2007 marks the year I officially founded my little design and stationery business.

Truth be told, the seed was planted long before that!

As a little girl I loved all sorts of art and craft projects, but I REALLY got into rubber stamps! I had quite the collection and my favorite thing to do was make note cards and little art prints for my friends and family. If my life were a book, this would be some major foreshadowing about my future career path, wouldn't it?!

These were days long before I knew anything about computers, so everything was completely handmade with love. I would even hand color the actual stamp with markers so I could get a print with multiple colors instead of stamping all one color with an ink pad. I also fell in love with gold embossing powder! We didn't have a heat gun at the time, so I would actually put my paper creations in the oven for a few seconds to melt the powder (with my mom's supervision of course)!

Then, as children do, I grew up and went off to college. I started off as an honors biochemistry major, but after a year, switched to Visual Communications with a concentration in graphic design. VC as we called it, was a highly competitive major, the program started with 60+ students and after two rounds of cuts, only 25 made it to senior year and graduated. Along the way I had an amazing opportunity to study abroad in London for a summer and eventually I graduated and made my way into the real world.

A few years later, in 2007, Moya Lara was founded! I had already been doing a little bit of freelance work on the side, and a few friends had asked me to help them with wedding invitations. More friends were getting married, which led to more wedding invitations and soon I even had clients who weren't people I knew personally, which was a really exciting breakthrough! And what's in a name you may wonder? Moya Lara is the Ukrainian term of endearment my parents used to call me when I was a little girl.

Wedding invitations, (really fancy over the top embellished wedding invitations to be exact), that's my niche! Over the years I've worked with the most amazing brides, with wedding destinations both near and far. Quite a few Disney brides, too! And obviously I designed my own invitations, which were voted best invitation design on Magical Day Weddings (Formally the Disney Wedding Blog) in 2009.

As the wedding season of my own life transitioned into the baby and children season, I expanded my designs to include stationery for all ages. I've created whimsical coloring cards as well as, custom and personalized stationery of all varieties! 

Beyond stationery, my freelance design services have included design work for many local businesses and organizations such as Talbot County Department of Parks and Recreation, for whom I created their logo and editorial design for a quarterly magazine for several years. In addition, I've also worked with many local "momprenuers" like myself! I am happy to volunteer my design time to several local non-profit organizations including the Chesapeake Moms Club. I'm also very fortunate to have several long-term freelance clients such as Talbot Figure Skating Team and St. Christopher's Church.

Looking back at the years that have led me to where I am today, I feel like I have come full circle from that little girl making cards with rubber stamps. (At least now I have a heat gun, so I don't need to bake my cards in the oven!) I feel very blessed to have taken such an inspired path and I'm excited to see what the future has in store for my little design business! Here's to many more years of creativity ahead!