Cue the Conferences: FableVision’s 2023 Guide

Lunches with partners, new meet and greets, enlightening sessions, presentation opportunities, and exciting cities – what’s not to love about conferences? Check out where we’re headed to learn from industry professionals, share our insights, and most importantly, see you.

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MuseumNext Digital Learning Summit

During the virtual conference, learn how museums can keep up with evolving technology to create engaging and immersive experiences for visitors. Keep an eye out for Kellian Adams Pletcher, our Director of G.L.A.M. (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) Innovation.

When: Monday, June 19 – Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Where: Online

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ISTELive 23

Visit our friends from FableVision Learning at their tables at the Keystones Technology Innovators in PA session on Wednesday, June 28 from 9–11 a.m. and STEM Playground — Tools for Physical Computing and Making from 12–2 p.m. in the ISTE Explore and Create Playground. Paul Reynolds, Andrea Calvin, and Mary Johnston will provide hands-on demonstrations of FabMaker Studio and Animation-ish. Learn more here.

When: Sunday, June 25 – Wednesday, June 28
Where: Philadelphia

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Games for Change Festival

Celebrate Games for Change’s (G4C) 20th anniversary with a summer festival full of events analyzing the past, present, and future of gaming and XR.

FableVision’s VP of audiyo-yo Anne Richards will present a project brief on Nunaka!: Games for Indigenous Cultural Heritage Preservation on Wednesday, July 19 at 5 p.m.

Producer Jonah Gaynor will present a project brief on Wilson Center’s Plastic Pipeline right after Anne on Wednesday, July 19 at 5:20 p.m. Both presentations will be at the Microsoft Winter Garden.

President Gary Goldberger and Communications Strategist Nadya Karpova will also be attending. We hope to see you at both project briefs! The schedule and more details can be found here.

When: Tuesday, July 18 – Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Where: New York City

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Podcast Movement

At the world’s largest podcast conference, passionate podcasters and industry professionals gather to learn from each other and improve the audio community. Anne Richards and Gary Goldberger will surely tune in — don’t forget to say hello.

When: Monday, August 21 – Thursday, August 24, 2023
Where: Denver

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Ed Games Expo 2023

The  Ed Games Expo is a public showcase of game-changing #edtech innovations developed through programs at IES, the U.S. Department of Education (ED), and across government. We’ve got a few great things lined up for Wednesday, September 20 at Kennedy Center REACH:

• Between 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., catch FableVision Studios’ Paul Reynolds, Snow Dong, and Nadya Karpova, along with FableVision Learning’s Andrea Calvin and Mary Johnston in Skylight Pavilion at tables S-7 and S-8. We’ll be doing live demos of Civics! An American Musical and Nunaka.

• At 1:30 p.m., Snow will lead a Master Class on Civics! at MoonShot Studio. If you’d like to attend, please register here.

• Between 5:30-8:30 p.m., find us in PT-109 at tables P-3 and P4 for the Ed Games Expo for the Public.

Click here to view the Ed Games Expo agenda.

When: Tuesday, September 19 — Friday, September 22
Where: Washington, D.C.

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Serious Play Conference

Time for some serious fun in Toronto, while learning about creating and using games and simulations for educational purposes and how to move those programs ahead. Make sure to attend Executive Producer Peter Stidwill’s session on Wednesday, October 11 from 2-2:45 p.m. on Five Tips for Researchers Who Want to Make Educational Games. See the full conference program here.

When: Wednesday, October 11 – Friday, October 13, 2023
Where: Toronto

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Hands On! Conference

Hosted by the Children’s Museum Creaviva in Bern, Switzerland, Europe’s largest conference on science education and children in museums will experiment with exhibitions, themes, and learning opportunities. And who’s keynoting? You guessed it — Kellian. More information coming soon — you don’t want to miss this one.

When: Wednesday, October 25 – Friday, October 27, 2023
Where: Bern, Switzerland

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MCN Annual Conference

For MCN 2023, the Penn Museum in Philadelphia will gather over 600 cultural heritage professionals from museums, historic sites, and visitor attractions to advance digital transformations in museums. Kellian and Gary can’t wait to see you there.

When: Wednesday, November 8 – Friday, November 10, 2023
Where: Philadelphia

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This year, Gary, Anne, VP of Moonladder Tone Thyne, and VP of Development Rachel Reade Marcus attended the Kidscreen Summit in Miami. At BostonFIG Online Expo, Kellian presented tips for researchers and developers working together when creating games. We were thrilled to catch up with you at those conferences, and we look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones in the upcoming months.

