Two years ago, I sat down to write my 8-year anniversary post. I was still in Canada. Still building. Still figuring out what the next chapter looked like. I remember feeling proud of how far the business had come — and quietly restless about where it needed to go.

I had no idea that two years later, I'd be writing this from a studio in Plano, Texas.

Ten years. I've been doing this for ten years.

And honestly? This anniversary feels less like a celebration of how long I've lasted, and more like a celebration of how much I was willing to change.

The Move That Changed Everything

Relocating to Plano, Texas wasn't a small decision. It was one of the biggest leaps of my life — personally and professionally. I left behind a market I knew, a community I had built, and a version of my business that was familiar and comfortable.

And I chose to start over.

Not from zero — I want to be clear about that. I brought ten years of craft, skill, and hard-won knowledge with me across that border. But I did start fresh in almost every other way. New city. New customer base. New energy. New chapter.

There's a particular kind of fear that comes with that kind of reset. And there's also — if you let yourself feel it — an extraordinary kind of freedom.

Crossing Things Out

One of the things I've done in this season of reinvention is sit with a mental list of everything I was carrying that no longer needed to come with me. Old ways of doing things. Products that no longer reflected who I am as an artist. Habits and approaches I had held onto out of comfort, not conviction.

I didn't announce any of it. I just quietly crossed things out.

And what was left — what survived the move, the reset, the reimagining — that's the real YFL Art & Decor. Sharper. More intentional. More me than it has ever been.

Plano, Texas: The City That Said Yes

I'll be honest — I didn't know what to expect from DFW. I hoped for warmth. I hoped for community. I hoped that the work would speak for itself and that people here would connect with it the way people had back home.

What I found exceeded every expectation.

The Plano and greater DFW community has welcomed YFL Art & Decor in ways that still stop me in my tracks. Customers who find us online and drive to the studio just to see the pieces in person. Workshop guests who come back session after session. People who reach out asking when's the next one? before the last one has even ended.

This city has energy. And it matches mine.

What Year Ten Actually Looks Like

The studio at 1600 W Plano Parkway is more than just a workspace. It's the physical proof that this vision is real. Handmade pieces crafted from clay, resin, and genuine care. Workshops where people come in as strangers and leave with something they made with their own hands. A growing collection of pieces that have been featured on HGTV, FOX 4, ABC Good Morning Dallas, and NBC News — made right here in Plano, Texas.

Year ten isn't a finish line. It's a foundation.

I'm building something here — in DFW, in this community, in this studio — that I'm more excited about than anything I've created in the previous nine years combined. New workshops. New collections. New ways to connect with the people who value handmade, intentional, beautiful things.

The best of YFL Art & Decor is ahead. I genuinely believe that.

Thank You

To everyone who has supported this business over the past decade — whether you found me in Canada or found me here in Plano — thank you. You are the reason ten years happened. You are the reason year eleven is going to be even better.

If you've been meaning to visit the studio, come by. If you've been eyeing something in the shop, this is your sign. Every piece you bring home is a piece of this story, and I'm so grateful to share it with you.

Here's to ten years. And to everything still to come. 🥂

Visit us in person: 1600 W Plano Parkway, Plano, TX

Shop the collection: yflart.com Custom orders always welcome!