About Simple JOY Designs

I grew up on a small farm in central Florida, in Kissimmee, near Disney World. I participated in 4-H for 10 years; learning everything from sewing to woodworking and milking the cow to growing tomatoes. I was 5 years old when I learned to sew, completing my first garments at age 8. I won several awards for my many projects over the years including State Dairy Foods – National 4-H Congress, National 4-H Conference, and Florida representative to National Commodity Marketing Symposium. I went on to work for the local county fair and served on their Entertainment and Advertising committees. In my early 20’s I did clerical work, book keeping, data entry and more. I soon discovered while good at my job this is not where I needed to be. In 1995, I left Florida to follow my Navy husband up and down the east coast. That year I completed Floral Design School in Jackson, New Jersey. My training was mostly in wedding work, working on 4 – 6 weddings weekly. I soon transitioned to a shop that did as many as 12+ funerals a week. It was here that I decided I would rather focus on creating joyful memories and bring my creativity to things that were happy occasions. My sewing interests brought me to the quilting world. When my daughter was little I taught quilting classes in Virginia Beach. For a time I was involved in direct sales for a rubber stamping company and developed my paper crafting skills.

After becoming a single mother of two, in 2009, I was once more thrown into clerical work by necessity.  I quickly realized that this was not what I wanted to do.  One day, I created a set of fabric flowers to dress up my flip flops.  I actually sold a few pairs and soon decide I needed a name for this venture.  The name was Simple JOY Designs.  I had done other crafty things for folks on the side while working as an office manager and bookkeeper so I wanted a name that was not limited to just one aspect of what I did creatively.   After a few years of trying to juggle both I took a bold step and decided to combine doing what I loved with making a living.  In 2016, shortly after moving to Spotsylvania, I left my desk job to be creative full – time.  I bring all that I have learned in the past 25+ years to the creative table.  Moving as a military family, working in the floral industry and hosting or coordinating countless social events has brought me to now.  I have learned a lot about up-cycling and re-purposing in crafting, decorating, gift giving, and entertaining.  I believe in trying to breathe new life into what you have before you buy new, surrounding yourself with memories and treasures, and that your environment (both home and work), events or gift giving should bring JOY.  Let me use this knowledge and talent to be “Creative when you can’t be”.