May FableFriday: Tone Thyne, Vice President, Moonladder

After congratulating Tone on his ninth anniversary at FableVision and the rebranding of Moonladder, FableVision’s film and television division, let’s take this oppor-tone-ity to learn more about Tone Thyne. As Vice President of Moonladder, award-winning creative executive Tone focuses on creating, showrunning, and co-producing animated and live-action properties. By drawing on his personal experiences and meeting children at their level, he sets the tone for his broadcasting work, hoping to create educational, inspirational, and relatable content for kids.

“The best show creators are highly nostalgic in nature,” said Tone. “Reaching into the past to dust off experiences and feelings that we remember as kids (or remembering gems from our own childrens’ growing up) is the best way to create characters and experiences that viewers will relate to. Most of the stories I write are ripped from the pages of the Thyne house.” 

Read on to learn more about Tone’s creative journey, advice for aspiring children’s content creators, his latest hobby, and what he thinks about Woody from Toy Story.

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What’s your “journey to FableVision” story?
Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood have always been some of my greatest sources of inspiration. Each show seamlessly educates viewers by way of engaging characters and compelling stories. The learning is never didactic since the content is so entertaining. How can you even taste the spinach when it’s chopped up and mixed into a delicious milkshake? This kind of dedication to create meaningful content with a whimsical twist lines up beautifully with FableVision’s 200-year mission to move the world to a better place through media, storytelling, and technology. I was thrilled to join FableVision in 2014 to create original content with a studio that embodies my outlook on the positive power of children’s media through purposeful storytelling.

Congratulations on the rebrand of Moonladder! Can you tell us more about FableVision’s newest group? 
It’s an exciting time for FableVision. We are expanding in step with the industry’s growing need for original content. Since our studio creates original properties in the audio space with our audiyo-yo group and original games with our FableVision Games team, we felt it was fitting to distinguish FableVision’s original film and television properties with their own distinction as well. And so, Moonladder was born. 

We know that a kinder world begins with the bonds we form between young viewers and aspirational characters. Today, there is a notable focus on children’s media platforms to incorporate learning goals that lead to positive change in our world: diversity, gratitude, giving back to your community, inclusion, mindfulness, equity, and so on. Creating stories that inspire children to think about and interact with others in meaningful ways is in perfect alignment with Moonladder’s North Star. 

Rachel Marcus joined our team in February of this year and we are thrilled that her creativity and expertise in broadcast distribution and financing will help place Moonladder’s meaningful content with appropriate homes on important broadcast platforms around the world.  

Before you found your calling in creating, writing, and showrunning animated properties, you were an animator. Where did your creative journey take you?
I studied animation at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and cut my teeth in the real world at Walt Disney Feature Animation (great place to work, a little bit of a Mickey Mouse operation). I began there in production on groundbreaking films like The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Over my 12 years at Disney, I worked on other animated jewels like Tarzan, Fantasia 2000, Atlantis, and Toy Story. I left in 2001 to follow my lifelong dream of creating educational content for kids and had the incredible opportunity to animate segments on the “Letter I” and the “Letter N” for Sesame Street (it was my IN!). This eventually led to my producing animation at Little Airplane Productions where I produced animated series such as The Wonder Pets!, among others. While at Little Airplane, I co-created The Adventures of Napkin Man! Fueled by the thrill of creating my own series, I packed up my expertise and headed to FableVision to join superhero forces with the dream team at the studio to create some of the world’s most meaningful content. 

What was your time at Disney like, working on blockbuster films that many kids grew up on and cherish? 
It was unlike any experience I had ever had. The Great Masters of Animation were creating world-famous and culturally indelible characters literally right in front of me. I remember being in Michael Surrey’s office while he was sketching out options for what Timon could look like – or in Ken Duncan’s office while he was dreaming up Jane from Tarzan. I had amazing “front row seats” to recording sessions with notable talent like Tom Hanks, Demi Moore, Catherine O’Hara, among so many others. Music meetings with Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. What an absolute thrill. And knowing that the content that we made at Disney has such a global appeal and can impact people around the world in a positive way is nothing shy of heartwarming. Disney was a Master Class in making something from the very germ of an idea to post production and distribution. Being a part of that process helped mold my production skills, allowing me a 360 degree view of every aspect of creating content.

