Hello, I'm Lola
I Did Everything "Right"
College. Career ladder. Corporate jobs. I showed up, I worked hard, I delivered. I did everything I was supposed to do.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I lost myself. Quietly, not dramatically and not all at once. It was the stress that lived in my body. The sleep that wouldn’t come. The feeling of working harder and harder and somehow going nowhere. I was craving something I couldn’t name.
I kept going. But I had to finally admit that something had gone quiet inside me. It was the part of me that used to make things. The part that embraced play. I didn’t realize how much I missed her until I started looking for her.
I started reflecting, quietly and earnestly, asking the kind of questions you ask when you finally slow down enough to realize something is missing. Who was I before I became so serious? What did I love before love became so practical?
And then one day, at the grocery store, I saw a pack of unicorn stickers in the cards aisle.
I bought them. For my inner little girl. For the part of me I’d been looking for.
That was the beginning.
The Spark I Couldn't Ignore
Stickers, then papers, then pens. I started surrounding myself with things I loved. But I didn’t know what I was going to do with any of it. Until I got laid off from my job and suddenly had free time. That was the push I needed to pick up a notebook to start journaling. At first I didn't know what I was doing. I tried all kinds of things, and struggled to like what I had made.
It didn’t matter, though, because I had started playing again. For the first time in a long time, I felt joy and lightness in my body when I sat down to record my thoughts. Looking back now, I realize that creative journaling brought me back to myself in a way nothing else could. I was renewed through the act of sitting down with my supplies, tearing something, gluing something crooked, painting over a mistake and deciding to love it.
That is my practice today. A space where I get to just be.
My process is layered and messy and entirely my own. I collect piles of pretty things. In one sitting I might use the netting from a bag of oranges. In another I might use a single pen and a cute sticker. Sometimes I will use both in the same spread. The only rule is that it makes sense to me, that it helps me express something I couldn’t find words for. That is exactly what I want to share with you.
What I Bring to This
I am not a polished expert. I didn’t go to art school. What I am is deeply, genuinely obsessed with paper, with color, with the particular joy of finding a scrap that makes you want to sit down immediately and make something.
As the curator of Hola Paperie, I choose everything with that feeling in mind. Every item in your monthly packet. Every artist whose work appears in this brand. Every event, every product, every piece of inspiration I share. I ask one question: does this make me want to create? If the answer is yes, it earns its place.
I have strong opinions about what is worth your time and your money. I will never put filler in your packet. I will never recommend something I wouldn’t use myself. My taste is specific, my standards are high, and I built this brand because I couldn’t find anything that met them.
From Lola's Desk
Wild & Lovely: A Season of Noticing
The idea behind "Wild & Lovely," our theme for this month's member packet, is the natural world but seen up close. Some of it is realistic and finely detailed, and some of it has a touch of whimsy. All of it is simple enough to sit with.
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Behind the Scenes: Producing the September Packet, "Ethereal Glow"
Hola, friend. This month's Hola Society packet shipped, and I am excited to tell you how it came together. This month's packet included 12 pieces of art, with 2 new formats we tried for the first time — 5x7 flat cards and a sheet of sticker letters — as well as the usual mix you have come to expect. There was also a zine with journaling prompts, and the little surprise stickers tucked into every packet. Curating this one was a bit harder than usual, in a good way. I had so much art to choose from this time that narrowing it down felt nearly impossible. I ended up going with a simple principle: more is more. Did the piece feel luxurious? If it did, it went in. Part of what made the selection tricky is that the creative brief for this theme was deliberately open. I asked artists to submit something that glows, something ethereal or a little mystical, channeling the season without tipping into anything obvious or expected. A few of them came back to me with questions about whether a piece actually fit, and those conversations ended up being some of my favorite parts of the whole process. What makes a piece of art feel ethereal or mystical or otherworldly? There is no single answer, and figuring that out together was part of the fun. For the zine, I picked up a thread from last month and kept looking at past artists working in the same otherworldly, mystical register as an artist we featured last time, Hilma af Klint, the Swedish painter known for her abstract, spiritual work. We found 4 other women artists that made incredible art in their day. Production was smooth this time around. The printer, finally fixed, cooperated. We worked through printing the wonderful art in different sizes and on various papers, making stacks all around my studio. The zine came together and was printed last, along with my packet note. My mother helped with packing this round, and having an extra set of hands at the table made everything move a little faster and a little easier. Mona Mona had a trove of beautiful work this round, 6 pieces made it into the packet. Among them, two black and white pieces where faces emerge if you look closely, a piece with soft overlapping circles, a glowing blue piece that evokes rolling waves, and a piece featuring three otherworldly creatures. Shemi Dixon contributed 2 pieces, a sunset sky silhouetting a line of trees in deep shadow, and a luminous study of spider webs shimmering in gold. Anne Juan created a wispy lavender field under a matching lavender sky, quiet and serene. Jackie Lahiff went abstract, a fiery piece built from texture and color alone, reds and browns and yellows with no figure resolving out of it. Shannon Ballard painted a whimsical fall tree with swirling leaves set against a glowing sunset. And I contributed a piece of my own, a moon set against a colorful, imagined sky. If you missed signing up for membership, you can pre-order an extra copy of the Ethereal Glow packet here, for shipping on 10/15/26. Packet four is already underway. October's theme leans into flora and fauna, distinctive single subject plants and animals, a shift toward gratitude as the season moves closer to the holidays. We will be shipping toward the end of October. Don't miss out, sign up here today! Lola
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Behind the Scenes: Producing the August Packet "Shape, Found"
Across all the formats, we featured 12 pieces of art in this packet. You already know how this theme found me. I was reviewing submissions the way I always do, asking myself the same question I ask every time -- does this make me want to create? A pile of pieces kept pulling themselves aside because they all had the same thing in common. Lines. Repetition. Structure that perhaps wasn’t on purpose.
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