I married my high school sweetheart, Tim Allen, not the comic – although he is quite funny – a year before I graduated from college. He was stationed in San Diego and we lived our first married year apart while I finished school. (Not recommended by the way!) Once I graduated, I moved to San Diego as well and found a job at an ad agency. I started as a production artist but within nine months was offered a position as art director. While working at the ad agency I came up with my first idea for a children’s book called “What is it?” that was eventually sold in major bookstores. I loved the fast paced world of advertising, but after two years I had burned myself out and decided to leave. When I was still working at the ad agency, I would often think of new ideas for a career. For example, one project involved creating stickers from various cities of the world to put on the side of luggage for a photoshoot. So then I thought I’d be a sticker maker! I also tried my hand at being a marker comp artist and a furniture painter. Although those jobs contained part of what I loved to do, they never quite encompassed all of it. So I returned to graphic design, but as a freelancer for various ad agencies. After two years doing that, I decided I wanted to try developing a line of my own products. Drawing on the expertise of other artists, namely Mary Engelbreit and Suzy Spafford, of Suzy’s Zoo, I started developing a line of greeting cards. Thanks to the helpful insight of a friend, I realized I needed to create a line of characters like Mary and Suzy had. Thus were born the Humble Bumbles.