MY

Creative
STORY
My story.

I have many stories- a childhood story, a love story, a spiritual story, a food story. Today I plan
to share with you my creative story.

I grew up with a Martha Stewart kind of mom. She’s pretty much good at anything she puts
her mind to: cooking, sewing, jewelry making, painting, hand lettering, knitting and the list
goes on and on. She made all my clothes growing up and even made my wedding dress.
My mom, who is also my best friend, is the one who started all of this, many many years ago.

my wedding dress handmade by my mom

I remember growing up in her fabric shop, watching her manipulate patterns and size things
just right. I have always slept under a quilt she has made and her creativity just seems to
seep into my pores. She’s a lot of other things as well: an incredible wife, mother, business
owner and definitely my biggest fan.

I love my mom.

She’s always been there waiting for me to ask questions. To be my sounding board and to
teach me things I wanted to learn. We had craft days growing up and I can remember
sketching and painting from an early age. I was always a hands on kinda gal- but didn’t
know how to channel my creativity when until I was older.

For instance, in high school I painted my room black, white and red plaid after watching a
TLC makeover episode. Come college dorm room time- I was all in. My roomie and I had
matching hand-embroidered towels, matching quilts that my mom made and a plethora of
other DIY gadgets like cork photo boards and handmade pillows. It was a bit of a hodge
podge, but I’m pretty sure we had the coolest room on the hall.

My entire family consists of self-made entrepreneurs, so all I knew when I went to school is
that I wanted to own my own business. I just didn’t know what. So, I went to business school
and concentrated in human resources (human resources?). My junior year I wrote a business
plan to open up an outdoor store called Xanadoo. That probably had to do with my
then-boyfriend-now-husband, David. (We also only registered at REI for our wedding- but
that taps into my nature story.)
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I decided not to minor in anything. Instead, I took yoga and rock climbing as electives. Fun
fact: I was also a cheerleader for most of my college years and didn’t have very much time
to do anything else. I’m pretty sure I was the only vegan-bible-studying cheerleader in the
nation but yet again, that taps into my food story and my spiritual story.

I graduated from N.C. State in 2008 with a B.S. in Business. One weekend later I married my
high school sweetheart, David. That’s the best decision I ever made. We moved to Boone,
NC for the summer, then back to our hometown of Franklin, North Carolina.

For years, I regretted not going to school for design. Or textiles. Or art of any kind. I even
went through a phase of applying to SCAD and wanting to move us to Savannah. Two
things finally clicked for me though.

One: had I not gone to business school I wouldn’t have had any business sense.
Instead, I came out with a good base knowledge of marketing and account-
ing- both of which have been invaluable.

Two: Forget school- I can learn on my own. It will be hard and grueling but I can
do it. I just know I can!

In the meantime, I started working for my mom at her quilt shop, A Stitch in Time in Franklin,
NC. I mainly did office work, but loved working with all the pretty fabrics and notions. I
worked about 30 hours a week and decided to start a blog and an Etsy shop.

Why a blog? I was constantly doing, making and creating. I knew I wanted to a place to
share my projects, and a blog was the best way to do it. I also knew that I wanted to do it
full time, and to do that I needed to be smart about it. I took months and months to
research other blogs, my target audience, blog designers and topics I wanted to write
about.

Why an Etsy shop? Because I had officially fallen in love with fabric and sewing- and I knew I
wanted to be self-employed (remember?). I took months and months learning the ropes of
Etsy as well. Researching other shops, their policies, and reading articles galore on how to
be successful.

Why Going Home to Roost? Good question! Haha. I remember scribbling down blog name
ideas for weeks. The thesaurus was always open on my computer. I did have hens at the
time but I also just loved to nest in my home. Words like nest, dwell, birds of a feather, home
and cozy kept coming to mind. Any time I was away from the house I just wanted to Go
Home and ROOST. Voila! I guess I also could have named it ‘Homebody’.

