MDB Works: A Small Creative Experiment

Repairing, Rebuilding, and Starting Over

For the past several months, I’ve been living with a quiet but persistent uncertainty. My current job hasn’t ended yet, but it’s clear the writing is on the wall. The site I work at was shut down, my position will eventually be backfilled elsewhere, and I’m effectively out the door. There’s no dramatic ending, just a slow realization that something stable is coming to a close.

That kind of uncertainty has a way of sitting in your head. It forces you to think not just about what’s next, but whether the path you were on still makes sense at all.

At the same time, Monica has been navigating a huge transition of her own.

After years as a vet tech (a career she cares deeply about) the emotional toll finally became too much. Combined with her mom recovering from cancer and preparing for shoulder surgery, Monica made the incredibly difficult decision to step away from her job and become a full-time caretaker. It wasn’t an impulsive move. It was a necessary one.

Now, with her mom healing and more quiet moments in the day, Monica finds herself in unfamiliar territory: time. And with that time came a desire to do something meaningful.

Monica has always been creative. Crafting, making things by hand, experimenting...it’s where she lights up. But like a lot of people, she never pursued it seriously. There was always the fear of “ruining” a hobby by turning it into work, and when you’re already burned out from a demanding career, the idea of adding more pressure doesn’t sound appealing.

But as we talked, something started to click.

What if this wasn’t about building a huge business?
What if it was just about trying?

That conversation led to the idea of creating a small website. Not to launch some grand operation, but simply to give ourselves a name, a place to experiment, and a way to put ourselves out there if we wanted to. That’s how MDB Works was born.

The idea is simple: personalized, meaningful crafts. Things that people actually care about. Pet photos. Family moments. Wedding memories. Turning images into physical objects (collages, prints, resin pieces) things that don’t just live on a phone and disappear into a cloud account.

For Monica’s birthday, I bought her a Canon R50 V mirrorless camera. Shortly after, I picked up a Canon SELPHY CP1500 photo printer. Not because we had a business plan, but because we wanted to make things. We’ve already started testing ideas, learning what works and what doesn’t, and figuring out what feels right.

In the coming days, we hope to start putting content on the MDB Works site showcasing some of the things we’ve been experimenting with. Not polished. Not perfect. Just real.

I don’t know where this will lead.

I’m still actively thinking about my future in IT. That door isn’t closed, and I don’t believe in burning bridges or romanticizing risk. But I also know that sometimes life pushes you into a pause whether you ask for it or not, and in that pause, you can either panic or create.

This is us choosing to create.

MDB Works isn’t a declaration. It’s an experiment. A way for Monica to explore her creativity without pressure, and for me to support something meaningful while navigating my own uncertainty.

No promises. No hype. Just curiosity, care, and a willingness to see where this goes.

MDB Works