Hi and welcome!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please allow me to introduce myself… my name is Michaela and I’m a 30-something wife, mother, indie biz owner, craft dabbler, and aspiring June Cleaver.

I started writing in August 2008, just a few short days after my oldest son was born. The original blog was was an online journal. Our family is spread all over the world and it was a good way to keep everyone updated on Noah’s new little life.

I have always loved writing and soon found blogging to be a good scratch for that itch (not to mention that it helped keep me awake during the many frequent late-night nursing sessions). Within a few weeks, I realized that, while I love my son, he wasn’t the only topic that I wanted to write about… and so this space, was born in October 2008. It soon became the place where I could vent (to a degree), seek advice, admit to my failures and still show off my son, when and if I wanted to.

In June 2009, I made the big switch from Blogger to WordPress. It was an exciting month, but little did we know that the following month  would give us an even bigger surprise… our family was growing. The following months passed by quickly and before we knew it, Abigail came into this world on her own terms in March 2010.

As the children grew and learned, so did I. I wanted to prove to myself that it was possible for me to overcome my fears and insecurities. I started following my dreams… you see, in addition to loving to write, I’ve also always loved to craft.

Since the children were growing older and becoming more independent, I was able to nurture my creative side more and more often. I was cross-stitching again, knitting, and (thanks to some books and YouTube) had finally taught myself to crochet. My creative needs were being met and the juices were flowing again.

In the summer of 2011, Noah was anxiously awaiting his 3rd birthday and, just a few short weeks later, his first day of preschool. We had been looking for the perfect preschool tote for him, but couldn’t find it anywhere… online or otherwise. He had a very specific idea of what it should look like and I had mine. He wanted a tote that had race cars and his name on it. I on the other hand, wanted something sturdy that would hold up to the daily abuse of a preschooler… and it had to be reversible so that we could hide his name when we were out in very public places (like the zoo).

I had looked online and off, but I couldn’t find any totes that made us both happy… and so I did what I had to do… I dusted off my sewing machine and made Noah his very first personalized tote. =)

After that, I was bitten by the bug and didn’t want to stop making totes. I sewed up a few more and gave them away to friends and family. My husband noticed this, and suggested selling them {well, pushed me actually!}… and so Noby Designs was born. In February 2012, in the wake of a miscarriage, I opened my Noby Designs Etsy store… in doing so, I not only added another element to myself but I to this space as well.

Life is full of surprises and just as I was getting used to juggling two kids and a growing business, we found out that we were expecting again!! Little Michael completed our family when he was born in September 2013.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in life, it’s that things never stay the same and everything is constantly evolving. Priorities get shifted and, well, life adjusts to it. I have lofty dreams for our family, and my husband and kids will always come first, but creativity runs deep in my veins and I have big visions for that part of my life as well.

While I don’t know what plans the future has in store for us, I do know that I’m happy to be sharing this time with you!