What attracted you to children’s television?
I was born the same year that Sesame Street was born and literally grew up watching the show. It had a profound impact on me, which helped me realize how effective and creative children’s media can be, especially on television. Creating children’s content that has the power to positively shape the citizens of tomorrow is a privilege that I’m grateful for every day.

Wonder Pets! Schoolhouse

What’s the key ingredient for all of your projects?
Quite simply: PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Viewers need to connect with content that they consume. The best way to connect with content is to relate to it in some way. The most effective tool for creating relatable content is to draw directly from personal experiences. Viewers can feel that authenticity. 

On a train one day, I was tickled to watch a playful interaction between a mother and her baby. Each time the mother handed the baby his soft toy, he would throw it onto the ground in a fit of giggles. I was mesmerized. So, when Sesame Street called looking for a short film about counting, I drew on this real life experience and created The Silliest Counting Show, a piece showcasing a little girl attempting to count soft blocks with a playful baby who continuously throws them on the floor. I was able to harness the joy and playfulness of the real world experience in our short film.  

Considering the importance of “lived experiences” in creating authentic content, it’s vital to have a broad range of voices at the table that represent the experiences characters portray on screen, whether cultural, historical, or personal.

What advice do you have for aspiring kids’ content creators?
Create what you know. You can’t tell stories or develop characters that aren’t close to you or it will reek of falseness. 

Also, know your audience. When my daughter celebrated her third birthday, I took tons of pictures of the adorable party, but when I looked at them later, I realized that they didn’t capture the magic of what I experienced in person. On her next birthday, I got down on my knee and took photos that were on an eye-level with the kids. Those photos put me right back at the party. Being on the same level with the kids had a real magic to it. There’s a famous clip of Mister Rogers speaking with a child in a wheelchair on his show. Mister Rogers doesn’t stand up and talk down to him, he crouches next to him, asks him if he can lean on his chair, and talks face-to-face with him. He literally gets down on the same level as his viewers. Metaphorically, children’s content creators need to join our viewers at their level.

And finally, give your characters flaws. Young viewers recognize flaws and relate to them. Showcasing “perfect” characters leaves a void between the viewer and the character they should be relating to. Whether a character is too impulsive or impatient or a little clumsy, young viewers should be able to look at a character and say, “That’s me. I know that person, I can relate to them.”

What are some of your hobbies?
I’ve been converting an old potting shed in my backyard into an art studio with an incredible custom floor. I bought 16,000 classic #2 pencils and created a herringbone parquet floor with a layer of epoxy over top. It’s super fun and immensely inspiring. This is where all the great future ideas will be born! 

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More About Tone

Favorite show? Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, of course.

Favorite movie? It’s a Wonderful Life, of course.

Favorite game?
My kids made up a game they call The Chain Game. We play it on car rides or at the dinner table. One person plays a song, then the next person picks a new song that is linked in some way through lyrics, theme, guitar riff… anything. It’s DJ Round Robin. 

Favorite place traveled? Crayola Experience in Easton, PA.

Favorite type of music to listen to while working?
Somehow sad music helps me come up with great creative ideas. The sadder the music, the better. I search Spotify for “Sad Playlists,” “The Saddest Music of all Time,” or “The Weepiest Break Up Songs.” When I put on my headphones and announce, “I’m going into my sad cave,” everyone knows I have some ideas to come up with. 

Favorite practical joke?
I began my first day at FableVision on April Fools’ Day. I came into the studio with a tray covered in foil and announced that I always bring brownies to commemorate my first day on a new job. When the staff pulled the foil away, they discovered a pile of Brown E’s that I had cut out of construction paper. They’ve never forgiven me.  

Concept art for Woody, featuring Tone’s blue eyes

A Tone fun fact that most people don’t know?
At Disney Feature Animation, the characters the artists create always seem to end up looking like the coworkers they spend so much time with. Everyone there is seemingly somebody. It’s like working at a theme park – Gaston and Pocahontas were great friends of mine and Belle was my boss. Woody from Toy Story bears a striking resemblance to me. Thankfully, my boots are free from snakes though.

Introducing BagelVision, the Culinary Division of FableVision

Hello dough! To set us apart from other multimedia companies, we decided to tap into the sense of taste through BagelVision, FableVision’s culinary division.

