papillion downtown

LIVING HER PASSION – Elissa Vilter, EV Floral and Design and Om Nom Nom Bakery

Elissa (on left) and Julie Ricceri, Owner of Diana’s Papillion Tea Shop

Elissa (on left) and Julie Ricceri, Owner of Diana’s Papillion Tea Shop

While growing up as the youngest of six children in Southern California, Elissa Vilter watched her mother whip up simple, elegant dishes while teaching her children that a meal is more than just a recipe. Instead, it is an opportunity to create a colorful presentation and table setting. Her family became accustomed to linens, candles, silverware, and a centerpiece of some kind on their table every night. When Elissa was eight, her mother signed her up for a summer school cooking class. “It was so much fun!” states Elissa. “I still remember taking what I learned to make a taco salad and decorating our table in a Mexican motif.” By the time Elissa was twelve, her mother was encouraging her to meal plan and recipe hunt. With her mother’s guidance that fresh was best, Elissa planned weekly menus, shopped for the ingredients, and prepared the meals. But the guidance from her mother didn’t stop there. Elissa’s mother also created decorated wedding and birthday cakes, sugared Easter eggs, and corsages and boutonnieres from flowers in her garden.

When Elissa was fifteen, her father left, forcing her mother to develop a catering business out of necessity. As she began catering and baking for weddings and other events, Elissa often accompanied her to help arrange flowers and decorate the space without any idea that she was already building a foundation of skills that would one day allow her to open her own business.

After her life journey led Elissa to eventually obtain a degree in Behavior Science from Loretto Heights College in Denver, Colorado, she married her husband, Scott, and began teaching. As his military career led them all over the world and finally to Nebraska, Elissa focused on raising their three children. But everything changed five years ago when Elissa created floral arrangements and baked cupcakes for a friend’s wedding. After that friend encouraged her to not only open a floral design business but also an in-home bakery, Elissa founded EV Floral and Design in 2015 and Om Nom Nom bakery in 2019.

An Elissa Vilter wedding reception centerpiece.

An Elissa Vilter wedding reception centerpiece.

Elissa, whose business is generated by word-of-mouth only, contracts for about twelve weddings annually, creates flowers for proms, homecomings, and for seniors involved in athletics at a local high school; and produces floral arrangements and baked goods for ten to twelve additional events a year. Because her work comes in waves, Elissa doesn’t have typical days. “When I have an event coming up, my life gets crazy busy. When I’m not planning for a specific event, I’m answering emails, scheduling meetings with potential clients, ordering materials, and planning designs.” After visiting Diana’s Papillion Tea Shop in 2019 and asking if she could create baked goods for an upcoming event, a new relationship was formed. Today, Elissa handles all baking for the tea shop’s events and enjoys a wonderful friendship with the owner.

Elissa’s delicious baked goods at a recent tea party event.

Elissa’s delicious baked goods at a recent tea party event.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected her business in the short-term, Elissa is excited about the future of her businesses. “I learned long ago that this is a process and to have patience,” she adds. While pursuing her passion, Elissa has found great joy in meeting new people. “This life is all about relationships,” she says, “The people I have met have shared such amazing stories about their lives.”

A bridal bouquet designed by Elissa.

A bridal bouquet designed by Elissa.

Today, Elissa describes her life as content. Her support group is her family and closest friends. Her husband, also known as her official taste tester, loves it when she is baking and creating. Both of her sons have helped in delivering her arrangements to weddings, and her daughter has also helped in deliveries and setting up weddings and other events.

This passionate entrepreneur advises anyone who wants to pursue a dream to go for it and allow others to help. “It’s never too late unless you never do it,” she states.

Everyone who takes a bite of her delectable baked goods and views her beautiful floral arrangements has to be thrilled that Elissa blended all her skills and talents honed since childhood and pursued her passion for creative design and, most importantly, for making people happy.

For more about Elissa and her products, feel free to call her at (402) 541-3084.

