Evelet Designs Story

In 2021 I fell pregnant with my daughter Violet. I had just changed jobs from a job I LOVED as a paediatric emergency nurse, to a job that was closer to home so I didn't have to deal with the long commute. I hated every minute of my 2nd pregnancy due to having hyperemesis and needing to be medicated/dealing with the side effects of the medication (most days were spent nauseous, vomiting or sleeping while trying to look after a baby). Thankfully despite all this, Violet grew perfectly and was born with no complications.

From the moment I bought Violet home she screamed and didn't sleep. We were lucky if we were averaging 2 hours total a night. The polar opposite to my first baby Evelyn! The days weren't any better and the sleep deprivation caught up with me. At 4 weeks Violet was diagnosed with silent reflux and at 5 weeks I was diagnosed with PPD/PPA. I was lucky to have a great doctor who took it seriously and got me started on medication, referred me to a great psychologist, and had really good follow up. Violet was started on medication and improved to the point of sleeping 2 hour blocks at a time (not great but also a big improvement).

I saw someone making polymer clay earrings on an instagram reel and thought it looked like fun, and I should be able to do that 😂. Why not design something that can make me feel better and compliment some outfits? Halfway through buying all the necessary equipment I started to have my doubts, but I had spent too much money to stop now. Grant encouraged me to just go for it so that's what I did! I found I loved it, but of course having 2 young kids meant I didn't have a whole lot of time to commit to it. It was either that or the housework, so the house suffered for a while! Thankfully I had many friends and strangers turned friends cheering me on, and a lot more people purchased my earrings than I thought would. I mostly find myself making neutral toned staples that can mix and match with different outfits. 

Fast forward a few more months and I happened to see Spotlight was selling a cricut for an insanely cheap price. Did I know what it did? Not really. Did I know how to use it? Not at all! But again I just decided to go for it and learn it all along the way. Imagine my disappointment when I realised that the cricut couldn't cut acrylic like I planned (turns out you need a CO2 laser for that 😉). So now I needed a plan B. I originally wanted to cut acrylic shapes, names and illustrations. Instead I thought, why not cut permanent vinyl and make illustrated keepsakes on acrylic?

Of course having young children led me to developing a range of birth arches, keepsake illustrations, and family illustrations. I had always wanted something to display my daughters names, birth statistics and images....but never quite found what I was looking for. There are a lot of printed illustrations and wall art out there. I wanted something I could display on the empty shelves and sideboard. Something that would enhance their space, personalised to them and customised to match their room. That's where the birth arches and illustrated baby arches came from. With them in mind I also developed my affirmation arch, moon and back arch and words of encouragement arch.

I extended the range out to include families, wedding keepsakes to capture your special day, and other illustrated acrylic decor that will be a talking point in any space and really capture the special moments in life.

I've recently extended my maternity leave by a year, so any order received means so much to my family and I.

Erin x

Ps. In case you were wondering, Violet is a very happy baby now and sleeps slightly less than your average 10 month old 😆. Evie has also thrived and is intelligent, cheeky and loving despite watching an absolute tonne of TV throughout my pregnancy and post-partum. You do what you have to and it will all work out 😊