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Oh My! Handmade

Oh My! Handmade

Making a good life since 2010

What's Your Story? Sharing The Stories of Our Hearts

Sunday, June 12, 2011 by Jessika Hepburn

by Jessika Hepburn, Editor

Today I am sharing a piece of my handmade history as part of the What’s Your Story campaign on The Academy,  Isa of Noisette Marketing’s new blog. I have shared some deeply personal stories from contributors on Oh My! Handmade in the last few months but haven’t really opened up about my own. I was inspired by Isa’s campaign because I truly believe that when we talk about the painful bits we open doors to healing and creating change. Our stories really are beautiful no matter how difficult they may be. I think her campaign is a perfect fit for our Meeting the Makers theme too-talking about who we really are as people and our paths to where we are now and who we want to become.

I am honored that tomorrow Isa will join us to talk about her own journey-it is a profoundly moving story and I hope that our honesty inspires you to also open the doors of your heart to share your story. Success alone is boring to me, I want to know the why. What moves you and pushes you forward, that passion usually comes from a deep and personal place.

Below is the first few paragraphs of my post for Isa but to get the full story you’ll need to hop on over to my post here.

I am one of those annoyingly happy, relentlessly cheerful and optimistic people (most of the time). I always know everyone, love to make friends and seem to be completely confident in any situation. I adore my work and believe in myself and the power of my passion. I have done some amazing things in my 28 years that I am so proud of. When I tell people I am really quite shy they laugh in my face, no one ever believes me!


But that isn’t the whole truth of who I am. I didn’t get here overnight and it has not been an easy journey. I fought long and hard to love myself and my story. While I am open to talking about my crazy life with anyone who wants to have a heart to heart conversation sharing my raw heart on the internet is a whole different thing. But our #omhg chat last week + Isa’s What’s Your Story campaign were enough to push me over the edge. So I want to share the reason why I am so committed to living a successful creative life and helping others to the same. I think this story is a part of everything I do (I even share it in my bio) but it is scary to invite you into it so openly-please be nice to me!


I’ve walked, stumbled and climbed my way up the mountain to be here now. But my personal journey to a handmade life isn’t fully my own. I’ve written here about how my mother influenced my love of community. Today I want to tell how her mother, Ana Brom, influenced my passion for handmade and drive to help women and mothers live their creative dreams…..

Please head on over to The Academy to read the rest of my story!

If it speaks to you or you are moved to join in and share your own journey, broken bits and all, please leave a link below and I’ll add it to the bottom of this post. And/or join in the What’s Your Story campaign for a chance to be featured on The Academy too.

Filed Under: Editor, For the Head, For the Heart, Interviews

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In June of 2016 I supported my love Chris as we dealt with the death of both his parents and a co-worker over a three week period. This essay written the summer of those deaths is my attempt to make sense of grief and the struggle to carry all that I care for. Originally published […]

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  • The #EtsyStrike begins today July 16, 2018. Learn Why!
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