Vicky DeCoster is a Certified Life Coach based in Omaha, Nebraska, who specializes in helping her clients both locally and nationwide to move past obstacles, create a plan for happiness, and cross the bridge of transition to find a new and fulfilling direction in life. To read more about her and her practice, visit her at crossthebridgecoaching.com.

 

Living Her Passion – Kim Shaw, Photo Artist

Kim Shaw working on a photo art creation.

Kim Shaw working on a photo art creation.

Creativity is in Kim Shaw’s blood. Ever since she was a little girl, she has enjoyed taking photographs, drawing, and painting. As she matured and ventured out on her own, she was encouraged to find a career that offered stability and a predictable salary. While married, working in a variety of corporate roles and as a nanny, and raising her daughter, Brianne, Kim began photographing weddings, portraits, and even school photos. As her job as a nanny took her around the world, Kim captured beautiful scenes and landscapes from many of her trips. Later after learning her great-grandfather was a photographer and digging through his vintage images, Kim began contemplating how she could enhance and restore those images and ultimately transform them into artwork. “A photograph is frozen in time,” Kim says, “I want to know what they were going through in their lives at that very moment.”

Everything changed in 2010 when divorce set Kim on a path of healing where she eventually met with a life coach who guided her to explore new mediums that included acrylic painting on photographs. After taking a couple of classes and receiving a gentle push from a friend, Kim began painting—first for family who asked her to paint as gifts and then for a gallery owner who asked her to paint in her gallery “live” on Saturdays. It wasn’t long before her business, PhotoArt by Kim, was founded and she was on her way to pursuing her passion.

Kim’s award-winning artwork.

Kim’s award-winning artwork.

Kim’s photo painting process begins with an image in any condition. “If it’s not in digital form, I’ll scan it digitally and then print it on canvas,” she adds. “Then I prepare the surface of the canvas with a matte medium and begin painting with acrylic, following either her intuition or the customer’s guidance.” Kim says that most of her commissions are inspired by the clients, as they generally have a vision of what they want. After the painting has dried, each piece is varnished with UVA protective coating.

Kim’s art niche is in gift giving. Her clients possess vintage and classic images from every walk of life—grandpa and his first car; grandma in her twenties, the father a customer never met; a family homestead in the 1950s, and beloved pets. Since 2012, Kim has completed over 50 commissions. Her customers find her at art shows and other events where they enjoy viewing her completed pieces and hearing all the stories surrounding her artwork. “I’ve found that most people want to meet the artist before they invest in artwork,” she adds. Her favorite part of creating art is seeing the reactions of her clients when they see their artwork for the first time. “Usually we cry together because the photo image means so much to them. When they see where I was able to take the photograph, it becomes a healing experience.”

Her parents are her biggest supporters. Her mother, who is in her late seventies, is now taking oil painting classes for the first time in her life. Kim proclaims she has gained complete fulfillment by pursuing her passion. “The joy I have when a client cries over their completed artwork is very spiritual,” she adds. Today Kim keeps busy with a new creative group she has formed and with exploring other mediums like abstract painting. Her advice to anyone wanting to pursue their passion is, “If you love it, then do it! Love is your fuel. Be your own customer first.”

Kim with a happy client.

Kim with a happy client.

Angel Haze once said, “True artistic expression lies in conveying emotion.” Kim Shaw offers her customers the inspirational gift of artfully recapturing moments in the lives of their ancestors, their friends, and themselves and providing them with a keepsake that draws emotions to the surface and keeps those moments alive for the next generation to appreciate. Through the pursuit of her artistic passions that provide others with so much happiness, Kim is leaving a legacy that will last long beyond her time here on Earth.

For more about her artwork or to reach out to Kim about a commission piece, visit https://www.facebook.com/photoartbykim/.

Vicky DeCoster is a Certified Life Coach who specializes in helping her clients move past obstacles, create a plan for happiness, and cross the bridge of transition to find a new and fulfilling direction in life. To read more about her and her practice, visit her at crossthebridgecoaching.com.