Oh Creative Lady: Meet Karla from Blastastic Day
Through blogging and Instagramming, I’ve been introduced to an amazing Virtual Sisterhood of Creative Ladies.
The Oh Creative Lady series is your chance to meet these incredible, kind-hearted, inspiring <insert ALL the happy, positive adjectives HERE> women.
It is such a pleasure to kick off the 2018 series of Oh Creative Lady with this gorgeous mamma, Karla from Blastastic Day. We met via the old Instagram (I feel like all my stories begin this way.) I was captured by the way this lady so obviously makes the time to creatively connect with her little one. No mean feat when she also works full-time and runs 2 Etsy stores. My love for Karla has been completely affirmed by her admission of loving carbs. I love the way she gently gives us an insight into her life here and shares the advice she gives herself. Introducing Karla from Blastastic Day!
I am… Karla, but you can call me Karlita. I’m a mama, a wife, a friend, an introvert, a twin, a carbohydrateholic, a cat lady, a daydreamer, a designer, a maker and a wannabe art teacher.
I’m lucky to share my life with my favorite people, my husband, best friend and boyfriend for 17 years, Angel, our 4-year-old son, Lennon, and our cats Rita and Maxwell. (We’re big Beatles fans in case you haven’t figured it out by the names of our son and cats!)
I was born in Mexico and moved to the US (against my will!) to attend college in El Paso, TX. I studied graphic design and in my last year at university I got an internship opportunity in Knoxville, TN with Scripps Networks, the parent company to a handful of cable TV channels like HGTV, Food Network & Travel Channel. That opportunity lead me to my current job with the company as a graphic designer… that was almost 10 years ago!
I spend a good part of my day in front of a computer pushing pixels left and right, that at the end of the day all I crave is to do things with my hands. I run two Etsy shops KAANG and KAALEN and this year I’m working on my Blastastic Day Etsy shop. @blastasticday is my Instagram account where I share creative projects I make with Lennon. I’ve always loved to make and create and to share this passion of mine with my son is everything to me. It is my favorite way to bond with him and to keep our creativity going. Starting my separate creative Instagram account has been one of the best things I did last year, it is something that I had been wanting to do for a couple of years and I have gained so much out of it. I have met so many incredibly kind and creative people (like you, Shannon!) through the Instagram community. It inspires me daily to check my feed and see what everyone shares.
I find inspiration… The internet is my main form of inspiration, it’s where my heroes “live.” I get so inspired by people who work hard to follow their dreams. I love reading inspirational books from my internet heroes, my current favorites are: Steal Like an Artist, by Austin Kleon, Things Are What You Make of Them, by Adam J Kurtz and The Crossroads of Should and Must, by Elle Luna.
I also get very inspired by picture books. I love them and can’t get enough of them! It’s hard not to be inspired by the genius books from Hervé Tullet, the beautiful illustrations of Christian Robinson or the brilliant work of Eric Carle.
I am excited about … Tomorrow, the future. There are so many things I want to do that it will take me another lifetime to do it all.
When I’m in a creative slump, I… like to go outside for a walk, nothing beats some fresh air to clear your head. If I’m in front of my computer I like to listen to music or podcasts like Out of Line, Creative Pep Talk and Design Matters. If I have the chance, a trip to Barnes and Noble or Target always help me get inspired. Browsing through books, enjoying beautiful designs and illustrations. The internet is great but being able to touch things and hold them totally beats any screen inspiration.
I’m really proud of… Working hard to overcome my shyness. I have always been a shy person but I had learned little by little to overcome it and it has not been easy. But it has been so fulfilling and it have opened many doors that before I would feel so intimidated to knock upon.
Someone once told me… It’s a quote that I love and I live by about gratitude…
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” William Ward
My advice to you is … I don’t like giving advice. But I can share with you the advice I gave myself on my past birthday.
You can find me at …