Happy New Year!!  2018 is going to be an amazing year, lot's of great plans, goals and dreams to work towards, one of which is the new designer purse brand "Livin the MAD Life™" my daughter Aroon and I have co-founded that features my art and is sustainable and cruelty free fashion for the empowered woman.

Livin' the MAD Life Mission Statement and Purpose:

​It is no secret that women and men have different privileges, whether it be in the workforce or home. Today, more than ever, women are trying to change the way society defines the female role. And we want to be apart of that change.

Livin' the MAD Life is run by a mother and daughter duo, who wanted to create a company that supported the female empowerment movement. And one thing most all women love and have in common, is the love for all things fashion. We not only wanted to create gorgeous bags and purses, but we wanted to incorporate something more into each design. Therefore, each bag and design has a MAD symbol, or multiple symbols, worked into the art work. These symbols can stand for empower, strength, courage, love, etc, to see what all of our hand painted symbols stand for, visit our symbols page.
Sustainability 
The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, only behind the oil industry, and it is only growing. Today the world now consumes around 80 billion pieces of clothing annually (up 400 percent from 20 years ago.) Livin' the MAD Life, recognizes the need for fashion pollution awareness, which is why we only use thrifted and up-cycled products for our original purses and bags. 
Although our limited edition and logo bags are not thrifted or up-cycled, they are works of art and each individually hand signed by the artist to make them more of a collectors piece, versus fast fashion. 
Cruelty Free
Behind every fur coat, leather bag, suede belt or alligator boot was once a living animal, and millions are killed annually to support the fashion industry. Therefore, we have decided to keep all of our bags and purses made from vegan or synthetic materials. No animals were harmed in the making of these bags, and we hope to spread the cruelty free movement. 
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 Mission Statement..."To empower women through sustainable and purposeful fashion." 

Recently hung my two degrees in my studio, two of my greatest accomplishments. Don't be afraid to go after your dreams, no matter what obstacles or difficulties you may face, it IS worth it in the end, I'm proof positive!! Read my story below of achieving a lifelong dream in spite of life having other plans for me 😊😊

I was bound and determined to go to college, even coming from the Bush of Alaska, in a remote village with a school that never boasted more than 15 kids at a time, all grade levels. I did whatever it took to make my dream a reality, and at 17 I booked a flight to Hawaii to go to my chosen school that I had been accepted too.
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A few years later I moved to Florida and continued going to college, when I unexpectedly became pregnant at 20, I dropped out of school and went back to Alaska to be surrounded by all my loving, supportive family, who have always been there unconditionally, whenever I need them, no matter what. But, I NEVER gave up on knowing I would be returning to finish my education. So, while I was in Alaska I got a full-time job, applied and was accepted to attend The University of Central Florida (my Alma Mater), and within a month of my daughter being born I was on a plane back to Florida to go to school the following semester. I had a lot of people tell me, even to my face, that because I was so young, and a single mom I would never go back to school. That simply made me even more determined to prove them wrong, and I did!

It wasn't easy by any means, being 21, a single mom to a newborn and going to college full-time, but I had saved a lot of money while being pregnant and working, took out student loans and busted my butt!
When my daughter was about a year old her father and I got back together and I was then faced with an entirely new set of difficulties to deal with. My (eventual) husband had a 4.5 year old son who lived with him (who was an extreme, and I do mean extreme, handful), so all of a sudden my family of two just grew to 4 and I had to adapt to all of this while still going to school. And I would not only be taking care of both kids, mostly on my own, a full time cook, housekeeper and help my husband with his business, but I also held down 2 jobs, while eventually going to school at night for my Masters degree.

I look back and seriously wonder how I was able to manage this and STILL get my Bachelors and Masters degrees in Political Science. But, you know what? It just goes to show that if you want something badly enough and set your mind to it, no matter what, you CAN achieve your dreams and goals. Don't ever, ever give up on what's important to you, if you have the will, desire and passion inside you for something, you have everything you need to make it happen. Go out and follow your dreams and make them a reality!!
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(Oh, and I got these degrees in the late 90's but still feel proud to display them as they represent dreams that came true and fierce determination to fight through the difficulties and never give up).

I've been wanting to get more serious about offering handpainted purses for a couple years now, and have painted a few for myself, and finally got around to creating several to offer for sale!  

​These first few are just random purses I've found at stores that I thought would make a great canvas for painting on. I am going to be offering more custom MADART purses that have been painted on.  I am in the process of ordering sample purses that will be exclusive to MADART, with branding, packaging, etc. , this is going to be an actual fashion line of purses that I will be handpainting.  I will also eventually be offering printed purses at lower prices that will have my original designs and only be available directly through this site, most of which will also be limited edition designs.  Pricing is also subject to change once the new custom purses are introduced.  

Lot's of different ideas swirling around in my head where to go with this!  I've always loved fashion, as far back as I can remember, even wanted to be a model in my younger days (funny enough my daughter is now a model :).  I think this will be the perfect marriage of my love of fashion and my passion for art.  this will also give women the opportunity to have a truly custom purse to take with them everywhere they go, what better way to show your appreciation for art than to get to wear it!  

I will also not be using any leather purses, these will all be PU "leather" type products (synthetic). I'm working on being more aware of not using animal products in my life, and these purses are a great way to stand up for animal rights.

​Stay tuned for more painted purses coming soon!! You can see the current available purses here.

I've been wanting to do something to help the families affected by the Orlando shooting at the Pulse nightclub earlier this month.  As a long time Orlando area resident, this really hit home to me and I feel the need to contribute in whatever way possible.  

I recently started a new collection of designs from my "Livin' the MAD Life™" series, one of those design ideas is "I love my Home Sate", featuring all hand drawn hearts with the abbreviations for each state.  I have a new website dedicated to this collection and am working on getting all of the states listed with products from t-shirts to phone cases.  I realized that the "I Love Florida" products could be a way for me to help the Pulse victims, by offering a portion of the profits to go to support the tragedy.  

​From every purchase of the "I love Florida" design I will be donating 25% of the profits to charitable causes helping the victims families, other portions of the profits will be going to provide advertising and marketing to help raise awareness for my support of the sales of these products.  The more awareness I can provide by running ads, posting to social media, word of mouth, etc. will help to raise more funds I can donate, so please help me by sharing in whatever way you can!

The design is all about love and pride for living in the state of Florida, and at this dark time in our state history it feels fitting to have the positive message of my art help to bring a little light and positivity to the situation.  I hope you will help me to support the families impacted by this tragedy and show your support and love for the great state of Florida at the same time.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!