I’m Learning to Follow What Connects

Hi Friend! 💖

Facebook handed me this photo from October 2015 this week, and I had to smile.

There I am at Highland Orchards with one of my original hand-drawn face-painting boards.

Eleven years ago.

Before Mom Glitter.
Before hair tinsel.
Before Sparkleverse.
Before Paint Babies and motivational magnets.

Back then, it was mostly just me, my paints, and the kids in my chair.

And lately I’ve been thinking about everything that happened between there and here.

Not because I want to go backward.

I think I’m trying to figure out what deserves to come forward with me.

THE ART WAS NEVER RANDOM

For years I worked full-time as a home-improvement contractor during the week and painted faces on the weekends.

Then 2020 flipped everything upside down.

Face painting stopped almost overnight, right around the same time my husband’s health became increasingly complicated and our entire life started shifting underneath us.

We went from running a contracting business to navigating seizures, leaving our home, living in a travel trailer for a while, and eventually landing in what we thought would be a temporary apartment.

And somehow, through all of that, I kept dragging paint around with me.

Epoxy. Metallic pigments. Craft paint. House paint. Weird Home Depot oops colors. 😂

Eventually I started playing with it all.

Sunflowers.

Jellyfish.

Eyeballs.

Mushrooms.

Abstracts.

Whatever made my belly happy.

And painting became more than a hobby.

It became my coping mechanism.

I painted when I woke up.

I painted in the in-between moments.

I painted when I didn’t know what else to do with myself.

The work started taking over every corner of the apartment — the kitchen, the dining room, the bedroom, anywhere I could spread out and let something colorful happen.

At that point I didn’t have a cat trying to walk through wet paint, so apparently the whole apartment was fair game. 😂

But honestly, I needed it.

Painting gave all that fear, uncertainty, grief, frustration and restless creative energy somewhere to go.

It gave my hands something to do when my mind was carrying too much.

It gave me color when life felt heavy.

It gave me play when everything felt serious.

And I really believe God met me there.

In the color.

In the sparkle.

In the seasons.

In nature.

In the little moments of beauty I could still notice when I felt very alone.

That creative process became a lifeline for me.

And that is a huge part of why I want to share the work now.

Because I know firsthand how powerful beauty, color, encouragement, and connection can be when somebody is just trying to make it through.

Then I started sharing the paintings.

People responded.

I brought paintings and prints to Fresh Market at Hershey.

Then in 2022 I did Harrisburg Artsfest, and I got to watch people connect with the paintings in real time.

Which painting stopped someone?

Which colors pulled them in?

Which piece made them want to tell me a story?

That conversation with people became part of my creative process.

I would make something.

Share it.

Listen.

Make more.

And honestly, that’s the rhythm I’m trying to return to now.

THEN THE SPARKLES CHANGED THE DIRECTION

Somewhere along the way, a friend suggested I take my Mom Glitter Sparkles to a softball tournament.

I went for a few hours on a whim.

People went nuts over them. 😂

So I kept bringing them along.

Hershey Market.

Highland Orchards.

More events.

And as fall turned toward winter, I remember sitting in my car staring at an Amazon cart full of glitter supplies.

I had reached that moment of:

Are you actually doing this or not?

And finally I said:

Fuck it.

😂

I hit the button.

Then came the Red Lion Christmas Football Boosters Craft Show, more tournaments, more events, and eventually this colorful little idea expanded into the Sparkleverse.

I was incredibly grateful for it.

It worked.

People loved it.

But success in that lane slowly pulled my attention away from the paintings.

And now I’m realizing I don’t want to choose between the two.

I’m bringing the art back toward the center.

I’M PAYING ATTENTION DIFFERENTLY AGAIN

When I say I want to “test” my art, I don’t mean chasing trends.

I mean listening.

Which paintings stop people?

Do they gravitate toward the sunflowers?

The jellyfish?

The abstracts?

The strange little experiments?

Which messages do they need?

I make something.

I share it.

I watch what connects.

Then I let that connection help guide where I go next.

Because ultimately I want to serve as many people as I can and create the biggest ripple of joy, hope, beauty and encouragement that I can.

The paintings weren’t a detour.

Neither were the Sparkles.

Neither was face painting.

They’re all different ways I’ve learned to connect with people through color.

THE MOTIVATIONAL MAGNETS STARTED WITH ME

One of the things I worked on last week was bringing my motivational magnets back to life.

These aren’t actually new.

I originally made them during one of the hardest seasons of my own life.

