First of all - thank you for stopping by! Glad you want to hear more about me, about Digidesignresort & it's Safari Lounge Designer Classes and the lovely people who work here with me. Maybe you already had a look at my "Behind the Scenes" post - although many many things changed since then. Beside that it's always nice to see where we came from.
No, it wasn't always easy and yes, sometimes it might have been easier to "just" work for someone else. But even after all these years I still have a vision - the vision to provide you your favorite escape and relax while drawing, painting and designing and to live a creative life! But I also wanna teach you that you can make this your profession, your career, that's absolutely possible. And I show you how here on the blog and of course in the Safari Lounge!
There are so many beautiful things you can create on your own but you might need to learn a few computer programs and have a few tools. And I teach you all you need to know about these programs and tools.
I recently also published my "professional Bio". If you were ever interested where I'm coming from, what my background is, who I am and what I did bevor Digidesignresort - well, check click on the link above or keep reading!
And, as always, I love to read your comments and learn more about you as well 🙂
I've always been a creative person and really, I cannot think of a life without drawing, painting and designing. I always enjoyed creating digital goods as you may know - I've been designing as Mistica Designs (2006) even longer than Digidesignresort exists (2008).
Our Office
Here a bit more about me. Have a glimpse at our garden in January when we all of a sudden had winter upon us.
This is the look out of our office
I promise I'll share more about our "new" workplace but here is a look out of the window and yes, that's all our garden where we sit in summer, laugh and enjoy being with each other. And our office - well, we have a room just for recording videos, then the place where we sit with the computers and one for our colleague - you see, a lot happened since my first "Behind the scenes" post.
Also a lot of personal stuff happened. Too much actually and too many things that weight me totally down. They brought me to add my creativity into a coffin. But I crawled out and got it back - and for some time now I am drawing and painting again.
I could keep rambling for long but hey, you'll learn more about us in many more posts to come. Because that is one resolution for the new year, sharing more about us with you.
New Products
Personally, I've come a long way. Mum and I started out with realistic elements - extracting those and putting them together to have a new scene created. Today I'm back to "old school stuff" and draw myself. From Pumpkin Bears to Doodles, from Wall Art to Bullet Journal Spreads and I love doing that.
Pumpkin Bear Stickers
Africa Sticker
Cats! Sticker
Funny Baby Animals
You can check out our new store here and find more.
Our Team
Maybe you wonder - where did all the designers go? Don't worry, they are not all mad at me and ran away ?. Sometimes you just need to get on new adventures. Beside that our old hosting company really made our lives difficult because we were no longer allowed to host the ZIP files there and really, what is a site for digital goods if you cannot host your products?
That definitely was another reason why everything went down.
But we are back and with me my Mum (yes, she's still on the team!) and Markus, the guy who helps me with photos and videos. Beside that we also have a programmer and an assistant - people who all help me to get things together. Because sometimes it's not that easy.
I'll introduce them more to you some time soon. Don't forget, we are not just about creating digital goods but also about showing you how to create them yourself.
My professional Bio
Whenever I try to define myself as "someone" I stumble over my own Bio. For a long time I just didn't know "who I was" - a designer? A teacher? An artist? Or a graphic designer? Well...
Looking at my childhood I've always been all of that. When I was a child and played with others I was the teacher and showed my friends how to dance, play a game or do whatever. I drew, painted, crafted - all that and more was usually what filled my day but in the end there had to be an "outcome" - it didn't matter if it was a dollhouse or a hand-drawn card.
And believe me, I tinkered a lot of dollhouses. I just loved decorating the rooms, building beds and a kitchen. I even invented "a way" to create food - with putty So maybe being an interior decorator designer would suit me much more?
Might be. But in the end I studied arts to become a teacher. And yes, I became a teacher and while I studied I couldn't help myself but also gave private lessons to help pupils and also to make money.
To study arts you had to undergo a test. You had to create a portfolio to show your work. And, if you were good enough you were invited to come to the University and draw there in front of your future professors. Believe me, it was exciting. And exhausting.
But somehow I did it and I could study arts.
I loved it. At this time I had discovered my love for photography so it became my major.
When I got that piece of paper, until that time, it was definitely one of the happiest moments of my life.
A Painting from my Arts Class and I sold it already!
And I guess it was because of the love for arts and computer I stumbled over scrapbooking and later digital scrapbooking on the Internet. And there was I. We had 2006 and all I wanted was a huge website - such as "Two Peas in a Bucket" those days or "Scrapgirls" - where I was the admin from.
Not sure how but that is what happened. On August 1st, 2008 my friend Maren (R.I.P, Maren, I miss you!) and I opened Digidesignresort.
We first didn't even have a shop, just a forum with a protected area people could subscribe to. And they did. And I met more fantastic people such as my friends Nayyan, Pascale and Carena - just to name a few. But there were more. Many more. So we had to open the Digidesignresort Shop.
So in the end I had my huge website with 1000s of visitors each month, many many designers, creative team members, a creative team manager, a forum manager, a programmer....iiiks! And more... more wonderful people.
A year later I opened the Safari Lounge Designer Classes. I had figured that there was a need of someone who had the experience what it was like to be a designer and could tell others how to become a great designer, too.
That was when the whole site started to explode. I could have never imagined that something like that was possible.
During those days I wanted "more". I started to study Information Technology at the University of Phoenix, Arizona. Yes, I studied at an American University - and there I graduated with honor and a major in web design.
Life doesn't always treat you well so at some point in my life things somehow turned against me.
To make a really long story short - I got pretty ill, came back, was exhausted, and tried to find myself - I felt like I wasn't "right". I had done so much and nothing seemed to be enough nor could it get me where I wanted to be.
Today I can tell you - not just who I am but also what I stand for. No, it wasn't an easy process and actually a long way before I found my way. But I guess it was worth it.
This year I started drawing, painting and crafting again. Something which was my passion and my profession was gone for much too long. I just refused to draw, paint or do anything artsy.
But I'm back. I started slow but I totally put my heart in it. I'm not just a teacher for arts. I'm also a digital designer and I'm still the admin of a huge site So if you want to become a designer yourself - any kind of - the Safari Lounge Designer Classes are just right for you.
It's about becoming a designer for digital products and building passive income streams but it's also about selling those products online and believe me - there are many options what you can sell, how you can create it and where you can sell it.
In any case, I'll be the person who will hold your hand along the way and build your designer career with you. I'd love to see you in class.
Ok, that's it from me, for today, off to new adventures, hopefully with you!
Love always,
Monja
