Why you see Mimi SmARTYpants here today....
MIMI SMARTYPANTS·THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2018·
I am not very good at writing about things like this, as mainly it requires my memory and remembering how exactly I have managed to make my little business I have got happening here in my home in Oxfordshire.
I will try to keep it brief.... but the story goes...
I have always LOVED making and ever since I ca
n remember I have made cards for family members for various occasions thriving on the act of creating something from my heart and giving.... yes even when I was a little Mimi, I would think this! Forever drawing and painting I went to college and university completing a degree in Fine Art and refining it further with a HNC in Graphic Design. I always said after that, I was then able to ‘computify’ my designs that always start life in a sketch pad! Upon leaving uni I worked as a gift wear developer for a few years, which was great, meeting artists, sculptors and other likeminded people. I then met my now husband which led to my move to Oxfordshire and a new job in interior design, working alongside some fab people, of which I will never forget! I knew I wanted to be there for him and make sure I was around, but how this would happen I was not so sure. Plans for our wedding were starting to take shape and I began to make our stationery for that, as well as anything else I could think of at the time, which was I just loved as it was the first ‘job’ I had since having Joe.
After our wedding a family member asked if I would make some wedding invitations for a wedding her friend’s daughter was having... nervously I took the job on (as confidence was zero back then...), but that was the start of all what I stand behind now.
I made many more after that... surprising myself every time. And the satisfaction I got from it was the same little buzz I used to get back in the day of making a birthday card for my Nan! I mean, don't get me wrong... I paint this romantic picture of me sitting, lovingly making and creating, but it was bloomin’ hard work, making it work around a small person... most of my hours working were at night and in those brief minutes he would nap for! But I kept with it... as I knew deep down there maybe a way I could make it work? Time went on and over the year’s things naturally developed down the road I find myself down now, creating various bits of stationery and prints of families for various occasions, just for fun! I won’t fill you in on all the boring bits in between, but I have struggled like the next Mum with all that ‘stuff’ that comes with having children. But, in many ways, I think that has what got me through is having Mimi Smartypants and always believing. As what was once my escape... (and still is in many ways, (as I love it so much)), is now something I can call myown and be proud of. So, why Mimi SmARTYpants? Well... the first part fall with my sister, who could not say Naomi, so she called me Mimi, so has stuck... ARTY as it is totally a way I would describe myself... but Smarty as I am actually quite proud of what I have achieved to this day! But I would not have been able to do this without the massive support of my husband, Pete, family and close friends... you all know who you are. So hopefully if you are reading this part now, you have not been too bored with hearing my mini tale.... which I hope will continue for a few more years yet! If you are still out there wanting my drawings, I will continue to make...
As I am here pouring out my heart, I also need you to know how much YOU, a customer mean to me too and without your orders, I wouldn't be anything at all and Mimi Smartypants wouldn't exist... it sounds sooooo cheeeeeesy, but you have literally made a dream I had when I was small.... actually come true! So Thank you, from the bottom of my heart! Naomi x
