How A Busy Week Of Creative Work Turned Into A Licensing Breakthrough

What happens when a busy week of community events, student workshops, and gallery nights collides with an unexpected dream offer? I opened the door to spring with color, coffee, and collaboration—and then share how a national Mahjong company discovered my work and invited me to design beautiful mats that bring pattern, play, and personality to the table.

We start with First Friday momentum and a morning meetup that sparks a new nonprofit experience design. From there, we head to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Village with Junior Achievement to guide five thousand students through hands-on art: a collaborative bokeh-style landscape built dot by dot, conversations about creative careers, and tiny “charcuterie” boards that teach composition through play. The week levels up with a scout workshop where simple birdhouses gain a digital soul—stickers become animated birds and butterflies with the Artivive app—showing kids how traditional craft and technology can sing together.

Back at the studio, we get ready for live painting at the Home and  Garden Show, a St. Patrick’s plaza crawl, and a slate of fresh classes: mosaic lights, acrylic-and-resin techniques, and needle-felted bangles. Then let’s pull back the curtain on the licensing milestone—how sharing genuine joy about learning Mahjong led the right partners to my doorstep, and what’s next as we explore wholesale, affiliate options, and bringing elegant tiles to the local community. Along the way, I want to talk upcycled fashion, supportive teachers, and the one practice that keeps everything grounded: carving out ten minutes a day to make something that makes your heart happy.

If you love creative entrepreneurship, community art, and real-world steps to grow your practice, you’ll feel right at home. Press play, share with a friend who needs a spark, and leave a quick review to help more makers find us.