Working for my mom really allowed me to dip my toes into both blogging and selling on Etsy,
and I debuted both of them right around the same time: April 2009.

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It was slow going at first and if any of you have been around that long, you’ll remember my
first quirky blog design with a big burlap background and a bird sitting in a tree.

my first blog design

After a year of blogging consistently and selling on Etsy, things had picked up enough for
me to quit working for my mom. This was a sad but ever so essential move for me. We still got
to see each other almost every day anyways, so it wasn’t that bad (right, mom?). Mean-
while, David had started making a normal to below-average salary so I took my chance
while I had it. A tiny bit of income from advertising and my unreliable income from Etsy was
getting us through. Sort of.

2010 proved to be busy. I was selling more aprons, tea towels and pillows than I could make.
I was officially blogging and selling on Etsy full time and loving it! I stayed in my sewing room
most days and really got in the swing of blogging and creating a community. I have always
blogged consistently- 1-2 times a day with rare breaks. It was hard to do when my numbers
were low, but I knew that if I just stuck with it things would begin to grow.

booth at the indie craft parade

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In fall 2010, I had a booth at the Indie Craft Parade and took something like 100 aprons, 100
pillows and 100 tea towels. It was my very first craft show and I had no idea what to expect.
My fingers were worked to the bone, and I could hardly see straight from getting everything
in order, but I made it. To my surprise, I made around $2,000 that weekend. I had no idea
that was possible!

The next week, we moved to Colorado.

We had bought our grandparents house, fixed it up, planted a garden and even had a
dozen hens. And then David got a job opportunity of a lifetime- coaching cyclists with Car-
michael Training systems. In addition to that, we were up for an adventure. We knew we
would be in Colorado Springs for 6 months, and then would move to California in May of
2011.

We sold nearly everything we owned and packed the rest of it into a trailer. We drove to
Colorado with no place to live and stayed in a hotel for 3 days while we looked for a place.
We ended up living in a drab duplex. It was cold. The walls were stark white and we had
mauve burber carpet. Mauve! It was dark and dreary and I had no sewing room. It was only
for 6 months though. That’s what I kept telling myself. So, I relied on selling leftover stock for
the next 6 months and upon reflection- this boring house was the best thing that ever hap-
pened to me.

With nothing else to do- I set out teach myself how to design. I had purchased Adobe Illus-
trator just before leaving NC and was determined to be a fabric designer. For 11 months, I
took Adobe Illustrator courses online. I’ve never counted up the hours but it was hundreds.
Hundreds of hours sitting in front of the computer following along with Illustrator tutorials.

The Illustrator lessons I took were taught by a couple of dudes- so I spent 11 months learning
how to draw wizards and tessellating lizards. The manly aesthetic made things harder, but
the technique was really all I needed to learn. Slowly but surely I began making progress
and even started designing some of my blog posts using AI (now, I use it for all of them!). It
was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Being motivated to do it alone, and not
having a teacher to talk with and ask questions to. But I did it. And you can, too!

In October of 2011 I created my first repeating pattern.

My reaction was similar to when my hen laid her very first egg. I held it up and ran around
the yard screaming like a small child. The moment I made my first pattern I think I called my
mom crying. She loved it. And it was horrible.

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 my first repeating pattern. ha!

I was hooked. I took my sketchbook with me everywhere I went and drew and drew and
drew. I remember sitting at David’s bicycle races hoping I wouldn’t see anyone I knew, just
so I could keep laying in the grass and drawing. I made pattern after pattern after pattern.

In January of 2012 I started gathering thoughts and a plan for a collection. I wanted to
make a portfolio and start sending it to fabric companies. I wanted it to be special. Really
special. I decided early on that I wanted to design, print and make my very own book. So I
looked up the nearest book bindery and went one afternoon to learn how to bind my own
book.

