Last fall, my 10-year-old neighbor came over to help me with a little makeover project. She had been wanting to learn how to paint furniture and make a memory with me.
My only rule? It had to coordinate with a decoupage paper called Moonique—a bold, quirky cow design with all the Whimsykel feels.
Everything else? Pure play.
She grabbed paint, pulled out scrapers, brushes, her fingers… and just went for it while I worked on decoupaging the drawer faces. Layer after layer, she experimented—smearing, swirling, and splattering paint until the colors came to life. Somewhere between giggling, making a mess and stepping back to see what she had created, she said,
“It looks like spilled milk.”
And just like that, Split Milk was born.
She questioned whether or not it was good enough. Should she redo it and had that internal struggle we all face when creating something. The best part of the story? It sold within 24 hours to a woman who owns a small-town ice cream shop—proving that creativity no matter the age has a funny way of finding the perfect home. She teared up when I went over with $$$ and a huge hug and thanked her for the pleasure of watching her create!
This piece wasn’t about perfection. It was about permission. Permission to play. To experiment. To let the mess be part of the magic.
And sometimes, those are the pieces that connect the most—with hearts, with homes, and with stories waiting to be told.
Here’s to giving your inner 10 year old artist full permission to play.
Who knows what masterpiece is waiting?
Can’t wait to see what you create,
—Whimsykel