A History...
I'm Michelle Volkerding, owner and artist behind Creative Maison. I fell in love with graphic design while obtaining my Interior Design degree. The beauty in watercolor, fine art sketches and perfectly crafted calligraphy and typography has captivated my heart over the years.
Creative Maison was born in 2016, when I began freelancing with graphic design in my spare time. I began slowly building my portfolio through digital download products as a hobby and "baby business" in the evenings and as a bonus, to help earn a little extra income. My passion and love for graphic design grew as I dove into learning the craft and business skills required.
My other love for hobby gardening bridged into my business when I launched our now beloved growNOTES™ - a brand of plantable favors at the end of 2019. In 2020, through one of the world's darkest times, the business grew and grew as many of our beloved customers found such value and happiness in sharing their growNOTES™. Our customers loved our plantable products and were asking for more. John and I were so thrilled and continued to work through many weekends, fulfilling orders and growing our products when possible.
In 2021, what we had also thought as unattainable, finally happened! Early in the year, John and I were quickly coming to the realization that our daughter's childhood was soaring straight past us - with the two of us working full time + another side business. Our busy-ness was not serving us well and we were long overdue in evaluating how we wanted to continue on or make changes.
I had always dreamt of a flexible home life, the ability to drop everything and attend all the school functions without feeling guilty for leaving my job, and just more time with our daughter. We were headed into a summer with no childcare set up for the first time, so we prayed for wisdom. John encouraged me to pick between the two lives I had laid out in front of me; one in the corporate world full time without a side business (to save my sanity) or one at home with our daughter and a small business that was unpredictable, but had potential. It was a risk, but one he supported me in taking. He would continue in his work and I could be home to juggle life there and dedicate more time to our daughter and her activities, and then to the business I had built over so much time. I made the choice after much prayer and hesitation - I was so grateful for John's support and nudging. I left a great job, with great people - the corporate world of architecture and interior design for more flexibility in our home life and the big "what-if." I worked even harder the rest of year at home and on business growth, along with the great privilege to now be at home with our daughter. And in 2022, to our great delight, brought John home to work full time for Creative Maison as well.
It's a wild ride, and we try to never take it for granted, though some days, the hours are quite long as a business owner. God has provided the support of close friends and family members who are ever so eager to help out and love on us time and time again. What a blessing!
Working with brides and event planners has been the absolute highlight of my work. There's truly nothing I love more than planning an incredible wedding suite and bright, cheerful gifts!