Making a book isn’t easy. I goofed up several times but came out with the most beautiful
looking book I had ever seen. Just holding it made me feel special, and I knew exactly who I
wanted to send it to.

my handmade portfolio
Since then, I’ve made two others to showcase some new work. They’ve gotten easier to
make, and this last one I decided to make ‘binder style’ so that I could interchange the
pages.
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I sent off my portfolio in March of 2012. I was nervous every time the phone rang for the next
3 months. I didn’t realize how slow the industry can move at times. More on this in a minute.

2012 was a big year. In a nutshell, I opened a new Etsy shop, changed my online name,
made a new website, made and sent out 3 portfolios, signed my first freelance contract
and started the Roost tribe. Whew! Now let’s break it down a bit.

After moving to California, I still didn’t have a sewing room (though I loved our little cot-
tage). So, I decided to close down both of my Etsy shops and open a new one. Woohoo!
This time, for digital patterned goods. By this time, I had made about 50 patterns that were
sitting around doing no good at all, so I thought making greeting cards and art prints with
them would put them to good use, plus it would help get my name out there as a designer. I
print, packaged and ship everything from my humble abode.

I also decided to design by the name Bonnie Christine. Christine is my middle name (put
together they mean beautiful Christian) and I thought it sounded much better than Bonnie
Forkner. David takes no offense. So though it was a tough decision, I’ve slowly but surely
changed my name on the web to Bonnie Christine.

Going Home to Roost finally started to grow this year. I feel like at some point things just start-
ed snow balling and that it will probably happen to anyone who sticks with it long enough.
I’m still not huge by any means, but I’m happy with the size (roughly 7,000 readers a day). It
means that I can still answer every e-mail and feel like we’re all a closely knit community.

In Summer of 2012, Etsy asked me to do a blog article and video interview with them on the
topic, “how to pitch to bloggers’. I was so excited! I busted my tail to get my Etsy shop ready
and cleaned up GHTR to make it looks as good as possible. When the day finally came I was
jumping up and down. I’m pretty sure I smiled for the entire day- and ended up with about
600 new friends. Needless to say, I heart Etsy. (Of course.)

And, as you know, I started the Roost Tribe! The idea for the Roost Tribe began this past
summer. After 4 years of blogging I still wasn’t really making any money, and the amount I
did make usually got put right back in the business. I started to envision something that I
myself would love to be a part of. Something that was incredibly affordable for the individu-
al, but had potential to generate revenue. It dawned on me that after learning so many
things the hard way, I would have *died* to have been able to be a part of something like
the Roost Tribe in my earlier years. I realized that I had information and talents that others
could benefit from and also had designs, recipes and other goodies that I wanted to share
with people. Basically, I dreamt up something that would be fun, engaging, educational,
and totally worth 5 bucks.

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Which brings me to another point- I also realized that it was worth something. This was hard,
because so many times we (bloggers, creatives and handmade sellers) undersell ourselves.
We give away things for free and undercharge for our goods. Freebies are great and I will
always offer them to my readers, but at the same time what we do is worth something. It’s
hard work and though we love doing it, we also must put food on the table.

I’ve been incredibly wowed by how well the Roost Tribe has started off. I’ve tried a lot of
things that seem to flop- so I was scared. It felt like I was throwing this big huge party at my
house and I was afraid that no one would show up. But they did! You did! And I am forever
happy and grateful for you. I had a goal number in mind of 200 members and decided to
give myself 6 months to get there. Well, I hit 200 after about 3 weeks and David and I did a
big ol’ happy dance. I couldn’t believe it! Now, anything above that number just makes me
giddy with excitement. I’m passionate about community and I love feeling like we’ve creat-
ed a little hideaway for ourselves. Like a creative club that meets in the coolest tree house
ever.

So, I feel like I’m on the verge of some things. Like I’m pregnant with ideas and in labor trying
to birth this big creative baby. Sometimes, I think it’s twins.

