Hi, I'm Shia Lynn- creator, artist, creative mentor, and founder of The Artsy Craftsy.
A multi-passionate creative rebel who's spent over two decades proving that you don't have to pick just one lane. Some days that looks like painting, some days it's quietly mapping things out behind the scenes, and some days it's just figuring it all out one step at a time- right alongside you.
🌿 A few things about me
I still get genuinely excited over a fresh sketchbook, or a good art shop or bookstore. I'm drawn to fantasy, mystical things, and witchy woo-woo wisdom. But just as often, I go full hermit mode, playing in my ARTpothecary - slowing everything down, just to recharge.
I love following my curiosity- when I feel a spark of excitement, I respond to it without needing to know exactly where it leads. More often than not, that's when the best days happen.
🔥 My story — and how The Artsy Craftsy came to be
Without a formal fine arts education, I wasn't seen as a "real" artist. I didn't have the skill, or the credentials, and for a long time, that made me feel like I didn't belong. But deep down, I knew my creative journey was so much more than that. I just often felt pressure to pick one lane, to fit into one box, simply because I enjoyed creating and play.
I was 18 when I started my first side hustle, a fabric painting business called Knick Knacks, while majoring in advertising- by 2005, I'd renamed it Painted On Enterprise and gone from hand-painting t-shirts to hand-painting bridal wear and evening gowns, even having my first wearable art fashion shows. Around this time, I also picked up hands-on experience working at a local craft retailer, learning product knowledge long before I ever earned a certificate.
The Artsy Craftsy started in 2008, in a small, dingy room, while I was a young copywriter in my early twenties. There were no Malaysian blogs covering the creative or DIY arts and crafts space at the time - so I decided to document my own journey instead.
The name itself came from a realisation. "Artsy-craftsy" is an old, slightly mocking phrase- used to describe things a little too artistic to be taken seriously. But when I found it, something clicked. I'd always felt torn between being an artist and being a maker, and this name was the first time I let both live in the same place, without needing to choose. I didn't know it yet, but that was the beginning of understanding I was multi-passionate- long before I had the word for it.
By 2013, The Artsy Craftsy had grown to over 42,000 readers, and in 2014, it was selected as a Top 10 finalist at the DiGi WWWOW Awards Malaysia. That same year, I opened The Artsy Craftsy Shop, selling my own handmade, magic-themed creations.
2015 was a big year. I left my full-time job to dedicate myself to this completely, and co-founded Craft Affair - a creative lifestyle event that's still going strong today.
In 2016, The Artsy Craftsy Studio was born- a cosy home studio where I hosted private art jams and workshops for a community that kept growing. It moved once more in 2018, into a new space, before eventually winding down as my creative path started to shift in a different direction.
Then the pandemic arrived, and everything changed further still. For a while, I lost touch with parts of myself in the middle of it all.
But that loss became its own kind of beginning. It was only in those years that I really discovered what I liked- art rooted in magic and mysticism, nature, myth, and legend. I started exploring pyrography, engraving, watercolour, pen and ink, miniature-making, and sketchbook journaling- not because any of it was expected of me, but because I finally let myself follow what I actually liked.
Today, The Artsy Craftsy has come full circle- no longer a studio, but an inner space I've reclaimed, understanding my role in my community and network of creative friends, exactly as it began.
Along the way, I started writing on Substack- a space to help myself, and fellow sensitive creatives like me, in the ongoing journey of reclaiming our creativity.
Not having a formal art education never stopped me from going deeper. Over the years, I trained in fabric painting, explored colour consciousness and its psycho-spiritual dimensions, and became a Certified Therapeutic Art Life Coach. But my deepest creative alchemy has always come from lived experience, and from transmuting what once felt like an artist's wound into something
whole.
In the years since, I've judged art competitions, spoken on panels about creativity and self-care, and shown my work in small exhibitions- including as artist and co-curator for a group exhibition inspired by myth and storytelling.
🌙 Think of me as your creative big sister
Through The Artsy Craftsy, I don't teach people how to be better artists. I help them remember how to be more themselves- especially the sensitives, the creative rebels, and anyone who's never quite followed the norm. I've been exactly where you are, and I'm here to walk alongside you, not ahead of you.
"There is so much more to art and creativity. I find that we're able to discover meaningful life lessons through the process of making- which is why I hold sacred space for people to connect with their inner self through art as a tool. When we're in a state of awe and wonder, we channel our inner child most easily."
Creativity is not a talent- it's a birthright.
Art is not just a product- it's a process.
Self-expression is a form of healing, rebellion, and freedom.
Welcome my creative rebel. You're exactly where you're meant to be.
— Shia Lynn