HI, I’M JESS!

My soul thrives on the idea of creating. I love to create safe spaces for students. I love to utilize bright colors to bring light into peoples’ lives. I love to show my students that creating something that didn’t exist before is one of the greatest joys you can find.

 SCHOOL

I used to dread when people asked me what I do for a living. I would always go with the easy response, “I am a teacher.” I loved teaching and I was proud to be a part of this amazing community. I just didn’t always enjoy the follow up question. “What do you teach?” See, I used to teach 6th grade for the first four years of my career. Easy, straightforward answer. Then I took on a new role and the answer got a bit more complicated. I now spend my days as a Learning Commons Teacher. The Learning Commons can be defined as the heart of the school. The hub. We house the library as well as the Makerspace and I have poured my heart and soul into my space. I am responsible for teaching STEM and literacy. That is the “short of it.” Blogging here will most definitely show you the “long of it.” Below you find a little nod to my other half, who spends his free time being the best teacher hubs.

HOME

My home is my favorite place to be. I share the walls of my home with my absolute favorite living things. The first of those gems is my husband Jordan. He is the funniest human in the world, no questions asked. He fills our home with laughter and he does the dishes. What more could you need in life? Mr. Teacher Golz is the absolute wind beneath my wings. He has learned the epic art of hanging fabric on bulletin boards, cutting lamination, and that when I say we will only spend 1 hour at school on a Saturday I really mean 4. He will forever help me organize Legos in my Makerspace and I will forever project the White Sox games for him while he works. We also share our couch space with two mutts. Dakota and Auggie are the reason we buy lint rollers from Costco in bulk. We rescued both of them and they bring so much light to our lives. We often get asked “What breed are your dogs?” We are pretty sure Dakota is 80% snuggle bug and Auggie is 94% sass. That is about how far we have gotten when it comes to the discovery of their breeds. A large part of my calm and 100% of the dog hair on my all black wardrobe comes from those two loves. We added a little Mr. to our crew in May of 2020. Our girlie joined us in July of 2022! Emmett and Cecilia are the loves of our life!

LETTERS

Any of my friends can tell you that my obsession with fonts dates all the way back to my high school days. I spent every spare moment I had doodling, perfecting my handwriting, and lettering quotes. My love for crafts came from my grandma who taught me how to paint, sew, and spend every spare penny I had at Michaels. Fast forward to the year 2015 and my creative adventures turned into a small business journey. I love to turn my feelings into art and just adore when others invite my creative heart into their space. I think in colors and have a strong desire to perfect every chalkboard in every coffee shop I enter. I love to letter, teach lettering, and spread light and joy with letters.

“We are born makers. We move what we are learning from our heads to our hearts through our hands.”

Brene Brown - Daring Greatly

I’M SO HAPPY YOU ARE HERE.

Many people ask me where I get my ideas. I always have the same, quite boring, answer: my brain. I felt the need to create a space that could serve as a home to all of my ideas that lived outside of my classroom. I wanted a safe haven where all the things I love to talk about can reside together. I am so happy you are here. This little hub will serve as part blog, part shop, part brain dump, allowing me to be able to provide you with a little bit of magic. I hope that this space will inspire you to: create and share the maker mindset with your students, try a new nail polish color that will make you smile while typing emails, or save a handlettered quote that you can set as your lock screen to remind you to breathe. We all need to be reminded of that every once and a while.

“Be the designer of your world, not merely the consumer of it.”

James Clear - Atomic Habits