When people ask how Rebel Dove got started - why we do what we do - I often ask my husband to tell the story. . .
It's a hard one to tell because I made my first resin piece when I was helping care for my grandma, just a week or so before she passed.
My grandparents were life-long gardeners. There was nothing they couldn't grow and every single memory I have includes exploring their beautiful gardens. Flowers, veggies, trees, vines, fruit, it didn't matter. Plants grew when and where they shouldn't have.
I will tell you, their gift for gardening was reflected in their lives and relationships too. My grandparents were teachers and missionaries in life, and that didn't end when they retired. They loved people from every walk of life, and they were Truth tellers, God's champions, and prayer warriors for the lost and the found.
In those last days, staying with my grandma (and my parents who cared for her), I knew I needed to do something - to find a way to make those memories last. I had seen and, honestly, become somewhat obsessed with the the videos of people using resin to create. It hit me at that moment that that was the solution. I needed to preserve as many flowers from my grandma's garden as I could, and I needed to do it for myself and for my family. So I started drying flowers and ordering resin supplies. And I got to work learning how to work resin - an incredibly messy and temperamental material. I messed up A LOT, but giving up simply isn't in me. I may break down and I may think hard about quitting, but then I'm reminded of why I started. I'm reminded that preserving flowers and memories has an important impact for those who come to me.
I love what I do, and I get to see my grandparents every time I make a new piece.
I hope to have the opportunity to make something beautiful and meaningful for you, too.