"It seemed that there were so many people who had masters degrees to my bachelor of arts degree and 20 years of experience to my two. I just couldn’t compete," explains MacCallum, whose career came to a standstill after completing projects for Citizen Advocacy and a Family Resource Centre. "So I spent a little time unemployed, really thinking hard about what I wanted from my life," she says.

Back at her home, the Caledonia, PEI resident realized that what she wanted was meaningful employment and a chance to become self sufficient in a self-supporting career. She wanted to be an entrepreneur. At the same time, she began looking at the beautiful environment that she was living in. "In Caledonia, I live very close to nature. Out here, I'm surrounded by the woods and not too far by the water. "Because I have a really deep connection with nature, I wanted my work to reflect that connection," she recalls. Absorbing the images of the red soil and the rolling green countryside, she began applying it to a paper making course that she took at Macphail Woods in Orwell, PEI, several months before. Then, instead of gathering the finished pieces of paper after they had dried by the wood stove and packaging them as stationary, she made other plans for her homemade paper.

Through a painstaking process of layering different colored papers together, she transformed each piece into a unique work of art. "And now it's turned into this," says MacCallum, pointing to the miniature landscapes and seascapes depicting Prince Edward Island. Using a homemade note card as a canvas and colored paper bits in earth tones as her palette, she creates three-dimensional, textured paper paintings through her special layering process. "It's a craft that requires a certain amount of skill, but not a lot of intense training or technical ability. The blender (to puree the paper and water) is about as technical as it gets," she laughs. Starting with scraps of paper that she's collected, she whisks them together with water in the blender until the mixture resembles a mushy-like pulp. "Purple peach papers make a nice blue paper," she adds. Then, to add texture, she throws in cedar chips, pine needles, red clay and even coffee grounds into the mix. Then using her imagination, she transforms the recycled paper into an artist’s canvas.

"A seascape – just the sea can be a little boring, without adding the flip of a whale's tail. I also enjoy showing the different colors that water can be," she says. Besides scenery, she's creating a whole nature series on everything from oyster shells and starfish to snails and peace symbols. Her work is capturing a great deal of interest at the Farmer's Market, where she sells individual cards and candles every Saturday in Charlottetown, PEI. "It's one talent that I do have, making something out of nothing. So now I'm going to town with it."