i am not a fancy painter at all. i first fell in love with painting as a young girl watching my grandfather paint in his dimly lit basement. there were easels, oil paint tubes, linseed oil, paint brushes and tools in every shape. i would watch him for hours. then came the day he said i could paint my own small canvas. i decided on nature (one of his specialties) and painted a log cabin, woods and trees. remember bob ross? well you may laugh, but my grandfather had that same calmness as he painted, describing how to get those tree limbs to look real and how to add snow. my mother noticed my love of painting and bought me a bob ross “how to paint set” a few years later. i never used it much, but she could see that a love of painting and watching someone paint was unfolding.

i gave my mom a painting as a gift in grade school, which hung in her bathroom framed for years. then in college i started painting again, this time mostly cards for family and friends. one i sent to my boyfriend’s parents (now in laws)  read “love is all you need” -for valentines day- with swirls of paint around it. it’s framed in their house today.

recently, i asked a close friend, who also happens to be an amazing art teacher, what the best medium is for letting little ones express themselves creatively. she said hands down- painting. free painting that is, where you give full creative control to the small eager hands and the paint brush. so no paint by numbers.

my four year old created these valentines to share with his class and teachers. i have to admit i want to keep them all! i also have to admit that i wanted to grab a brush and paint with him. he said he painted: love hearts, love bugs, love lizards and one of “mommy with me in her belly, like a long time ago”…

a blank canvas, color and a brush. what will your child paint? what techniques will they develop on their own to create eyes or mouths? which brush will they choose, which colors? how will they describe it to you after it dries?

ALL IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT OF JOYABABY c.2010

My mother was the first person to encourage my creativity as a young child. She always would tell people “Joya didn’t get it from me… I cannot even sew a button on” (which was not true). She is very creative, and an artistic person. Creative in decorating her house, always creating memorable holiday celebrations and more. She was creative in the kitchen and in merging the Indian culture into our everyday. Bringing Indian art and design into our family home, cooking up savory Indian meals weekly and taking her children on travels around the world to expose us to other cultures and art.

My mother would always encourage me to keep painting or sewing, even buying me a fancy sewing machine in high school for Christmas.  Yes I did cry when I opened it, not from excitement but because I watched my sisters open clothes from the Gap and CD’s. Well as they say, “Mothers do know best”. (She’s reading this I know and smiling.) And as a mother now, its true -you can see your child’s talent developing before your eyes, even at a young age.

So when  my mother’s birthday was approaching this past summer, I decided that I would create some unique, handmade gifts that she would enjoy for years to come.

My children love to draw and usually always have a stack of pictures for visits to grandma, so I asked them to create a special picture for grandma’s birthday. My oldest said his was titled “Grandma’s Birthday Table” and my three year old titled his “Grandma and me on a sunny day”. I took their drawings and replicated it with hand embroidery onto each side of a canvas tote. My boys watched with awe as their crayon drawings came to life with thread. My youngest even asked if his smile could be a little bit more happy in the middle of a stitch.  The tote was lined and their original artwork (shrunk to postcard size) was pinned with ribbon onto each side. It was the perfect gift for grandma!

For my gift to her, I collected vintage photos of my mom with each of my sisters and I. I printed them straight from my computer on cream muslin and stitched them together to form a pillow case. Added grosgrain ribbon trim and a designer fabric back to finish the decorative pillow. It was fun to create both projects and my children loved seeing their artwork on something so permanent.

Happy Birthday Mom!

i came across this photograph taken of our first collection in the end of 2006. this was taken in our first retail store in cincinnati, when the entire collection was handmade by myself. (insert countless sleepless nights and sewing hours between 8pm-3am every night)

this is almost timely as i am designing our third collection right now. when i look back i see the similar goals i still strive for, a fashionable collection, refreshing design and modern function. in this photo we were in one store, in one city. now we are worldwide and growing. (insert countless sleepless nights)

what i love most about the then and now: the design process, the creation, the “idea” – and sharing that with all of you through joyababy.