I’m Claudia, your hostess for the show and tell!

I’m a recovering slacker based in Shelbyville, Indiana (just outside Indianapolis). Originally from Miami, and after a near 20 year stint in the northeast, I found myself in central Indiana, with my husband, our daughter, and thre three rescue cats who own us. Around 1997 or so, I picked up a little HTML and over the years, I worked mostly in IT support roles where I learned everything I need to know about product development, importing, wholesaling, retailing, marketing, publishing and more.

Not going to lie: I’ve Leroy Jenkinsed my way through life but it’s not like I didn’t learn anything along the way.

Long story short

Growing up in an era long before the Internet was a household commodity, my days were wasted away with tv, reading, and creativity. I have always been fascinated by puzzles and the act of taking things that otherwise look like nothing, and bringing them together to create something. As such, I have always worked well with my hands.

Over the course of my life, I’ve practiced art in every medium imaginable: leather, wood, ceramics, bookbinding, decoupage, silk screening, drawing, painting, jewelry design, polymer clay, cooking, photography, web development, sewing, and crocheting. I do not have any formal training in any of these mediums other than the encyclopedia and 4 years of art classes in high school. When I take an interest in something, I immerse myself fully into the experience and learn by doing. A lot of love and attention to detail goes into anything I make.

In 1994, when the Internet was in its infancy, I knew I wanted to be a part of it somehow. 4 years later I was learning HTML and eventually css. Naturally, I was drawn to the creative side of things and downloaded a bootleg copy of Photoshop and taught myself how to manipulate images and create digitally.

Recently, I launched the De Colores Arts Collective to celebrate Hispanic culture and art in rural spaces. We are in the process of obtaining our 501c3 status.

About the Rest of My Life

As for the rest of my life, well, it’s been hit or miss. The great parts have been great, the shitty parts sucked. Overall, it’s been a pretty good life. I have two daughters, the oldest has estranged herself from us, a hot button issue, so you will see occasional posts about estrangement, as it’s near and dear to my heart. And if you’re a parent who is estranged from your adult child, I would love to have a conversation with you. The younger one is the calm and chaos in my soul.

I love to laugh at everything- irreverence is the name of the game. And while I am serious as a stump when it comes to business, and can handle my personal matters like as any normal adult, the rest of the time it’s full on audaciousness and bodaciousness. Don’t get it twisted, though…I have a huge heart, I definitely wear it on my sleeve. I cry at the drop of a hat…triggered by anything from a leaf falling the right way to hearing the national anthem sung beautifully, or it could very well be a fart that makes me laugh uncontrollably. Tears are coming though!

Ways to my heart