Transcript

Coffee Meetup And Community Networking

Junior Achievement Art Experience

Scouts’ AR Birdhouses

Live Painting And St. Patrick’s Plans

The Mahjong Licensing Milestone

Classes, Craft Joy, And Creative Encouragement

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello everyone. Welcome back to a new episode of Britifully Made. Happy Friday. Happy March. Today is the first Friday of March. I kind of like doing these before I open on the actual day. This has been a very busy day, very, very busy week for me. Um, so many exciting things happening. So this morning at 7 a.m., I picked up a friend and we went to a local coffee shop for an alumni event for our leadership groups that have occurred through our uh local chamber of commerce. And I am in the 33rd class. So I got to see some of my classmates and I got to meet a lot of people in the community that I haven't got to meet before. And we got to talk about a project coming up that the uh friend that I brought, she's a director of a nonprofit, and she wants me to do some of the design work for an experience. And I said, yes, of course, I would love to do that. So I'm going to work on some props and some backgrounds. And um in May, we'll get to talk about that. So it was a nice meeting, and it was a great time to um, you know, spend in the morning. It's a little rainy here, so it was just a really, you know, fun morning to kick off the weekend. And so then I came in here to start my day, and we've got some things coming up here today in the shop. And then tonight is first Friday. So I know a lot of communities have that. And it's an art-based kind of experience in our downtown community. The restaurants are all open, the galleries are open. Um, going to a show tonight at the hub downtown. So I'm really excited about seeing the artwork there and seeing everybody there. Just, you know, spring. Spring is in the air, and it's just nice to have these things happening. And it's gonna be like 70 degrees here in the area, and that's very encouraging. We're kind of like swinging out of winter, a little bit of taste of spring. I'm sure winter's gonna come back for a little bit. But um, yeah, it's been really nice. This week has been super busy. So if you follow me on social media, you saw that I got to take uh my homeschool gals, um, Madeline and Lily with me to a junior achievement event all day at the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the village. And that was a lot of fun. We were swamped the entire day and a lot of kids. They said about 5,000 attendants of uh middle school through high school students learning about different careers. And so I was there getting to represent art alongside Arts and Stark, which is our arts organization. We are very fortunate to have in the community. And so I got to, you know, work alongside them, and their little survey was super sweet with all the different colors they were putting on, um, asking the kids, you know, what they thought their um strength, their character was, and what they would want in a career. And then um we had a community project. So I painted basic blocks of color on a piece of canvas of a landscape, and then all the attendees were able to add a dot that was corresponding pretty close to that color. So when you backed away from it, when the whole picture was done, it was like a boca piece of art, um, kind of an impressionistic interpretation of a landscape. Super fun! So that turned out great. So that's hanging here in the studio now in the uh celebration room behind me, and uh everybody seems like that. And then they also got to craft little tiny mini, kind of like snack boards, charcuterie boards, and the kids love minis and they love doing that. So we went through thousands, I mean thousands of miniature food and characters and just little trinkets to put on those boards, and they had a blast. And there are so many great organizations that participated, and I really want to thank Junior Achievement for having me and letting me do such a fun event and explore, letting kids explore what kinds of art they may like, and then talking about um a career in art. Um, next week I get to go talk to 66 graders at a school and talk about art as a career. Going to show them my animation. Last night I had a whole uh scout den making bird houses, and then we did augmented reality with those houses. So I had all of them contribute to making a sticker, like a patch for their house. And so everybody got to draw a little segment of what they wanted to do to represent a bird. It could have been or a bird house or a the sky or nature, anything like that. And then I printed them and we cut them out and we put them on their houses, and then we animated their houses. So when you use the Artifive app and you pointed it at the bird house, there were animated birds and butterflies and sounds. It was super cute. So that was lovely. I love being part of that, and it was a for a patch to teach them about art, traditional art, and digital art. So we got to do that, and I got to be part of that event last night. So that was a lot of fun. And uh this weekend we've got all kinds of things that are happening in the uh community, and then here in the studio and getting ready for next week. I am at the Holmwood Garden Show, painting live for two days, and they're going to give away those paintings on Friday and Saturday after I paint each one. And then we have a huge St. Patrick's themed uh crawl throughout the plaza, and I'm going to debut my artsy bouquet cart. So I'm really excited about that. Um, and I think one of the most exciting things that happened to me this week was that I got signed for my next national license. And I am now licensed under a major Mahjong company, and I am designing mats. And I cannot wait till they announce them, and I cannot wait for them to show the designs that they chose and the colorways. What a tremendous honor! Maybe I can get one or all of the owners to be on the podcast to talk about their process because their tiles and their mats are just sublime. They're beautiful, and I am just beyond thrilled to um have them find me on social media, literally, just from sharing something that I loved, loving a design I made. Wasn't even like tagging them, targeting nothing. I'm just learning how to play, loving it, my genuine excitement for it. And they contacted me and they were like, we love your work. And would you consider making some designs for us? And we collaborated and it happened. And I am also just so excited. And I asked to also wholesale um their line here at the studio so I can resell their tiles here in the community because I don't think there's anybody in Stark County that is selling that product line, and I want that available here to everyone that loves playing. So um waiting to see if that goes through and also being an affiliate for them. So just oh my gosh, I am just beyond excited. I can't wait. And I can't wait to continue sharing my designs and my mats and my uh, you know, tablecloths and accessories and napkins and things that I'm creating and promoting that you can play Mahjong here at the studio. I have five tables and I will set them up and you can play. And I have tiles and I have cards if you want to just hang out and enjoy time with your friends and wear an adora, bring food and drinking, and get to just hang out and play in a fun space. So, oh, just you know, we have a birthday party this weekend. Like I said, there's just so many great things happening, and I just feel so, so fortunate to be part of that and giving space to a creative, you know, need and a place where people can just enjoy one another's company and have fun and laugh and just be happy and just decompress, and that's just what I've always wanted. And people I think are sensing that joy and that excitement when they talk to me and see me and meet me and ask to collaborate with me. They feel that genuine, you know, excitement that I am bringing to their project and how much gratitude that I have that they like my work or they want to, you know, have me help with what they want to envision and get to help bring that to life. It's that's so much to the core of what I want. I can't wait for the reception for Ann's work here in the studio this month. And um, the studio is going to have classes this this month that we've never had before. We've got a mosaic light class coming up, we have an acrylic and uh resin class that um is Tracy's teaching that she was our exhibiting artist last month, and it's almost sold out. I think there's like one or two spots left. Um, we have needle-felted um bangles that I'm teaching that is doing really well. Oh my gosh. So many super fun things. And I just know that I didn't see any of this a year ago. I can't imagine what's gonna happen a year from now. So I am just open, universe, to everything creative that you're bringing my way and embracing it and enjoying it and putting it out there, that I just want to be here for it and for you, and for you to get to experience something creative and help you pursue what you love and what you want to happen in your life. It doesn't have to be art, if it's anything that is in your heart that you want to make it happen and there's something that you need creatively that I can help you do, let me know. That's what I'm here for. Here to cheer you on, here to encourage you, here to be a sounding board. Um, if you happen to be on Finch and you want to be friends, oh, let me know. I just started that with my friend Rachel. She's like, you gotta try this. It's a great self-care app because you need to have that in the back of your mind is to take care of yourself. And she's right, it's the cutest little thing. Let me know. I need more friends on there. So yes, if you are watching on the YouTube channel, um, you'll see how much color is in my background, in my outfit, and my life. Oh, check out the new jeans that I made. I picked up a pair at Goodwill. I found the cutest runners at World Market, and they were crocheted flowers and crocheted fruit. And I took the fruit and I put them on my jeans and I wore them to the junior achievement event. I had so many people stopping me telling me how much they loved them. They were so cute. And then I've got a jacket that I'm making with the flowers, but they're gorgeous. The whole runner was like for a home, and they're beautiful hand crocheted flowers and and fruit and veggies. And I'm like, you can't just put these in your house. You gotta wear them, you gotta enjoy them, gotta get them out there in the world. So that's what I did. Um, but yeah, just make your heart happy and do something that you love. You really have to do that. I'm encouraging you, and I'm telling you, I am grandma core to the core. If you want to learn something and I can figure out a way to teach it, or I can find someone that knows how to teach it, please let me know. I'd be happy to have it here. The wool rug hooking that we just did. Oh my gosh, so much fun. I am halfway through my second square on my piece, and I'm gonna have some supplies here in the store just in case some people see it and they want to do it because there's nothing around locally that sells the hooks and the the frames. And um, and Nita is I gotta have her back here to teach. She's a wonderful teacher, has supplies as well, but you know, I just wanted people to have access to them. You know, everyone wants me to sell fabric and yarn. I I don't have the space. I don't have the I don't have the wherewithal. I don't have the storage to do that. I wish I did, but I don't. So any little things that I can have to get you started, to get you kicked off to do it, I'm trying to have that here. So I encourage you to find something you really love and do it hour a day, 10 minutes a day. Find some space and time in your day to do something you love. And it will just it helps heal you from the inside out. I promise. So stay brutally made. I'm excited to share whatever adventures happen next week with everything going on. But I probably won't get to record Friday morning because I'll be at the Home and Garden show. So maybe I'll try to do it on Thursday. But I will definitely catch you up with everything that's going on in my uh corner of the creative world. So stay brutifully made. I'll talk to you later. Bye.