Meet Chelsea Walblay

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chelsea Walblay a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Chelsea, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I’ve come to believe that purpose isn’t a thing we discover once—it’s something that shifts and grows with us. For me, the purpose of my twenties was about exploring and discovering who I was. During that time, I started an Etsy shop out of my college apartment, met and started dating my now husband, graduated from college, and took a leap by moving from Michigan to Louisiana without knowing a single person there. Accepted my first “big girl job”, and quit my first “big girl job”. Not long after, I got married and moved abroad to Colombia to teach, which pushed me even further outside my comfort zone since I had never taught before and definitely didn’t know anyone in Colombia. Each of these experiences taught me something new about myself, and together they shaped the foundation for the purpose of helping me discover who I was.

Throughout all of these life events, I was creating in all my spare time and running a business. I was teaching myself to sew, crochet, wood burn, calligraphy, watercolor paint, and more. Before “doom-scrolling” was ever a thing, and before I had children, I had a lot of free time after work and on weekends. I would use this time to practice a new art form, and in time, my skills went from beginner to professional.

I found a lot of purpose and self worth in expressing myself through creating, and sharing it on social media. I have always created for myself first, then shared my one of a kind items with my followers on Instagram. To find out other people also enjoyed my creations was an incredible feeling. I had only a few hundred followers in the beginning, around 2014, they were all friends and family. I have always lived with the mindset of “How are people supposed to cheer you on if they don’t know what you’re doing?”, so I posted frequently to update people on my life, travels, and creations as I navigated my twenties, finding my purpose in creating art and creating a life for myself.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I have this thing where rather than buying something new, I will spend much more energy, money, and time to learn how to make it myself. I have always been this way.

My creative business began in my college apartment in 2011, I called it CraftyInCollege. Back then I made jewelry holders from chicken wire and thrifted picture frames. In 2013, I changed the name to FaithLoveCraft. One day, my boyfriend wanted a beanie hat he saw online. It was crocheted. I had never crocheted anything before but I told him I would make one for him. I taught myself by watching YouTube videos. From that point on, I really never stopped crocheting and have gone on to sell hundreds of Cozy Blankets, my most popular crocheted item, and write and sell multiple crochet patterns.

I really did this with all my creative outlets. I would want something, then spend all of my spare time mastering it. I taught myself how to wood burn, watercolor paint, write calligraphy, paint with acrylics, and refined my sewing skills after learning from my grandma as a little girl. In the last 2 years I also took up pottery and even became a member at a studio nearby!

What I have found most special about the things I have made, is that a lot of items were custom orders. They were requested by someone, who had an idea, and I helped bring their vision to life. Sometimes, it was truly a one of a kind item, never to be recreated. Other times, it went on to be a favorite in my shop and I sold multiple!

I really enjoyed being a small, one person, business because it allowed me the creative freedom to take on orders that challenged me creatively, excited me about something new, and meet so many new people along the way.

From 2013-2025 FaithLoveCraft was a huge part of my life. It consumed all my spare time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So much of my self-worth and purpose came from the success of my small business.

However, in 2023 I had my first child while teaching, earning my masters degree, and having a student teacher. I really didn’t have any spare time, but I continued running my business. In 2024, we welcomed our second child into the world and I had even less spare time, imagine that. As we continue to raise our growing family, I am painfully aware of how quickly time is fleeting and running a business wasn’t something that excited me anymore. It was an easy decision to choose my family over my business.

Something that once brought me so much joy, began weighing heavily on me, as I couldn’t give appropriate time or energy to everything on my plate.

In August of 2025, I decided to say goodbye to FaithLoveCraft and hello to CreatingWithChelsea. While my business is no longer, for now, I am so excited about this next chapter of my life, finding so much purpose in raising my children and creating: joy, memories, functional spaces, learning activities, and more with my family.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

My grandmother played a huge role in my creative journey. I can remember playing on the floor with a muffin tray full of buttons while she sewed dresses for me. I would go visit her and my grandfather for a couple weeks in the summer and she taught me how to quilt, how to oil paint, how to sew clothes, how to enjoy the slowness of things like puzzles, reading, and crosswords. All of these things are still some of my favorite hobbies. She is a master quilter and to this day, at 83 years old, still makes a quilt for every big life event for her grand children and great grand children. She continues to be an inspiration to me!

Something else that was so impactful to me was starting my business journey at a time when social media was not like it is today. Before videos and reels, we had meaningful posts and only one photo to represent what you’ve been working on. It was a space where there was more community than competition, and you weren’t having to spend your spare time learning how to be a content creator in addition to running a small business. While I’m appreciative of the community and friends I have today because of Instagram, I miss the slower days when consumption wasn’t based on a 3 second hook.

One last thing that I think was impactful in my journey was the quality of “I can make that.” I have always been this way. Even as a young girl, I spent my time making my own jewelry, friendship bracelets, keychains, and more. I used to love tracing illustrations out of books and making a collage of the illustrations, and doing the same thing with magazine clippings. I mentioned puzzles before, I love a puzzle. I love taking things apart and putting them back together. I think this quality is rooted in curiosity, ingenuity, and maybe even a bit of frugalness.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

If I knew I only had a decade of life left, I would spend it traveling, eating, and doing something creative every single day. An absolute dream of mine is to one day go on an art retreat abroad where I can do all three things, surrounded by other creative women who share similar interests. Living abroad in Colombia for two years really changed my life. While my husband and I lived there, we were able to travel most of South America, spend time in the rain forrest, desert, we attained our advanced scuba diving certification and traveled to the Caribbean often. Everyday was an adventure with something new to learn and eat! While I’m of course extremely thankful for the life I have at this moment, I miss how vibrant life was abroad.

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