This tasty initiative focuses on baking bagels in all styles with traditional and unique flavors. But it’s not just a bakery; we’re creating bagels full of character and delivering them straight to your door, 24 hours per day, seven days per week. We’re rolling with the roll-with-a-hole to bring you delectable joy.

Check out some of our larger-than-life flavors and take our bagel personality test to find out which BagelVision bagel you are.

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• Boston’s Big Papi-Seed, the baseball player who faces adversity but works hard in the hopes of winning the World Series.

• Cinna Come-On Raisin, the cheerleader who sees positivity and potential in everyone.

• Multi-Gain, the gym rat. No pain, no gain!

• Plane Jane, the adventurous aviator flying around China, India, and Turkey, searching for sesame seeds.

• EverySing, the musical and drama one who can act, dance, and sing.

• BlueJerry, the melancholy dreamer who sails around the ocean searching for his love in quaint port towns.

• Sweet Wheat, the kind and caring one who puts a smile on everyone’s face.

• Fred French Toast, the one who’s always ready to celebrate by raising a toast.

• Mary Marble, the one studying marble columns from Ancient Greece.

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Why bagels? As the starting point of our culinary art, bagels will help us expand to other baked goods, savory dishes, and more. With the innate love of food that’s a part of each FableVisionary, we have no doubt that BagelVision will rise to new heights. 

Stay tuned for our upcoming animated series about our delightful bagel characters and contact us if you have a bagel that you’d like to see on our menu. In the meantime, check out our bagel personality quiz.

Autumn Adventures: FableVision's 2022 Back-to-School Guide

After a sunny and spectacular summer vacation, returning to school or starting school for the first time can be scary. Whether your family traveled, relaxed, spent time outdoors, or simply had a different schedule, it takes time to shift back to your school and fall routines. To help your children combat the “school scaries” and enjoy the fall, we’ve compiled a list of resources to ensure that they have a fantastic year full of educational and engaging learning. 

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International Dot Day

Empower kids to make their marks by celebrating International Dot Day on September 15-ish. Based on FableVision’s Co-Founder and New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds’ book The Dot, International Dot Day encourages kids to connect and collaborate as they re-discover the power and potential of creativity in all they do. This year, join Peter at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City or watch the livestream of the event. September 15 doesn’t work for you? Here’s a little secret: you can celebrate Dot Day whenever you want! 

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UCAR’s SkySci for Kids

As we gradually add sweaters, scarves, and fuzzy hats to our wardrobe, check out UCAR’s SkySci for Kids to learn about weather, climate, and sky science. With humor, bright colors, and a clear breakdown of topics, FableVision-made animated videos and minigames featuring Yolanda the palm tree, Jeff the yeti, and Snacks the dog will teach kids about tornadoes, hurricanes, heat waves, and more. Visit the website to encourage your child to fight climate change.

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Cyber Fashion Challenge

Another great way to fight climate change – upcycling! Based on Cyberchase’s season 13 episode “Sustainable By Design,” born-accessible Cyber Fashion Challenge, created in partnership with FableVision, The WNET Group, PBS KIDS, and Bridge Multimedia, teaches 6-8-year-olds about avoiding fast fashion and encouraging the creative reuse of materials. Practice counting and shape identification by creating a sustainable fashion line for Fabio DeZine.

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Museum of Science “EiE Families” Website

Spark your child’s interest in engineering and computer science by checking out the Museum of Science “EiE Families” microsite, built by FableVision, with interactive features to support STEM learning at-home and on-the-go. Play Bye Bye Bug and create a way to lead a ladybug to safety, or explore the other activities, in both English and Spanish. Bonus: if you’re in Boston, take a field trip to the Museum of Science to see science in action.

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“Our State and the Nation: A Georgia Studies Course”

History fanatics – we have a treat for you. FableVision created a host site for Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB)’s online textbook, developing an online experience for eighth-grade students. In the revamped George history course, students can examine images, define vocabulary words, watch videos, and go on virtual field trips from the classroom or the comfort of their homes. 

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Pinna Original Yes No Audio Adventures

One of the best parts of fall? Halloween! Immerse yourself in spooky season by answering yes or no to questions in Escape the Haunted House, a Pinna Original Yes No Audio adventure, produced by FableVision’s audiyo-yo. Listeners are the main characters as they interact with the show and create their own story. If your kids aren’t fans of haunted houses, they can listen to Escape the Marshmallow Dream Forest or Escape the Sinking Ship. The 5-minute, voice-activated audio adventures provide a perfect, creative outlet during car rides, before bedtime, and more.

