Hi there! My name is Dawn McVey and I've been creating things since I was little, with a deep love for paper and pens for as long as I can remember! I've been making cards since 2006 or 07. I started my blog in 2007 and started submitting my work to magazines and went on to have over 100 projects published in various paper-crafting magazines.
I worked for ten years from home as a graphic designer, designing my own line of paper crafting products that were sold online. At the beginning of 2020, I started working as a full-time artist out of my home art studio, painting with a variety of mediums, most often acrylics or gouache on canvas or paper. My artwork can be purchased online now and it is such a joy to be able to create every day, and share the joy of those colorful painted pieces with others.
In 2008 or so, I began to be sick off and on and that progressed over the years until I was extremely sick every day. After years of bouncing around from one local doctor to the next, as they tried to diagnose my illness, I was eventually referred to Mayo Clinic. The doctors there quickly determined that my immune system had created three antibodies that had attacked the nerves in my own small intestine, causing it to not push food through properly, resulting in some pretty debilitating symptoms. There was no cure for the problem, however they tried everything they could thing of to simply treat the symptoms. In 2016, they referred me to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. for a small intestine transplant -- a very rare surgery that they don't even do at Mayo Clinic. I was on IV nutrition for a year and a half, but at that point, I became unable to eat any food at all, and went five months without eating a single bite. After more testing in D.C. and after trying all other options Mayo could think of, we finally decided to move forward with the transplant. We went on the wait list in July of 2017, we received THE CALL on October 27, 2017 at 3am, telling us there was an organ available for me if we wanted it. We felt like the Lord was prompting us to GO, so we said yes and 24 hours later, they began my transplant surgery! I lived in D.C. for 4-1/2 months after the surgery, in order to be close to the hospital and we were thrilled when they finally gave us the all-clear to come back home. Since then, my recovery has been wonderful and full of blessings as I started eating anything and everything again! I've experienced so much joy over feeling so well!
God has blessed me abundantly with health, a job that I love and with a wonderful husband who encourages me to follow my dreams! Bart is my best friend and I'm so grateful to get to share each day with him. We love traveling and spending as much time together as we can.
It's a wonderful life and I'm so, so thankful.