I guess it's only fitting to start at the beginning of my art journey.
I have loved creating ever since a young age. I remember sitting in front of the tv spending hours drawing my favorite characters and dinosaurs. It was always so fun to me!
I guess that is why I decided to take an art class in 7th grade. Unfortunately, that would lead to a stop in my artistic journey when the teacher was just not encouraging. She actually made me hate art classes and I wouldn't even think of taking another art class until my sophomore year of High School.
Crazy how one person can have such an impact on a young mind, right?
I ended up in a beginning drawing class my Sophomore year, that is where the true love of art really began.
From there, I actually took a ceramics class the following semester and that was the moment I began to find myself!
For the last two years of High School, I ended up taking every. single. art class that our school offered. It was my passion. It was where I could escape the day to day life and express myself.
Ceramics was where I was truly in love with. I loved sitting at the wheel, losing track of time, molding the clay into vases. Man, I loved it.
I loved it so much that I actually decided to go to art school for it.
Well, going to an art college in Portland, OR, you can only imagine the environment I was in.
I was still new to being a follower of Christ, I had only accepted Jesus into my life 11.10.2009 and I began college September 2013. While I was going to Church and youth group regularly, I wasn't where I needed to be to put myself in a place that would test my faith so much.
So much happened when I attended that college, I really stopped seeing any of my art as "good". Once I got a "B" on my life size painting of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull, I lost all motivation and hope of ever being truly successful.
I ended up going back to the school after my first year, but only for a short month or so. I thought I could make it work, but I couldn't see how my art was any good or good enough for people to buy (which is what the school was training us for).
Leaving school was an easy choice, trying to continue with art was the hard part. I was no longer creating as much. I was depressed.
While all of the art school and chaos was going on, there were some happy times as well!
I got engaged to my High school sweetheart in 2015 and we got married in 2016. I was so happy to marry Ethan, he had been my rock during all that chaos. I am so grateful for his love and kindness during such a difficult time for me.
The fairy tale didn't last long because by the end of 2016 I began suffering with panic attacks. It was bad. Into 2017 I was still dealing with panic attacks DAILY. We could't figure it out. Nothing would trigger them, they just happened. They were major and debilitating.
I saw countless doctors, tried countless pills, nothing was working.
One day I was having lunch with a friend who mentioned how birth control had her mentally struggling. I decided, after talking to my husband, to stop birth control. Within days, I was already feeling better and showing such great signs. By 2018, I was back to myself and I was ready to bring glory to God's Kingdom!
Getting myself back was amazing, truly made me see who I was in God's eyes.
I ended up getting a job at my favorite art store, I was doing live paintings for my church and other churches, I was figuring out life and was SO happy.
That's when God called. He called Ethan to a worship leader position in Michigan. In 2018, we packed up our lives and moved across the country, away from family and friends, to see what God needed us to do.
Trying to talk about the church we moved out to Michigan for is still a tough subject. We moved out in June 2018 and by February 2019 we were at a new church.
I began to lose myself again. I didn't want to open myself up to making friends, I didn't know what my purpose was in all this. I was confused and scared. I didn't feel like I was enough to be able to do this. I had it all planned out for the first church, what was I supposed to do at this new church?
I learned that the new church has an Open Portfolio Night every other year, that is where I began to find my footing again. Then COVID hit.
Once again, losing that momentum and fight I had in myself. How was I supposed to spread the gospel from home?
It took time but I did end up coming up with a plan for myself... then God told me He had greater plans for me because shortly after I made my plan, I found out I was pregnant.
In April 2021, we welcomed our first son. By October 2022 we welcomed our second son. By February 2025 we welcomed our final baby, a girl.
I kinda bunched all that up together because that is how it felt to me. A fog of motherhood. Full of love. Full of chaos. It was EXACTLY what I needed and I had no clue!
I was able to put myself aside to focus on my babies. I needed that selfless time to find myself. God truly blessed us with those kiddos in way more ways than one!
Now, as any mother can attest too, you do lose yourself a lot when raising babies. After my first, the change was crazy hard. It was hard to grasp. I did fall into the PPD to some degree but picked up photography as a way to have a creative outlet and a way to get out of the house.
I used photography as a tool to help with my second postpartum journey as well.
Due to back to back maternity leaves, my business was not successful. It did/does fine, but not where it could have been had I not taken breaks.
After having our daughter in 2025 and needing an even longer break from photography, I knew my business was just not going to thrive. Especially with me not having the drive to pursue it.
I needed to do something though, my postpartum journey was beginning to become rough and so I needed an outlet.
Thats when I decided to try my hand at sourdough and document that journey.
I began doing TikTok with making sourdough during the summer of 2025, not knowing what I was doing or where I was meant to take it. Just a mom trying to keep herself afloat while raising three kids at home.
I wasn't getting amazing traction doing my sourdough videos, but I was getting some!
Then I got an idea, it had to be directly from God. I needed to be posting daily to get traction on videos but I didn't want my daily posts to be meaningless. Thats when I began my Daily Bread series. In it, I just post a video of myself at various stages of making bread with scripture laid overtop. No commentary, just the word of God speaking for itself.
As of today (June 2026), those videos barely break 300 views most days, but that is 300 people daily who have the word of God shown to them. I don't post those videos to become viral or to make anything off of, I literally post them so whoever needs to have God talk to them, has Him speak to them.
After a long while of focusing on bread and only bread, I was getting burnt out. I love making bread content but I was working on other things too and decided to explore other content avenues as well. I started with crochet.
I have crochet for over 10 years and I started getting inspired by funny audios from videos that I could make crochet content from. So I did.
Some of those videos were doing better than my bread content and I began to get brave and slowly show my other artistic stuff as well. With the next open portfolio night at our church coming soon, I had a lot I needed to do for it so it was easy to make content with drawing and painting as well.
The biggest wave hit finally... I finally got "a viral video" that was for Christ even! What a joy it was to see those silly little numbers rise up. But it is what I needed, it is what I needed to know that this is something I am supposed to be doing.
I had created a painting back in 2024 for that years Open Portfolio night, long before I was doing any videos. I shared it to friends and family and they loved it. It was my favorite piece of art I ever created.
I decided that even though I had made it years ago, I would make a video to show the TikTok world my painting. And that was the video that took off.
I don't need worldly admiration, I need God's admiration. That doesn't mean seeing other people love what you create doesn't feel good though. It also made me feel like it was God showing me that He also loves my art and wanted the world to see it.
With that video taking off as much as it did, I began to think about what was God up too. I didn't have much time to ponder that thought though because the 2026 Open Portfolio night was around the coner.
I had so much work to do for the 2026 Open Portfolio Night, I had a giant art piece that was inspired by that years theme, "Reflecting Christ's Image" that I needed to start and finish, in a manor of weeks. And God gave me another art piece I needed to finish too for that night. All while raising three kids under 5 mind you!
By the grace of God, I was able to do it and I got to share my art with my church family. The pastor that Sunday even used my art in his sermon, which was unexpected and so cool to see!
Shortly after I did the Open Portfolio Night, I got my first commissioned Bible Cover painting. I was over the moon excited!
Doing that painting set in motion my motivation, my desire, my inspiration, and put me on the path I know God has laid out for me.
What is my plan/purpose? Well, I was created to create. I was meant to be creating things for God and to spread His good word. I was meant to use my abilities to better His kingdom.
How am I doing that? I don't know exactly. I am kind of winging it! I am now shifting from focusing only on one avenue of creativity in my business ventures to just simply doing ALL I can do.
I just want to spend my days caring for my kids and creating art for His glory.
Photo taken by Holly Bell Photo Designs