So who, really, is La Jolie Femme de Marron?

Who is La Jolie Femme de Marron?
<-Me, Natalee. The grown up.

Well, to begin, I'm a mostly liberal, twenty-something, artist-designer-mother-writer-fashionista-historybuff-teacher-talker-listener-lover of people who seeks to create beauty in the world. I started out in a small town. A horrible one. It was located in the middle of nowhere and ripe with small-minded, judgmental meanie heads who wanted nothing more than to stamp anyone who stood out down like the still lit end of their discarded Marlborough cigarettes. (Yuck!) Not everyone in this town was awful. I had a few wonderful friends whom I cherished and keep memories of deep within my heart. But, unforuntately for a square peg like me, the majority of the population were meanie heads.

I'm the 2nd one from the right.->

I had all the usual small-town experiences; cheerleading for the football team, spending summers camped out by a creek, falling in love for the first time with the catcher of the baseball team. By the time I had reached the ripe out age of 18, however, I was more than ready for my escape.

I was an artist, and enamored with the fashion world I knew so little about. My senior year of high school, I spent the entire month of February drawing. I drew trees, fashion models, fruit, people I saw, myself. I sent these drawings away to an art school. They wrote back with a big scholarship certificate attached. I had been set free.

I had three majors in college. I bounced around a lot. It was hard to pick one focus when I loved everything I tried. I went in for fashion, and then switched to fine arts, and eventually graduated in interior design.
<- A design drawing from college.

The summer before my senior year in college, gave birth to my first son, Henry. I worked all summer in Manhattan for fashion and interior stylist Alexia Kondylis (Google her, she's fascinating) and gave birth to my little boy 3 days after the internship ended. I had found two true loves in one summer; high end design and Henry. Henry->

After college, I worked for a couple of firms. I worked in office and restaurant design at Design Collective Inc, I worked in prototype design and branding at WD Partners, I even spent a short amount of time space planning for Victorias Secret. Although all of these jobs were fun, nothing really fit. My need to love and make a difference was not being fufilled. My well of creativity had barely been tapped.

<- A hand felted scarflette.
I decided to switch my course and spent a brief amount of time working in business for a fabric company, Maharam. Unexpectedly, from one of thier collaborators, I discovered a medium that both fascinated an contented me. Felting. A 5,000 year old art form, felting happens when water and friction is applied to animal fiber, like wool. Not only are the end results beautiful, but the repetitive process itself is so calming and beautiful. I was hooked.

Around this time, I quit working for Maharam to stay home with my son and teach Kinship children. I was hooked on that too. Teaching art to these kids was fufilling in a way I can only begin to describe. Each time thier faces lit up as they explained thier creative thought processes, and showed my thier finished masterpieces, a piece of my heart lit up too.
<- The Kinship kids painting.

So I've decided to make my life work for me instead of vice versa. I am staying home with my children (I'm now also the proud mother of another rowdy/lovely little boy, Jonas.) whilest I design and handmake a line of ladies accessories, La Jolie Femme de Marron. I'm preparing to go to grad school to achieve my masters in Art Education, and growing my handmade brand. It's a wonderful life. Jonas->

I always focus on making things that help a girl stand out from the crowd. Be a mix of pretty and funky and free. I have come to relish in my unabashed distinctness. Who wants to be easily forgotten anyway? I'd rather be almost anything but boring.
<- A pair of hand felted spats.

This blog is my new method of sharing ideas, thoughts, and inspiration with you. I hope you enjoy it.