Hi, I'm Jillian!

I'm a mom of three, an artist, and a cancer survivor. Like many moms, I've lived through seasons that felt overwhelming in every sense of the word. 

What helped me through those seasons wasn't perfection. It was small things: creating something with my kids, finding a quiet moment, or feeling seen in ways I didn't expect.

Live Hopeful Designs has been my creative outlet since 2018 and became my crutch in 2021 after having my third child and simultaneously receiving my diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma. What was supposed to be a maternity leave spent bonding with my newborn out in the summer sun, quickly shifted to months of chemotherapy and radiation. 

In 2022, I embraced taking a chance on myself by enrolling in a surface pattern design course that taught me the ins-of-outs of Adobe Illustrator and creating repeating patterns and I haven't looked back!

Fast forward to 2024. I hit a wall. During treatment, I had structure. I knew where I was supposed to be and what I had to do. Survivorship? Not so much. There were times I felt like I was carrying everything -- the schedules, the emotions, the expectations, and still wondering if I was doing enough. Ways I had coped in the past no longer seemed to work. I knew something was off and I couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. 

I stumbled on a podcast centered on the working mom, and women diagnosed with ADHD, specifically women in their late 30's. Something clicked and my entire life began to make more sense:

• I've never met a craft project I didn't think I could execute.
• The frog earrings my Dad gave me 25 years ago, telling me like the frog, I leap before I look.
• Never studying in high school and carrying over those poor habits to college, creating structure and prioritizing tasks never was my strong suit.
• There's nothing more embarrassing than your credit card being declined at McDonald's because you've inadvertently transferred more money to your savings account than you had in your checking account. 
• Misplacing everything -- keys, phone, cup, shoes, mail, library books ... 
• The thought of biting into toast, looking at a bee hive, or eating, let alone touching, yogurt, ranch dressing, cream cheese sends chills down my spine.

I sought out a formal diagnosis for ADHD even though I had been told self-diagnosis was still valid. Through support from my therapist and family, I now have systems in place that help manage my day. 

Everything with Live Hopeful Designs is created to meet you where you are and remind you: you're doing better than you think, and you're not doing it alone. I create with the hope of bringing a smile to your face.