When I Grow Up: Owner and Artist Behind Blome's Paperie
I came across Sarah Blome in a Facebook group the other day. She mentioned that she made paper flowers for large backdrops and I was intrigued! So I reached out to her to find out more. Without further ado, allow me introduce you to Sarah of Blome's Paperie.
As a child, I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up.
How close (or far) is your current career from that dream? Pretty far? I did write my own contracts but it's pretty much the opposite side of the spectrum.
What is your official job title? Small Business Owner/ Entrepreneur/ Artist
Ok, now what does that really mean? I have no idea lol. It means I spend a lot of time as an artist making paper flowers, part of my time as an engineer figuring out how to hang and ship paper flowers, part of my time as a website builder, part of my time responding to emails, and the rest of the time trying to be more organized so I can do everything better.
What is a typical day like? I generally make flowers in the morning and respond to my emails at night, every once and a while I will take a day off to work on the website and I am trying to start up a blog. I've had to make a rule that I only reply to emails once a day or else I get sucked into the computer for half the day and hardly get any flowers done. On weekend I tend to pick up a uhaul at 10:00 in the morning, then spend 1 to 1&1/2 hours packing the uhaul up for an event then drive there, set up, drive home and hang out with my husband until midnight, then drive back and tear down. I tend to try and take Sundays off, but it usually turns into my catch up on emails day.
How did you end up in this career? I started by making flowers for my own wedding and fell in love with it, I love the creativity it allows me to have, and getting to dream up not only new flowers but installations and designs for brides. I honestly got tarted by building my own website and filling a niche no one else did. Large wedding backdrop rentals. I of course also try and make my flowers unique and spend a lot of time on each piece. I take the time to hand paint almost every flower, then some flowers get the special treatment of a hint of glitter, accent paper or some other intricate detail that gives your paper flower backdrop that little bit of extra oomph. This allows my flowers to shimmer and shine when light is directed towards them. I also don't make all my flowers out of the same stock of white paper. You would never buy an arrangement where every single flower was the same flat white with no depth or subtle shift between flowers. and I tried to take that lesson into my art, and so my flowers are made of all types and textures of papers, all in a very subtle range of colors to give our backdrops a depth that you won’t find anywhere else.
What kind of education or training did you complete for this career? That would be a big fat goose egg. All my flowers, and the arranging of them is completely self taught. I did major in Business with a concentration in marketing and that has given me a lot of help is the business side of the business. I actually work with my mom, and she has always been extremely artistic in all facets, where I am pretty good at just this one. Having her encourage me and help me with designs is a huge blessing.
What advice would you give to someone who wants a similar career? My big motto now is if Keane could do it why can't I? It's all about finding a dream and following it, my mom said to always leave doors open but don't let it halt your path, so I am just heading forward and seeing what happens. I would also say that it is surprising how much of artistry is actually founded on business.
Any last thoughts or encouragement for others trying to decide what they want to do “when they grow up”? Don't let "I can't" or "I don't know how" hold you back, there is no reason you can't start small in then grow. And who knows what your path will develop into.
Thank you again, Sarah, for being a part of this series! If you want to find out more about Sarah and what she does, head over to BlomesPaperie.com.
Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles...
