as well inspire people along the way. Don't be afraid to take chances and always try new things! If you'd like to read more about my art process, my friend Kelsey interview me on her beautiful blog She in the Making. Check it out if you'd like :)
Anywho, you made it through the end! Here's the fun part, I'm hosting a giveaway! I'll be posting this picture here as well as Facebook and Instagram. There will be 3 winners, one for each social network (each have different rules). If you'd like to win one of these prints, all you have to do is like & comment on this post saying which one you want to win! You are welcome to enter in all three networks. The winner will be announced by the end of this week, good luck!
