We are a creative well-being studio that offers no-pressure online art, crafts, and writing classes for those who want to have more fun in midlife and beyond.
A place where you don’t feel like you’re wasting time but taking some of it back for yourself.
A place where a teacher gives you a creative assignment; gentle instruction and guidance with no pressure for the end result, just an invitation to play and lose track of time.
We offer classes like collage, origami, calligraphy, blackout poetry, creative journaling, drawing and more. Sure, anyone can grab a Sharpie from the junk drawer and doodle. But most of us, especially those who aren’t “artists”, need structure— direction, instruction, permission.
It’s not about being an online art studio, it’s about being an online creative well-being studio—that focuses on helping you use creativity to find more direction, connection, and fun!
THE PROBLEM
A lot of us in midlife are facing:
Stress + Burnout: Multiple family/work roles in midlife lead to chronic stress. This correlates with fatigue, sleep problems, and mood symptoms.
Anxiety + Depression: Midlife shows some of the highest depression and anxiety rates among all age groups. Women in their 40s–60s often cite feelings of sadness, irritability, or overwhelm.
Menopause: Physical changes play a role—menopause often brings hot flashes, sleep disruptions, and even memory or concentration difficulties, adding to emotional strain.
Identity Loss: Career changes, empty nest, or divorce can leave many women feeling unmoored, yearning for something more. These transitions can trigger questions about purpose and self-worth. And whether mothering young children or providing elder care to parents, these responsibilities lead to a lack of time for ourselves and result in the feeling of being “lost”.
Loneliness: Loneliness peaks for many midlife women, even though we may have busy lives. A new study found U.S. middle-aged adults report higher loneliness than older adults. In practical terms, women describe feeling cut off from friendships or meaningful adult conversation.
Revel + Verve is an antidote to all of this.
MY STORY
Hi, I’m Nicole, the founder of Revel + Verve. When I was about 43 years old, I was feeling really lost.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life.
I felt a loss of identity and fear that “this is it.” It took me over a year to work myself out of that feeling. And when I reflected on why that was, I realized something that had an enormous impact on my evolution—creativity.
I prioritized doing creative things like mosaics, drawing, fiber arts, and micro-story writing even though I had no interest in or intention of making them a career. They not only didn’t bring in money but they cost me money, and I wasn’t particularly talented at any of them. I just made things. I got lost in the process, time flew by, I played and I didn’t care if any of it was “good”.
It was about the doing of it, not the result of it.
And in making this a regular part of my life (even though I was having a loss of identity, purpose, and career), I found myself happier, less anxious, more excited, and open to possibility.
Creative practice was like medicine for me. I didn’t realize it at the time but it helped me dig myself out of the muck. I kept thinking about how much I loved taking these classes but I didn’t really think too much about why— which it turns out is because through a creative practice I unknowingly brought myself back to having an identity. To feeling less stress and anxiety, more connection and fun. I laughed at how terribly I sketched a pear, I chatted with other women while sloppily embroidering on scrap fabric, I delighted at the ridiculous micro-story I wrote about a stuffed animal.
It tapped into something I had lost— something I think a lot of us lose along with our childhood. Creativity brought me back to myself. It woke me up. And I decided I wanted to find a way to bring that same thing to others who may be going through the same things that I was.
