Welcome to Malentine Creative!

Hi, my name is Mallory, and I am excited to start this creative journey with you! Are you wondering what this blog will be really about, I have no idea... Just kidding! I want this website to not only be a source of where you can purchase my art, but also create tutorials and step by step blog posts where you can follow along with me and learn how to create and experiment together.

Who am I?

Ever since I was a kid, whenever I was asked what you always wanted to be when you grow up, I would always say a teacher. Don't ask me why, but I always felt comfortable at school and called to the profession. I grew up with a pretty normal life, happily married family, two older siblings, and was very involved with a lot of different sports. You may be thinking, oh this person must be a PE teacher, well actually no, I did try though!

When I went college, I was a D1 athlete who came in as a Physical Education Major. I started my first month of college absolutely hating my major and it just wasn't something I felt drawn to. I thought that since I was a D1 athlete, I should naturally become a PE teacher. But really the only reason I wanted to, was because I wanted to wear sweat pants and hoodies all the time (my fashion sense has since improved on that). So I changed my major to art education, I know, total 180, but I was always passionate about art and it was a way to get out of the chaotic world of sports and to just slow down and get lost in my artwork. So that's what I did! I finished college with a Studio/Digital Art Teacher Degree, got a job at one of the High Schools in the district that I grew up in, and I absolutely love it! I also didn't totally abandon my sports background and became a head high school coach as well!

You may be wondering why I would be writing a post about navigating a new season in my life, I may seem pretty settled with how my life has turned out. But I believe that you go through different seasons of life and I am coming up to a new one.

Starting a New Season

2020 was the year when things started to change, as did for everyone. But that year it started before the shut down for me. I was playing in a tournament in February when I injured myself and tore my ACL and Meniscus. For someone who is a very active person, this made me make a lot of changes and challenges in my life that I still deal with today. Everything was scheduled to start my recover journey and had my surgery scheduled when everything shut down. That's when my perspective and priorities really started to shift.

Before this point, I was doing nothing but teaching and coaching nonstop, and was fine with that because I didn't have a ton of friends and I was single. I did that for four years until the world when into lockdown. I felt like I really was missing out on different adventures and nobody to share it with because I put it on hold for my career and coaching. I knew that something had to give but I just didn't know what yet.

In early spring of 2022, I was at my breaking point! I was burnt out with work and coaching, I was lonely, out of shape, and just felt stuck. I did seek counseling and that has been helping tremendously, seeking to find strategies on how to avoid burnout as well as trying to navigate the dating world and know what I truly want in a partner. With everything I learned, I was able to find the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and am now engaged (yay!) and planning a wedding.

With my already a busy work load and coaching year round, I have come to the realization that some things in my life need to change to fully embrace this new season of life! So here I am trying to lean into this new transition in my life, finding more time with my fiancé, getting into healthier habits, and just trying to find joy in this new stage of life.

What's Next?

Before starting this website, I had to come up with a name that represents me as well as what I am looking to achieve with this website. I came up with the name Malentine Creative because Malentine is a combo between my name and Valentine. I was born on Valentines day and my family and friends started calling the day Malentine's Day in college. Where the creative comes into play is that I love to create using different mediums and experiment. I feel like I have been going through the motions and I really want to try new things and tell you all what I learn on the way. I have always wanted to share my art with the world but have always been too scared to take the leap. Well this is the leap and I hope you are ready to go along for the ride!

If you have read through this whole post, thank you for reading and subscribe to follow along with my messy, yet creative life. Buy Now or Subscribe.