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Boston vs. Bullies Academy for Internet Champions

Join Bobby the Badger and his friends Ivy, Jordan, and Felix to score a touchdown, make a basket, and hit a home run with The Sports Museum’s bullying-prevention game. As kids continue to use the internet at younger ages and run into in-person and online bullying, Boston vs. Bullies Academy for Internet Champions, created by FableVision, helps kids navigate tricky situations, make smart choices online, and combat bullying. Learn how to stay safe by checking out the free game.

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“Friendlets” Animated Shorts

Besides stopping bullying, children should also see the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships to avoid abuse, love better, and find true friends. Created in partnership with One Love Foundation, “Friendlets” animated shorts showcase familiar, humorous scenarios to help elementary-aged kids understand the importance of communication and appropriate responses in healthy friendships. Visit One Love’s Education Center for the shorts and associated resources.

September FableFriday: Audrey Spencer, UX/UI Designer

FableVision UX/UI Designer Audrey Spencer is a problem-solver at her core. As a multidisciplinary designer, Audrey has worked across many fields, including medical, game development, and VR/AR design. She has a passion for creative problem solving, thinking outside-the-box, and brings her own dash of whimsy to every project that hits her desk. 

“I love sharing my creative process with others and I’m excited to be doing that at FableVision,” says Audrey. “I’m especially having a blast on a project that we’ll reveal soon – we have an awesome team and such a great connection with the client – it’s been so rewarding to see this come to life.”

Read more to learn about Audrey’s winding journey to FableVision, how she wooed the internet with her elaborate cat drawings, and her battle with DJ Khaled.

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Audrey’s Snapchat drawings featuring Maya and Oskar

What’s your “journey to FableVision” story?
It’s been quite the journey! My degree is in industrial design, so I began my career in product design, working in healthcare designing medical devices. This was around the time when a “cool new app” called Snapchat came out, and with its clunky drawing tools, I started drawing photos of my cats, creating elaborate and harrowing scenes. Apparently the people of the internet liked them, which caught the attention of Snapchat and the media, starting me on a path of creative storytelling for brands like Microsoft, Universal, Pilot, and Snapchat. It was all pretty surreal.  

Pivoting from medical device design, I began working with startups as a one-woman design team, doing everything from industrial design, graphic design, branding, video, and marketing. I worked in a wide range of industries from Tesla coils, to robotic fishing equipment, to AR (augmented reality) hardware. It was very exciting. 

While working with an AR hardware startup, I grew close with some folks at Snap Inc. and began consulting on Snapchat’s user interface, as well as other programs in the works. One of these was Lens Studio, the AR Lens software they were developing, which sparked my interest in virtual reality and augmented reality design. 

Shortly after, I went through a Unity and XR program to broaden my skill set, through which I was introduced to FableVision!

Social media panel at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2016

How did past fields and industries you’ve worked in prepare you for FableVision and the educational industry?
My experience as a student, which was tough, prepared me the most. I’m dyslexic and I’ve always struggled with reading. I have a lot of empathy for kids who are also struggling with any type of learning disability, and I know what they’re going through. In my own life, I’ve learned that this disability can be transformed into an empathy superpower when it comes to storytelling and designing educational experiences. It’s quite rewarding to bring that perspective to the table.

What type of projects do you like to work on?
I like projects that involve humor and a bit of weirdness. I bring my own dose of quirk as it is,  so I appreciate any project that has that creative freedom. I also love a good challenge and managing a lot of moving parts – really, anything that requires problem solving is fun to me.

Group of Snapchat creators

Besides UX and UI, you’ve also developed content for brands like Microsoft and Universal. Can you tell us more about that experience?
In the early days of Snapchat, it was a Wild West for creators working with brands on the platform, and it was really difficult to gain a following with content that expired every 24 hours. 

So, when I and a small group of creators gained traction on Snapchat, brands saw this as an opportunity.  At the time, Snapchat didn’t have an ad program in place, so these brands reached out to us to create content for them.

This led to some really fun jobs, traveling across the country doing work for Microsoft, Universal, Pilot Pens, Shark, Crocs, mobile games, animal shelters, and a bunch of others.

