Happy Maker Monday!
This week we are featuring Melodie Burns of Art of Melodious! We love her cards and the way she mixes quirky greetings with fun illustrations. A lot of her work features animals and each one has such personality. It’s no wonder so many people immediately think of someone her cards would be perfect for or instantly think that a particular card matches their personality to a tee. Melodie’s interview is just full of amazing advice so make sure to keep reading to learn more about her, how she started Art of Melodious and how she has gotten to the point she’s at today!
: We would love to hear a few things about who you are! Introduce yourself!
: Hi my name is Melodie Burns. I am an illustrator/wife/entrepreneur living it up in the countryside in Ontario, Canada. I love animals and you can tell firstly because the majority of my artwork includes creatures and I have a growing fur family of 2 dogs and 2 cats, soon to be 5 chickens! My artwork can be found on the cards that I create for my store Art of Melodious and let me tell you I love creating artwork for cards.
: You started Art of Melodious with homemade cards. Tell us a little about your background and how you got into creating cards and then starting your own shop selling them!: Growing up I loved drawing and horses, so I drew, painted and rode horses. The great thing is I still do all those things!! In 2009 I graduated from Sheridan College with a Bachelor in Illustration, I had pursued post secondary education mainly to work on my traditional drawing skills, which I did, but I also expanded my breadth of creative outlets. These outlets after school led me to developing the style I use today for my cards today.More about the cards now. Again growing up I made all my cards, cards for fathers day, mothers day, birthdays, wedding, Christmas, I even made my family’s Christmas cards every year to send to relative and friends. It was always something I loved doing, it was fun thinking up a funny idea for the recipient and getting creative with the artwork. Fast forward to me meeting my husband in 2011 (at the time bf) he encouraged me to take some of the artwork I had created on my own time and put them on cards. Honestly I had never considered greeting cards, even though I loved making them, my main goal was doing freelance illustration. But I decided to trust him and put out a couple designs and people loved them, and the rest is history haha. The more cards I create the more I loved them, it allows me to share my humour and connect people together. I hear a lot ‘oh that is so him’ or ‘haha that is so me’ It’s cool that people can see themselves in my artwork and also help bring people together.
We’re excited about today’s feature with Cherylyn of The Felting Dorcas and think you all will truly love the wool products she creates! The wool she uses not only looks so amazing (who else wants to just touch it!?) but we think it’s so important that they’re free of chemicals and harsh dyes. Cherylyn puts so much heart into what she creates and wants to use her work to impact others as well — supporting various causes with each purchase. We are huge advocates of making purchases that have a greater purpose and love makers that use their gifts and talents to give back. So while you may love what The Felting Dorcas creates, supporting her brand has a larger impact! We can’t wait for you guys to keep reading to learn more about Cherylyn and the gorgeous wool products she handcrafts.
: I’m Cherylyn, currently residing in Melbourne with my family. I am a cat lover and apart from creating, I also love baking! I started my Etsy store, The Felting Dorcas, in 2015 – it focuses on making handcrafted items out of high quality pure wool, like baby mobiles and garlands.
This week we are featuring Annika Chicharro of ChicharroDesigns! We just love her quirky greeting cards! Creativity runs in the family and so does making a career out of it! Annika is not only a graphic designer, she also has her own 
: I’m a graphic designer based in London, UK. I like to to make people laugh every day and my best friends are my 4 siblings. My three favourite things are my miniature schnauzer dog called Boris, peanut butter on toast and napping. I’m a queen napper – you’d be surprised at the places I’ve managed to fall asleep in.
We are big fans of jewelry, so we are truly loving today’s feature with Liona of 
: My name is Liona (pronounced Ly-oh-nah!). I’m 32 years old, married to Ryan, with 2 kids – Mia (4) and Charlie (11 months)! I live in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. Before I started my own jewellery brand I was a Pharmacy Assistant and Dispensary Technician for 10 years. I loved working in pharmacy but always craved a more creative path.
This week we are featuring Carolynn Yoe and her fabulous illustrations! Carolynn’s illustration style is so fun, which makes her 
: My name is Carolynn and I’m an illustrator. I was born and raised in a small and sunny town in Indonesia, but now I live in Singapore. My daily routine includes blogging and working from my home studio where ideas are scribbled and created into existence. I’m also a dog-person and I’m into snail mail. I have collected postcards for years and most of them are dogs and illustrations.
We are so excited about today’s feature because we are all about makers that use their artwork to brighten other’s days! That’s exactly what Kristina, the creator behind 
: Hello! My name is Kristina and I’m a 31 year old artist who was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. I grew up alongside my younger brother (the coolest guy I know) in a cute yellow house in East Hollywood where we were raised by my mother and aunt. For years, I thought I would be a studio musician, a piano accompanist, or a songwriter but life had other plans and I eventually found my way to design. After a year in a masters art program for Web Design and New Media, I was hired as a full-time designer at a studio in the San Francisco Bay Area and I never looked back. Now, I’m based out of Los Angeles where by day, I am a freelance UX / UI designer, which is just a mega fancy way of saying I do front-end design for applications on mobile devices and the web. On early mornings, nights & weekends, I work on Cheery Human Studios. When I’m not working, I love visiting the Wizarding World and Disneyland with my boyfriend, chilling with my cat Mochi, and spending time with my best friends and family.
: My name is Chanine. I’m 27 years old, born and raised in Spijkenisse, the Netherlands, which is a small town near to Rotterdam. I’m happily married to Marius and we live in a cozy apartment with our bunny ‘Gijs’.
Today we’re talking to the creator behind 
: Hi! I’m a 27 year old artist living in New Hampshire with my boyfriend. I’ve spent most of my life in New Hampshire, but I moved to Portsmouth in 2013, about a year after graduating from college. Portsmouth is a beautiful little city on the coast, and I absolutely love it. When I’m not inside making art, I like to explore the coast and be by the ocean. I like pretty much all things seafood, so I spend a fair amount of time eating as well!
This week we are featuring Marnie Milnes of Pickle and Co Fibres. She creates hand spun and dyed yarn that will make any yarn lover swoon! As with many of our makers and creatives Marnie is an experimenter. Many of her dyed creations are the result of these colorful experiments and we must say they made for some beautiful color combinations! You’ll have to see for yourself on her 
: Well hi! I am Marnie and I run a little yarn and fibre business called Pickle and Co Fibres. I am based out of a small beachside suburb called Woody Point, just north of Brisbane (which is the major city in the state Queensland, Australia).
We’re so excited to be featuring our very first candle company, 
: My name is Andrew Kruep, and I have my own “little” Etsy shop called LITTLE BATCH Candle Co; an artisanal candle company focused on making high quality, 100% hand crafted, and fully customizable soy candles. I’m also a very proud resident of Jersey City, NJ (about 15 minutes from Manhattan), which is where LITTLE BATCH is based!
Castle Foundations 