About Christina
Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, I'm a history nerd with a passion for traveling, books, spin class, and rescue dogs. I'm half-Greek, half-Heard County, Georgia.
As far as formal education, my background is much more in the books than in the paintbrushes; I have a bachelor's degree in history from Birmingham-Southern College; a master's in Reformation history from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland, UK); and a master's in early childhood education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
I love children, am terrible at math, and get weird adrenaline rushes shopping at TJMaxx.
the story behind The Cardinal Collective
The Cardinal Collective began when my family had just moved to Huntsville— it was January, I had a new baby, and didn’t know many people in town. I decided I needed a new hobby.
I took Melissa Esplin's fantastic Modern Calligraphy online class at night once the rest of my house was asleep, made my mom (a professional artist) give me some of her leftover brushes and watercolors, and started making pieces for friends as baby and birthday gifts.
The last art class I took was in 1991, so most of my training is via observation, research, and YouTube. I bought art books at secondhand bookstores and spilled a lot of ink onto our household upholstery. I joined some Facebook groups for creatives and calligraphers and spent hours watching YouTube tutorials on graphic design programs.
One night on a whim I opened an Etsy shop, named it after my favorite color and Grandpa's favorite bird, and listed a print. That’s how The Cardinal Collective— originally “The Turquoise Cardinal”— was born.