Ep 190: It’s Okay to Walk Away: Margie Keates on Taking a Break from Paper Flowers

She’s been on the Paper Talk Podcast not once, not twice, but three times now, and for good reason. Margie Keates of The Lovely Ave is one of the paper flower community’s most beloved artists, known for her stunning crepe paper blooms, her gorgeous still life collections, and her warm, genuine presence online.

But this episode is different from the ones that came before. In this deeply vulnerable and emotional conversation, Margie shares what happened when the creative fire she had carried for over a decade started to fade and what she decided to do about it.

“I kept creating what I thought would sell the fastest, not what I wanted to create because I loved it and was excited about it. And I just got to the end of the year and I’m like, I don’t want to go to work anymore.” - Margie

After a year of chasing sales instead of creating from joy, watching her confidence erode with every collection that didn’t land the way it used to, and feeling the slow, painful disconnect from the art she once loved so deeply, Margie made the courageous decision to step away. She closed her shop, took a part-time marketing job at a local clothing company she had modeled for, and gave herself something she had never allowed before: permission to pause.

“Who am I when it doesn’t revolve around what I can create? I don’t know yet. But I do know I’m really, really grateful that I get to sit and internally reflect and figure out who I am.” - Margie

In This Episode, We Talk About:

The slow erosion of creative confidence and how burnout doesn’t always look like what you expect

Why Margie only posted six to eight times on Instagram in all of 2025

The rise and fall of her subscription business model, from 70 subscribers at its peak to closing it down

How her identity became wrapped up in The Lovely Ave brand and the terrifying question of who she is without it

Getting a part-time job after 11 years of full-time artistry and what that transition felt like

The overwhelming response from her community when she announced her break (over 100 emails in one day)