An Interview with Allison Loveall

In 2021 and 2023, Allison welcomed her two sons, Nolan and Declan. Though life has transformed as she's stepped into the role of a mother, her work continues to uplift and encourage women to this day. Her story is truly an inspiration of what God can do with our gifts when we dedicate our lives to him, "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20 KJV). The Loveall Gift Collection, with hand-painted floral KJV Bibles, journals, candles, mugs, and more, serves as a beautiful reminder of this timeless truth. To get to know Allison a little better, we're sharing the transcript of an interview we had with her this past December at our sales meeting.

When did you start creating art?

From such a young age, I truly cultivated a love for creating and art. Art class was always my favorite. My notes were always full of doodles and calligraphy, and everybody always complimented my notes. Going into college, I never thought that I could create art for a living. Ultimately, my purpose in life, I felt like, was to be a wife and a mother; I always knew I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. When I went to choose a major for college, I thought about a job that I could work on, and then, when I have kids, stay home with them, and then ultimately one day go back to that career. And so I chose teaching, and throughout that time I of course would have my hobbies here and there with creating art.

One summer—and this leads into how I found the idea to create a business—I decided to go to Michael's and pick up some painting supplies, and I created some Scripture lettering gifts for some friends and family. I truly remember this day like it was yesterday. I had a bunch of my girlfriends and I gave them some for gifts, and they were all so encouraging. They just truly saw the gift that I had, and they pushed me into creating an Etsy shop.

At the time, I had no idea what Etsy was. I remember that night, pulling out my computer and doing some research and seeing that tons of people do this for a living—they sell their art at home. And so I decided to just go for it. I remember creating an Etsy shop, and the next day, I got my first sale, from my aunt, of course, and I was so excited. I remember shipping it to her—she lived right down the road, I could have just given it to her—but of course I packaged it and shipped it with the post office. I felt so official!

So then, I was still in college, I would just do this as a hobby. Sales would be very few and far between. But then I created a social media account. And this was around 2016-2017, and Instagram was nothing like it is now, but I was very lucky to create some viral posts here and there, and my following would pick up. I found out that I could create art for people all across the nation and not just my friends and family. And so that's really where I just found that I could do this part-time at least at that time, and I just loved being able to create, and that people would find joy from what I created was very satisfying.

What were some of your first products?

I had very thick, nice watercolor paper that I would hand-letter a Scripture in the center—pretty much what I do today—and then paint the flowers around it. I remember I did a few 8 × 10 canvases, some wood signs, a few markets in our local town. And that's where I would start getting requests from people either on social media or at markets that I would go to. They would ask, "Hey, could you paint a journal for me?" Or ultimately, the biggest request was a Bible—so somebody asked me to hand paint on a Bible, and I remember having absolutely no idea how to do that. I did some research, and at the time, nobody had really done that much. There were a few fellow artists on social media that I followed that would do it, and everybody had different techniques. I remember buying one and painting straight on the cover and of course the paint just chipped right off, so I really had to find a technique that would work. Ultimately I found one, and then with social media they went kind of viral in 2020 and I was doing monthly restocks. I, at the time, was just married, I had no children, and so I had all the time in the world on my hands, and I was able to paint dozens and dozens a month. They would sell out within seconds on my website. I remember my husband and I sitting at the computer and watching the orders come in, and it was such a rush. Those were my initial products that I created and still create to this day.

Tell us how your collaboration came about with Christian Art Gifts?

After I got married, I had children about 2 and a half years later. Around my firstborn's birth, I remember taking a step back because I was constantly creating art and selling it with my business and growing different things. And as I said at the beginning, my ultimate goal in life was to be a mother, so at the rate things were going I couldn't keep up with motherhood and creating all the products that I was creating. And I believe everything happens in the Lord's timing. I had an agent reach out to me from the agency I still work with, and they asked if I would want to start collaborating with them to sell my art to other brands.

I was, again, very new to it; I graduated with an education degree, so I had no idea about this world at all. They really guided my footsteps into this world. And I remember at any meeting they would ask me, "What would be your number one product or your vision that you would like to be able to create?" I always told them I would love to be able to mass-produce Bibles with my cover art on them. I think I started collaborating with them around 2021, so a few years ago, and each year would come around, and I would ask for updates—"anybody that you've been able to find that would want to work with me in the Bible realm?"

They hadn't found any, and so when they reached out to me a little over a year ago about the opportunity to work with Christian Art Gifts, I was just over the moon. I think I immediately said yes before they even gave me details. I was very blessed to be able to meet with Heinrich and his wife. They came out to Phoenix, where I'm from, and we met for breakfast. My husband and I went, and we were just so overwhelmed with gratitude and so impressed with him and his wife—they were so kind to us. Being able to sit down with them and talk about the future of how we could work together and how this collab could work, everything just fit like a glove. And then when we met in Atlanta at the market, seeing all the beautiful products and all the team was confirmation that it was going to be a great collaboration. I'm so grateful for it.

And we're so grateful to have your designs on the cover of our KJV Bibles! You know we're the largest seller of KJV Bibles?

This was another confirmation for me. I grew up in East Tennessee, and my church was KJV, and that's something I've stuck with all my life. It's very sentimental to me, and I still read that version to this day. That was, again, just another check on the list where I felt like this was definitely meant to be. Of course I would paint on other versions, but KJV was the most popular with my demographics on social media, so I knew that was also another confirmation of why it would be so good to work with you all, which I'm so thankful for.

How did you choose the collection names?

With my restocks painting Bibles, I would always have to title them somehow. Eventually doing by colors would get confusing, so I got inspiration to name them by a woman's female name. Usually, if a friend said one was a favorite design of hers, I would name it by her, or if a particular name would stick out to me, I would name it by that. One of the collections is the Ally Theme, and that's my nickname—my friends and family call me Ally—and that was one of my favorite designs at the time, so I called it that and it just stuck. I sometimes look at the meaning of names, and then coincide that with the Scripture that's on it. Ultimately, I know all of these are driven towards female buyers, so I figured that some might find connection with the name that way as well.

Growing up in East Tennessee, was there a favorite Christian bookstore that you used?

It's a new bookstore now, but the Lifeway Christian Bookstore in East Tennessee was the one that we would always go into. I remember my mom taking us. They would have a little TV in the back with Veggie Tales usually playing, so we would hang out back there while my mom would shop. It's very surreal to think that my art could be on products on those shelves one day, so that's amazing.

Thank you for using your gifts to enhance our products! Is there anything else as we finish that you want to share?

I think just being able to express my gratitude is all I feel like I can do. This is a dream come true. Like I said, I remember, growing up, imagining, seeing shelves like that—I always had just an itch to think of how it would be to have my art on shelves like that. Knowing now that my art's going to be across the nation on products that I truly believe share the love of God and the joy of Scripture—it's so surreal, and I am so, so thankful, so I can't thank you all enough.