me

Howdy, y’all, I’m MiYon (a Korean name that means pretty flower, pronounced me-yawn, with the stress on the second syllable).  I greet with ‘howdy’ and refer to others as ‘y’all’ frequently because that’s what Texans do, right?  I wouldn’t know.  I’m a military brat who has traveled extensively.  I was raised mainly in the midwest, in a small town in Wisconsin called St. Croix Falls *, population 1400.

I’m married to my soul mate and best friend, Jeff.  We’ve been together for 15+ years.  He makes me whole.  I have two daughters, Claire and Bailey, who have taught me so much about myself, about moving forward instead of dwelling on the past and to be grateful for the simple things.  I’m owned by two critters named Simon and Brittany, often the subjects of my photographs.

I discovered digital scrapbooking in 2007.  I love everything about it.  I’m more experimental than I was when I paper scrapped.  I focus on creative typography (32 Reasons Why I Love Tea, Simple Pleasures), brushwork (Brittany, My Peace, MiYon), and bringing my out-of-the-box ideas to fruition (I Am I Need, Discovering the Beauty).

I collect fonts like some people collect stamps or coins.  Patterned paper is my friend and brushes/stamps are essential.  Itty bitty alphas are my weakness.  I am currently addicted to templates and daters.  I am honored to be a Layout Artist for Paislee Press and Scrap Girls.  I also do ad work for Shabby Pickle Designs.

When I’m not scrapping, I am composing amateurish crappy poems, daubing in Everyone Wins Bingo at POGO, doodling, creating my own brushes and other digital scrapbook supplies, and working on expanding my artistic and technical knowledge and abilities through online tutorials.  I don’t own a fancy or expensive camera but I do own  Lightroom, my savior.  Reality shows, campy horror flicks, platform video games, and cheesy 80s ballads are my guilty pleasures.  I eat gimbop (dried seaweed), mushrooms smothered in soy sauce and tobasco sauce, and sliced kohlrabi.

Something else you should know about me is that I despise winter and the cold.  I like snow.  Snow is pretty.  Cold weather, however, is an abomination that I couldn’t tolerate any longer and in 2007/2008, our family relocated to tropical Rio Grande Valley, Texas.  I love it here.  I have the luxury of going barefoot all year ’round, getting the mail in January without putting on five layers, and the cherry on top, being near the beaches/ocean.  Having suffered from seasonal depression while living in Wisconsin and South Dakota, I finally feel truly happy and free.  I feel like myself.

After many years of battling depression and anxiety, I can honestly say I am a happy person and that I love who I am and what I do.  I must only learn from my mistakes, not beat myself over making them.  And now I can love others more than I ever did before.  I can congratulate my friends on their successes without being jealous and enjoy a peace within my soul that I longed for so intensely.  I’m not just the free spirit persona but, instead, living and breathing it.  My motto is be creative, be free, be wonderfully artistic you.

* See that beautiful sculpture at the home page?  That is River Spirit by Julie Ann Stage of Dance of Life Sculpture, my best friend of over 20 years.  You can view more of her work at the MN Artists website.  Be sure to check out Fiorile “Wildflower”.  She had never sculpted in her life.  This was her triumphant first in many sculptures to come.

Products used to enhance the photo by Catrine at Cat Scrap, Anna Aspnes and Mindy Terasawa at Designer Digitals, and Paislee Press at Oscraps. Lightroom preset by Christian O’Dell at Cat Scrap.  Fonts are Latha, Mr Sheffield, Plantagenet Cherokee, Suave Script, Arno Pro, Bienetresocial, and Buffet Script.