Small beginnings

When starting out, I saw some definitive holes in my portfolio so I sought out a few friends who had gotten professional photoshoots to see if I could use their photos to showcase my work.

But none of my friends had a dog and I very much wanted to make a pet portrait. No inquiries for one had been made so I decided to search in hashtags on Instagram for a regular person with the perfect photo. It was a little wild to be honest but I didn't want to give it to an influencer who gets dozens of gifts a month. Then I found Olive the corgi surrounded by flowers.

She is actually wearing a flower crown! It was the perfect photo to embroider. I was excited to add the details in every petal and make the colors pop off the page.

She belongs to Olia, a lovely jeweler in Canada who took the photo with her phone. As it was going to be a 5x7 piece, it was perfect. I love the fact simple phone pictures work well for the 5x7 pieces, especially because most spontaneous and precious photos are taken with the camera in our pockets.

I contacted her and she was delighted I wanted to embroider a portrait of her puppy. We struck a deal and now I'm packing up her piece to ship to Canada.

Thank you, Olia! I've loved connecting with you as a fellow artisan who creates beauty and also knows painful chronic health issues. I hope you love the embroidered pet portrait of dear Olive!

You can find Olia's stunning handmade jewelry here.

Below, take a peek at the back of my work. I secure the threads with tape.