Creating content for brands isn’t too different from what we do at FableVision Studios. The client has an idea and an audience it wants to engage, and we bring that idea to life.  

DJ Khaled

Bill Nye the Science Guy

Tell us about being a Shorty Award finalist for “Snapchatter of the Year”!
What a weird time to be alive. I was up against a few big names, one of which was DJ Khaled, who was pretty well known… and still is. I didn’t go in with any expectations of winning… and I totally didn’t win. But it was a really great award show – I got to rub elbows with Alton Brown and Bill Nye the Science Guy!

Leading up to it, we had to get votes from our audience. So, I found a video of DJ Khaled asking his followers to vote for him and I took that video, edited out where he said “Vote for DJ Khaled,” went through his video history, and basically made a video of him saying to vote for me. I still cringe when I look at it now, and it was purposefully bad, doing it all on my phone in Snapchat from the comfort of my kitchen. But everyone got a kick out of it. If anyone wants to see it, you’ll have to message me and I might show it to you.

What was your most intricate cat drawing and how long did it take?
Well, that would be the cat drawing of Maya splayed out on a bounty of gold coins, gems, and jewels, what you’d expect to find in a treasure chest. I got really into the details and it took a solid nine hours to draw. But Maya deserved it. 

When drawing on Snapchat at the time, it crashed often. And every time it crashed, I’d lose everything. Eventually, I found a way to circumvent that to be able to post things through some trickery. That gave me the freedom to take a few evenings and work on a drawing rather than all at once. Something that drew me to Snapchat was the temporary nature of the content on the platform. I could test out weird ideas, people could see them, like them or not, and then they would disappear. There was something fragile and liberating about it that I really appreciated.

More recent drawing

First Snapchat drawing

Photoshop work

How has your online art evolved?
I have always loved sharing creative ideas with others and people love cats. I’ve tried out all sorts of things with varying degrees of success. 

I've shot skits, made music videos, photoshopped cats as other animals, and started a subreddit that features animals with their faces photoshopped really really tiny.

Even so, my cat drawings have definitely gotten better. I started using a stylus instead of my finger, but if and when I lost that, I discovered that wrapping the stick part of a Q-Tip in foil makes a “decent” capacitive stylus.

What is the dynamic like between Oskar, Maya, and Louie?
I got Maya first. Quickly, I could tell she wanted another cat to play with. She’d sneak up on me, jump on me, and want to play all the time. Eventually, I found Oskar at a shelter. I tried to keep them apart as they adjusted to another animal in the space, but that was impossible. Once I introduced them, they did battle it out a bit, but they’re great friends now. They don’t cuddle like siblings, but they’ll clean each other, play, and chase each other around.

A few years ago, we got Louie. He is a very shy, skittish cat. And introducing them was a challenge: all Oskar wanted to do was chase and play, and all Louie wanted to do was run. But it’s gotten better. We’ve tried to create a safe space for him and he hangs out with us and trusts us a lot more now.  

Maya

Oskar

Louie

Audrey’s Favorites

Favorite plant? I can’t choose a favorite… but I do have five self-contained ecosystems I created: three terrariums and two “jarrariums.” It’s taken them five years to get to this point but they’re finally self-sustaining with only sunlight and a wee bit of water!

Favorite film/tv show? I am really enjoying Evil at the moment. But I always enjoy revisiting King of The Hill and Comedy Bang Bang!

Favorite game? Board: Wingspan. Video: too hard to pick just one, but Her Story, Inside, and Animal Crossing had a huge effect on me.

Favorite recent DIY? I fixed the hose spigot at my house. It had no available parts to buy in a store since it’s so old. So I made my own washers! My next thing to start is refinishing lampshades – I already bought fun fabric, fringe, and tassels.

Elle the chipmunk

Favorite place to find antiques? Estate sales. I love seeing objects in the context that they lived in, and the history surrounding them. Once I buy something, it feels like I’m giving them a new life. 

Favorite homeowner surprise? I’ve been excited about the wildlife outside and have set up cameras to capture videos of all the fun animal visitors! Recently, I’ve befriended the crows and the chipmunks. One chipmunk friend in particular jumps up into my hand when I hold out sunflower seeds.  

Favorite cat (if possible)? I get asked this a lot and I have an answer: it’s Maya. 100%.