HELLO, ALL! I'M SAM!
Welcome to the blog! I'm so glad you've made it! Here at The Creative Glow I share my passion for creativity with all of you! I blog about anything that sparks my creativity such as art, design, fashion, hair, makeup, photography, and I show you some fun DIY projects and tutorials in any of those above areas. Hopefully there will be some laughs and chuckles along the way, too! But I don't just want to share my passion for creativity with all of you, I hope to inspire you all to have a passion for creating yourselves! In fact, you've found your way to this blog so there's a good chance that there's something here that interests you, perhaps you've already got a creative brain, too -- you're at the perfect place! I hope this will be a positive, fun, exciting place for you! Make sure to follow by email or on bloglovin' to keep up with all my newest posts, and subscribe to my YouTube channel so you'll know each time I post a new video!
HOW I BECAME A BLOGGER
Well, my journey to becoming a creativity blogger (that's how I describe it) started when I was much younger, before blogging was even a thing -- honestly! It all started with a love for colouring and, what my mom tells me, noticeable attention to detail. She told me that she didn't always know that I was going to be an artist, but she could tell that, even at five, I paid a lot more attention to detail than other children that age.
At age 13/14 I really discovered I had a talent for drawing. I'd always loved art class all through school, creating, colouring, crafting with my grandmother (ahhh, Tuesday nights at Nanny's) -- I can't remember a time when being artistic wasn't a part of my life -- but it wasn't until the end of Middle School that I discovered I was good at it, too. At this age the Beatles Anthology Collection was being released, and a lot of Beatles related TV was being aired, from which I, along with my best friend, developed a deep obsession with the group. This meant covering my bedroom walls with anything Beatles related. Problem was, some of the dreamy photos of Paul McCartney were too small, so I had to draw my own larger versions. From that I discovered the beauty in how light hits a person's face to create shape and form and dimension; I didn't know that's what was going on, or any of those art terms, but I put pencil to paper, made them happen over and over, and loved it every time.
I kept drawing all through high school -- on my own and in art classes -- and then it came time to decide what I wanted to do after high school. There were a few things I felt passionate about: art, fashion, and beauty and I loved creating in all those areas. I actually came very close to going to beauty school but was convinced last minute that it would be a shame not to go further with my talent in art. Lucky for me there happened to be a great art school where I was living then, so I applied and was accepted into a 3 year art program. Those 3 years were amazing and so much work, but definitely helped elevate my art to another level. All the drawing classes, design classes, color theory classes, and even art history classes came together to give me a sturdy foundation for anything I did in my major, Graphic Design, and any creative project I do to this day.
After college I actually took a job as a kitchen designer until I landed my first real job as a Graphic Designer -- about a year later -- and took my first steps in my career. My job was at the major newspaper in our city where I designed and created advertisements for many companies/clients who purchased ad space. I didn't feel like it was satisfying all my creative needs and career goals, but ya gotta start somewhere, so I continued working there for a couple years until I ended up moving across the country. Once I got work again I was the Graphic Designer for an entire company and catered to all their graphic design needs: newspaper ads, in-store and outdoor signage, promotional material, everything -- I had a lot to do and a lot of tasks and projects to keep track of -- I was basically the graphic design department. This company eventually closed their doors and I was left without a job, once again. Again I wasn't satisfied creatively in my career, but no one likes being let go suddenly and unexpectedly.
This brings me up to August 2013; no longer employed with little job prospects available. Over the several years I worked at that job I managed to save up a nice bit of money, so, with a lot of thought and contemplation and a little positivity, I decided to take a leap, and that's how I started blogging. I was always being asked about how I did my hair, or being complimented on my outfits and my creativity with projects and felt like it would be so great to actually be able to show people how I did these things. When the idea came to me it was just a pipe dream... but then I thought to myself "Why not me?", why couldn't I do this? Why couldn't I be successful at it? Everyone successful with it was just a regular, ordinary person with a regular job at one point, who also decided to try this crazy blogging and/or YouTube thing, so why not me? So I took it seriously and went for it with everything I could, I posted my first ever video tutorial on October 2013, and now I am here - showing you all how I do a certain hairstyle, or make a certain project, or create a drawing or painting, or do my makeup a certain way - and I love it! I even still get to do all the things I've loved and put my heart into leading up to this crazy job, and use all the scheduling and time-management skills I learned in art school and my previous jobs, so that's why I say my journey to becoming a blogger started a long time ago, before blogging existed, when I was just a wee colouring loving, detail oriented, 5 year old!