I come from a “shutterbug” family and grew up in a home (in the 1970’s) where the downstairs bathroom was converted to a dark room! (yes, my mum developing her own pictures – oh that chemical smell!) Even back then my dad had a variety of different cameras he used for different occasions.

My mum, from Ipswich England, in today’s world would be called the DIY queen! She was an amazing artist as well as a fantastic writer and journalist. I was always encouraged to crochet, paint, work with clay, write silly poems and to always make cards and gifts instead of purchasing them!

Little did I know, at UC Davis in the late 1980’s, I would meet and fall in love with a very creative and phenomenal young man named Greg. One of his part-time jobs was teaching sculpting and ceramics at the UC Davis Craft Center. As poor college graduates, though we had our “pay the rent day jobs,” we jumped into the CA Art and Wine festival circuit to feed our creative selves. He sculped amazing dragons, gargoyles and developed his own recipe for beautiful, tricolor, hand thrown pottery (ONLY kick-wheel pottery – no electric wheels for him!) With his encouragement, I got into ceramic hand-building and candle making.

When the beauty of the foothills of Tahoe called to us, we ended up moving to a little town, no traffic lights, called Rough and Ready, CA.

It was there, with our three dogs, three cats, two birds, two fish tanks and five-acres, that our first daughter Hope came into our lives. The trip to China was invigorating and inspirational. The cultural immersion with its history, architecture, food and people – it was all so life changing for us. I became very involved with the international adoption community and my creative passions turned to helping families put together life-books. The supplies available to create Asian themed (and other country themed) scrapbooks was very limited–in my quest for elegant (and adoption applicable) supplies, “Life’s Journeys Scrapbooking” was born. And we traded in our Art and Wine Festival days for giant scrapbooking expos’ – now those people are crazy!!

Then another big change would move us from CA, all the way to the East Coast where we landed in East Brunswick, NJ – which we call our seven-year New Jersey layover. The best part of our time in NJ, was the adoption of our second daughter from China, Abby. In that trip, we re-visited some of our favorite places and got to explore a different Province, making this experience as wonderfully unique as our two amazing children.

2015 brought us to Wake Forest North Carolina. Though we tried our best, our “East Coast Years” have not been filled with as many artistic business endeavors. However, our continued integration of art and creativity in our personal lives has rubbed off on the girls, who have both picked up a knack and a love of photography, drawing, music and much more!  Like many people, the last years, (Covid, economy, etc.) have not been easy, but we have persevered.

Feeling a growing emptiness, from denying my creative side, has inspired our collective Tyson Family Arts. I have a lot of hopes and intentions for growing this site and truly wish a visit here will provide inspiration for the various journalling, scrapbooking and other fun DIY projects you might have in mind. And hopefully you might find a gift or two that will be “just perfect” for any loved one or special person in your life.

I will also be sharing information and links to other organizations that might spark your imagination and help you find joy. Please head over to our Facebook page where you will find announcements for new DIY videos and product/kit/idea releases.

The development of this site will always be a work in progress – Creative collaboration with laughter and joy is what Tyson Family Arts is all about and we hope that you will join us.