Hi Friends!! I am so excited to share the journey of a friend/client of mine who has reinvented herself or……in her case may be gone back to her original passions and developed her own career out of a beloved hobby.

I met Susie when my daughter Kirby became friends with her son Kyle in elementary school and have been blessed in keeping up with her through decorative updates in her home. Now a grandmother, ( I know she looks way too young), she has followed her passions and started her own art business of hand-drawing maps for special occasions.

Born with a natural artistic ability, this New Orleans native taught herself to write her name in cursive by age four! She continued her love of art in college where she graduated from The University of Texas with a degree in Interior Design. Her favorite part of her education was creating watercolor renderings of her beautiful interior creations.

She started her career in both Commercial and Residential Interior Design until the birth of her third son, where she decided to be a stay at home Mom. She never stopped her passion for art, however, frequently volunteering at her sons’ schools for art-related projects.

Here is some of the beautiful artwork she has created for a lovely couple I happen to know!! The idea of creating love maps came to Susie when she received a Save-the-Date card in the mail consisting of different New Orleans venues.

Her son was getting married so she decided to further this concept and included her son and his fiance’s Story of Romance into the map! Hand-drawing the invitation herself, she found something she LOVED to do.

Above is Susie’s Map of Love that her son, Kyle, and his fiance, Samantha, used as a welcome and put in the bags for out of town guests!

That was the beginning of what is now Occasion Maps by Susie! She was able to take not only her art and watercolor skills but her knowledge of design and architecture to create unique and personalized Wedding Maps for her clients!

The process starts when Susie emails her clients a form that gives her the details of where they met, the proposal details, their universities, hobbies, travels, and wedding venues. She even goes as far as adding the bride and groom’s monogram to the map! The creation does not involve just the form but photographs the couple sends to her.

She realized that many couples share pets, which are always included in her maps. Just like anything, the more information given during the creation of the map, the more personal and meaningful the map is for the big day.

What I love about them is that no two are alike and it tells the couple’s story!! What a beautiful keepsake for them, the parents and all the guests!! Once the personalized map is completed, the couple then determines how they want to incorporate it into their special day!

She has done versions for hospitality bags, stickers (for favors), tags save-the-dates and more!

So full of life and super fun, Susie you have inspired me by finding balance in your life and having it all!! We are never too old, or too busy to fill this one life we have with all we want to accomplish. What is your passion? It does start you thinking!

Don’t forget to check out all of the exciting, new things happening at Segreto Finishes by following us on Instagram- my daughter Kirby has taken it over and she has inspired me with her posts! Till next week! xo Leslie @segretofinishes