Honestly, I made them for myself first.

I was learning how deeply the words I repeatedly saw, heard and ran through my mind could affect my attitude and the way I moved through a day.

So I leaned into Scripture.

I leaned into phrases I needed to hear.

And I paired them with artwork and colors that made me happy.

Something beautiful.

Something encouraging.

Something I could keep seeing.

Then Sparkleverse expanded in about seventeen different directions 😂 and the magnets fell off my radar.

Now I’m bringing them back.

Not because a magnet magically fixes a hard season.

But because I absolutely believe what we continually put in front of our eyes and into our minds matters.

If something I make can lift someone’s spirit, interrupt a difficult thought, remind them of truth, or point them back toward God and His beauty?

That matters to me.

FRIDAY NIGHT WAS A REMINDER

Friday night at Susquenita was Pink Out.

It started calm and eventually turned into the usual rainbow tornado of children.

One little girl appointed herself my assistant.

Another came back because her wolf face needed touched up after dinner.

Girls were covering themselves in body shimmer.

There were conversations happening everywhere.

At the end of the night, a mom came back while I was cleaning up and told me how much she appreciated my patience with the kids.

That meant a lot.

Not because I needed praise.

It just felt like:

I see you.

And that’s what I’m trying to give other people too.

To see them.

To meet them where they are.

To love them well.

SATURDAY WAS SILLY…AND THEN VERY REAL

Saturday I was hired to face paint at a company picnic near Hershey.

It was a beautiful fall day.

At one point I heard a bunch of commotion from the hair-tinsel chair and discovered an older Amish gentleman getting Fall Princess hair tinsel in his long gray beard. 😂

[PHOTO: beard tinsel if available]

My other favorite moment was handing my paintbrushes over to a dad’s daughters because they clearly had very specific ideas about how their father needed to be decorated.

That kind of ridiculous family joy is my favorite.

Meanwhile, my phone kept lighting up.

My daughter had severe stomach pain.

And while I was working, my husband completely stepped into action.

He picked her up from her friend’s house.

Took her to urgent care.

Handled the ER.

Managed the updates and all the things that usually feel very much like Mom territory in our family.

They eventually discovered she had appendicitis.

Thankfully, I was working close to Hershey Medical Center, so I went straight there after my shift.

Sunday morning she had surgery.

And thankfully, we were all home Sunday night. 💖

Watching my husband come to the rescue and carry that load for our family made me incredibly grateful.

SCRIPTURE I’M CARRYING THIS WEEK

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
— Proverbs 4:23, NIV

That feels especially fitting right now.

I’m making art.

Building systems.

Simplifying products.

Raising kids.

Serving customers.

Reconnecting with communities.

But none of those things are the source.

The heart is.

The faith.

The family.

The love.

The creativity.

The connection.

The desire to put something beautiful into the world and give God the glory for the beauty in it.

A LITTLE SOMETHING TO REFLECT ON

Maybe there’s something in your own life that deserves another look too.

Something that once gave you joy but got buried underneath responsibilities, survival, success, or simply everything else that demanded your attention.

What used to make you feel alive?

What helped you feel grounded when life was heavy?

What have you quietly put on the back burner?

Maybe you don’t need to reinvent yourself.

Maybe there’s a thread that has been running through your life all along.

Something worth picking back up.

Something worth listening to.

Something worth bringing forward with you.

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEK

The weather is supposed to be absolutely phenomenal, and I’m determined to carve out time to play in my storage-unit studio.

For my birthday, my husband bought me some of my favorite paint colors — especially phthalo turquoise, which makes my heart ridiculously happy.

And paired with orange?

Ohhhh. 😍

Something about that combination is spectacular, especially this time of year.

I keep imagining a big hero sunflower painting with lots of color and glitter that I could hang behind me at winter events.

And maybe a jellyfish too.

Sunflower one day.

Jellyfish another.

We’ll see where the paint takes me. 😂

Less overthinking.

More making.

More listening.

More play.

COME FIND ME THIS WEEKEND ✨

Friday Night — Susquenita Home Football Game

Come find me for face paint, hair tinsel, Sparkles, hugs and colorful chaos.

Saturday + Sunday — Highland Orchards
9:00 AM–5:00 PM

I’ll be bringing more of Artist Brookie with me too:

Paintings.
Fresh Paint Babies.
Motivational Magnets.

Come see what speaks to you.

Because honestly?

I’m paying attention too. ✨

With love, color and a grateful heart,
Brookie 💖