Inspiration...

I've been thinking a whole lot about inspiration lately. I've been thinking about all the things that make my creative mind go wild and where I got my inspiration from. What inspires me? Let's see......first and formost, nature. Yeup, that's a given to pretty much anyone who does what I do. How could you not be inspired by no one other than mother nature herself? When I was a little kid, I was alllllllways outdoors with my best friends...riding our bikes, playing in the sand, swimming, playing Barbies, digging for worms, playing antartica, playing famine (we created some crazy stories). You name it, it was done OUTSIDE. I loved just laying in the grass and staring at the clouds trying to figure out what shape that particular cloud resembled. I just loved feeling the warm summer air kiss my youthful skin. Not much has changed.

Last year was the first time I ever went to Crandon, WI and I SWEAR, my life had changed from the time my foot touched the ground after getting out of the car. I really can't explain it, or how it happened, or WHY it happened...it just did. I had recently lost my father to cancer, so a lot of my happiness that I once knew was stripped from me leaving nothing behind. It was hard, I lost a lot of friendships and even a love because of it, but somehow, nature got me through, as crazy and nutso as that sounds. I seen color that day in Crandon. I seen butterflies and dragonflies and Bald Eagles and fish and beavers and deer, just EVERYTHING wildlife has to offer. It was facinating. I was in awe the whole time. It's not like I've never seen any of these animals before, cause hello, I live in WI...But it was the first time I *opened* my eyes when I seen them and it just shed a whole new perspective. It was wonderful. My love for nature continued on from there...

I decided to create Autumn Balm Botanicals after my life slowly began to change. I always wanted to make what I'm making now since I was a kid, but I always deemed it as impossible. Why, I'm not sure. But I always had a crazy imagination, but most times, my imagination never played out to reality. I decided to look up how to make my own at home goodies, and thought, "wow, this is easy". Okay, it's not that easy, but easy enough. I reasearched and researched until my eyelids practically fell off. And then it just snowballed from there...

When I was little, I tried making my own potions. I was *slightly* into witchcraft and wizardry (before Harry Potter, just fyi ;). I had this special green vase that I would brew/infuse my potion into. I had this mysterious box filled with all my goodies. My potion would turn into a blood red/magenta color once it was fully brewed. Haha, I didn't really do anything with it, but it was fun to mess around with. I'm not sure what inspired me to do that at that time, but I think doing that certainly held some inspirational meaning to what I'm doing now.

Another weird thing I did as a child was try to hatch a chicken egg from the eggs you get at the supermarket. Bah, no matter how many times someone told me I couldn't do that with those eggs, I still tried and tried. I had this kids encyclopedia that I would always reference regarding this. I would look up how to incubate an egg to get it to hatch if you didn't have the mother hen. Oh boy, I was a far off child...I took this to school during a talent thing and all the kids where facinated. Haha, I remember them thinking how cool it was (I bet the teacher thought I was nuts). I actually had a kid come up to me after that and said he hatched an egg, haha. I was bummed that mine never hatched. That's still something I'd love to do though...just on a farm this time. ;) 

I loved anything related to ghosts and hauntings (still do!!!). My house was haunted as a child, plus we lived directly across the street from a cemetery, so that aided my obsession...

There is just so much stuff that inspires me, I literally could go on for days talking about it. It's just neat to sit back and remember stuff about your childhood and see it sewn in to your life that you have today. It's pretty cool if you really think about it! Take a moment and sit back and think of what inspires you. What makes you, YOU.

I think the best part about starting Autumn Balm Botanicals is that I can reach my inspirations to other people. Masses of people even. I think that's great. I can help someone in someway (thanks to the Earth of course) with what I create. Yeah, I'm not the first person to create something for your body, and I'm sure as hell not the last. But it's a great thing to even be doing it in the first place. It's heart warming and fun and very much exciting to be able to help people on a different level. I hope you all look further into what I make and don't just see it as a lip balm or a salve, but a healing treatment for your body & soul. It's there to connect you with the things surrounding you. It's much much more than what you think. It's handmade with love and care. That my friends, is an awesome thing <3

The picture above is a photo of the farm my father grew up on as a child. Him and his 8 siblings...