I am a watercolorist that lives in a fixer upper on the Space Coast of Florida with my adoring hunk of a husband by my side. I love anything vintage, butterflies, moths, plants, and scandiboho design(midcentury modern meets boho). I get so much inspiration from from things like vintage postcards, lithographs and scientific illustrations.

I started a successful photography business with my Mom as a teen and learned the ropes of owning a small business. I started dabbling in watercolor and drawing as an adult and even entered a few things in an art exhibition.

Crafting, drawing, painting and being creative has always been part of me. Art weaves in and out my story in a beautiful way that brings me through some very challenging times.

After falling in love with a man, who absolutely adores me; I designed our wedding invitations when we tied the knot in 2015. It was an absolute joy painting and creating the whole suite and was blown away by the genuine compliments and people encouraging feedback.I really thought everyone was just being nice but I slowly accepted that this wasn’t just “being nice” but a real gift and that amazing feedback encouraged me to pursue wedding stationery design and out of that The Joy Co. was born. 

In 2020 my business has transitioned a bit. I opened up an Etsy shop selling prints of my Space Coast print inspired by vintage travel postcards and other flora and fauna inspired by vintage lithographs. I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate and work with some really awesome friends and business owners this year designing tea towels for an apparel company, got invited to set up a small shop at thriving coffee hang out in Cocoa Village and it’s been growing by leaps and bounds since then!

We also want you to get to know our fur baby and mascot, Finn! He’s a warm bundle of crazy love and loves on everyone he meets. If you get to meet him in person, give him some belly rubs or a treat and he’ll melt in your arms. He’s 18 pounds of fluff and he hasn’t met anyone he doesn’t want to be best friends with…except mail carriers (sorry Dad!).

In 2016 I was diagnosed with Lyme disease and a rare condition called “Mast Cell Activation Disorder” (plus some super wonky sensitivities that make life a lot tougher). I have faced seemingly countless challenging days and years because of my body. I’ve had seasons of being homebound, IV treatments, tons of holistic modalities and even have found success in neural retraining. I was able to go into remission for over a year with neural retraining and have successfully retrained my brain not to be hyper-sensitive to chemicals or EMFS(essentially electricity stuff). I was facing homelessness, not because I didn’t have a home but because my body didn’t want to live in my home. You can find more about my neural retraining journey at @findingthewavesofjoy on instagram.

My body is getting better but still has a lot of healing to do. Through the healing I’ve learned that that I need to embrace life right where I’m planted, to slow down, to look at the beauty around me that I may have missed out on if this wasn’t my story. I have been blessed with time to paint and craft. I feel like God has given me a gift that I never expected through watercolor and I’m so grateful that I can bless others with it too.

“Miscarriage” is a painful word, a word that I never thought would be part of my story especially, since I had already been through so much with my health. But God used this too in my life for good. Life turned out so different than I had hoped and even though tears are streaming down my face as I type this out and wishing I had my baby in my arms right now, I know God is good, all the time. I don’t know, and may never know, why God allowed that to be part of my story but He did and I still love Him for who He is, 

But from this, a love of butterflies and moths grew into a passion. Butterflies can mean so many things to different people. For me it grew into a symbol for our baby being reborn in a better place and now every time I see one I’m reminded of God’s peace. It feels like he’s holding me and transforming me from a broken, mushy goo into something that is whole and beautiful.

I hope to use my platform and voice to encourage others through my story and my art, that life is hard and messy but there is always joy to be found. Sorrow, pain, joy and happiness can all be held in the same hand. We all have our own struggles and some look very different than others, but changing our mindset and attitude can turn a life of misery and woe into a life of meaning, joy and love. Hard times are part of everyone’s story but it doesn’t equal or define you. It’s part of you but it doesn’t mean it is you. There is always something to be grateful for and joy to be found even when you don’t see it in the mess of life.

I appreciate every single order because my talents aren’t from me but from God and I owe Him everything. If I wasn’t planted here, I couldn’t help others.

I feel so very honored to get to serve each one of my clients and look forward to where my business takes me this year!

Cheers!

With much love and joy, your friend,
Libby Joy