After not hearing back from the company who had my portfolio for over 6 months, I decid-
ed to take matters into my own hands. I booked a flight to Houston to attend the Interna-
tional Quilt show in October of 2012 and contacted several of my top choice fabric compa-
nies for appointments during the show. Attending a trade show can be extremely beneficial.
It gives the artist a very unique opportunity: the art directors for all the companies you’re
interested in under one roof at one time!

After meeting with several companies, I was nearing the last day with a lot of positive feed-
back and great connections made. I was feeling slightly overwhelmed as I felt like I was
going to be returning home with a lot of ‘homework’ for different companies and a lot of
‘maybes’. I was headed to my second to last appointment which just so happened to be
with my #1 pick (if I had the choice). I was expecting more of the same. To my absolute
delight, I walked away from that appointment with a contract offered to me right on the
table. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks as I felt the last 2 years of really hard work all come
to a point. I canceled my last appointment and went home with more than I could have
ever expected.

I’M A FABRIC DESIGNER!

Since then, I’ve begun designing 2-3 collections a year for Art Gallery Fabrics. I’ve had the
pleasure of working with Royal Design Studios in developing a line of wallpaper, wall stencils
and wall decals. I’ve licensed my designs on ribbon, developed a line of sewing patterns,
released a thread collection and taught a creativeLIVE course! I still consider myself very
early on in my career but am so pleased at the direction it’s taken and most importantly, am
inspired and fulfilled creatively in my work.
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Thoughts on working from home.
I’ve always wanted to work from home. I’m a homebody. You know, I like going home to
roost! I absolutely love it, but it comes with it’s fair share of challenges as well. To work from
home, you have to be incredibly disciplined and organized. You also have to be good at
saying no. Your spouse, family members and friends may assume that because you hold no
‘official office hours’ that you’re available to do things. Go to the pharmacy, eat out for
lunch, talk on the phone. I’ve found to counteract this (and not hurt anyone’s feelings) I’ve
had to create ‘official office hours’. You have to work just like everyone else does, and it can
get incredibly distracting to be pulled in so many different directions. Sometimes, I have to
not answer my phone and text that I’ll call them after I’m done working. I rarely agree to
mid-day rendezvous and constantly have to remind myself that I’m on a mission.

I also have to force myself to do things. Brush my teeth first thing in the morning. Get dressed
and look presentable by the time the mail person could come to my door (that’s 10:30). Get
up and take a break. Go outside. And on and on. It can be really easy to fall into this paja-
mas-all-day slump that leaves you feeling gross and tired by 2:00.

So now, I get dressed early every day. I exercise 3-4 times a week. I open the windows and
take breaks from the computer. I stay on task. And it makes working from home the most
lovely experience ever.

Thoughts on being overwhelmed.

Every day, I go through a cycle. I wake up inspired, get incredibly motivated and produc-
tive during the afternoon and by evening I’m overwhelmed. Each and every night. So, I’ve
learned to schedule my day around it. I leave mundane tasks to later in the day and juicy
things like designing for the mornings. I also refuse to think about what I have to do in the
evenings because it just gets me all stressed out and overwhelmed. Everyone is different,
though. Whatever your mental cycle is, you should fit your work schedule to it. I have friends
who are most inspired by the quiet of the night and stay up till 3 in the morning working.
Whatever works for you!

So that’s my creative story. There is still much to be written and I have high hopes and plans
for the future. Being a creative entrepreneur is the most fulfilling, scary and inspirational
career choice I could have made, and I’m so happy to be doing what I’m doing. Though
we all walk different paths, I hope my story has been inspiring to you in some way.

Grateful for you,

Bonnie
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? I would love to hear from you!

blog: goinghometoroost.com
instagram: @goinghometoroost
facebook: facebook.com/goinghometoroost
twitter: twitter.com/gohometoroost
e-mail: goinghometoroost@gmail.com
esty shop: sweetbonniechristine.etsy.com ROOST
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