Meet Amy Muscoplat

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Muscoplat.

Hi Amy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a librarian by training, and along the way of working as a children’s librarian, I received a master’s of fine arts in creative writing because I loved writing and felt library science and writing dovetailed each other. Meanwhile, I was always doing crafting. I’d made a quilt of all the pieces of hand-smocked and hand-sewn clothes that had been gifted to me while I served in the Peace Corps; I’d done a lot of needlepoint over the years; I was always doing mixed media collage and art journaling. Throughout it all, I’ve had a love of handwritten cards and notes and was always the “Queen of Snail Mail” and sending lots of letters and handcrafted cards and other mail to people. That and my interest in paper crafting led me to making handmade cards and selling them, which I love and sell through my site and select shops.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No one’s path is always smooth sailing, but I’ve often been able to turn flops into something better to build upon later, thank God! It takes some time obviously, and I’m grateful for having and learning skills to change the way I view difficult situations in life through a more constructive and positive lens.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Everyone has a unique talent and creative side if they allow themselves to express it! I teach a lot of quality, fun cardmaking, and paper crafting techniques and enjoy helping others make unique and special handmade cards. What I love is creative cardmaking, and it’s been a wonderful journey learning new and interesting cardmaking designs and how to create and teach these crafting techniques to others. It’s inspiring to hopefully help people enjoy buying and gifting pretty handmade cards; and/or to learn how to make handmade cards themselves.

Whether starting with a ready-made, patterned card base and adding great embellishments or creating and designing a card from the bottom up, I love seeing what can happen with paper crafting and creativity. The card making, card writing, and card sending all flow well with each other. I sell cards in my store online and in boutiques in Santa Monica as well.

One of the interesting things I do is use my background as a librarian/library workshop presenter to teach workshops and present at libraries and nonprofits, in physical spaces and online. People’s love of crafting and creative writing often grows through experiencing it in a cleverly presented workshop first. I’m blessed to work with wonderful students who participate in workshops I lead.

Learning new cardmaking and teaching skills is a joy of mine and helps me grow my experience. As a lifelong learner, I undertook some longer-form online courses as a pandemic project and now also have a professional certification in the Science of Happiness at Work from BerkeleyX (an online learning initiative from the U.C. Berkeley), as well as a Card Making Business Diploma with Distinction from the Centre of Excellence. 

What do you think about happiness?
The ocean, because of its majesty, beauty, and ability to ground me and put things in perspective brings me a sense of happiness.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://joyfestivalindustries.com
• Instagram: @joyfestivalindustries
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/joyfestivalindustries/