Today we’d like to introduce you to Sammie Lyn.
Hi Sammie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m Sammie Lyn, the creative mind behind Dark Lemonade Stand, but if you want to know where my story truly begins, you have to go back to when I was a little three or four-year-old girl in a military family, fiercely drawing Winnie the Pooh characters and everything outdoors. Growing up on the move gave me a deep love for traveling, exploring, foods and a nostalgia for classic cars and all things 1950s. Creativity wasn’t just a hobby for me; it was the lens through which I saw the world.
Through the years, life took me down a beautiful, busy path. I studied photojournalism, discovered a deep passion for writing, and devoted myself to being a stay-at-home mom, raising three amazing young women and now, I’m lucky enough to be a Nana. But through every chapter of my life, motherhood and life’s pivots, art and creativity kept calling me back. My true love.
The real turning point came when I was 34 years old. I picked up drawing again with a renewed intensity, entirely self-taught, fueled purely by a lifetime of passion. I realized that the creative spark had never left me; it had just been waiting for the right moment to bloom again. In 2014, I officially launched my freelance design business, Dark Lemonade Stand. It became the home for all my creative worlds to collide, graphic design, illustration, marketing, writing and branding.
Today, I have been part of the incredible Superior, Arizona community for nearly 11 years, proudly calling it my home for the last three. Dark Lemonade Stand has grown into a vessel not just for client work, but for community impact. I love my community so alongside my husband, Pete Casillas, who tirelessly handles just about everything to keep our local Prickly Pear Festival running, I get to put my creative brain to work managing the festival’s advertising, marketing, graphic design, and social media.
When I’m not at my design desk, I’m feeding my soul in the sunny Arizona outdoors, hiking, exploring, meditating, or cooking ridiculously delicious food for the people I love. Getting to where I am today wasn’t a straight line, but it was exactly the path I needed to take. At the heart of Dark Lemonade Stand is a simple philosophy I carry into everything I do: create with intention, and create with love. Whether I’m designing a corporate logo or working on a community project, I believe the best things we create are the things that make people truly feel something.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely hasn’t been a straight or smooth road, but I don’t think the best creative journeys ever are.
One of my biggest hurdles was simply timing and self-belief. Because I spent years dedicating myself fully to being a stay-at-home mom and raising my three daughters, my own creative dreams had to sit on the back burner for a while. When I finally dove back into drawing with serious intent at 34 years old, I was entirely self-taught. Imposter syndrome is a very real thing when you enter the professional design world without a traditional art school degree. I had to learn everything, from mastering digital design software to navigating the actual business side of freelancing, completely on my own, trial by error. And because that also comes with not everyone wanting to take a risk on you due to no degree even with all the knowledge I continue to keep up on since this field of business is always changing and fast.
Balancing life’s many beautiful but demanding roles has also been a continuous juggling act. Being a mother, a Nana, a wife, a community volunteer, and running a business means there are only so many hours in a day. There were times when finding the quiet mental space to create felt almost impossible.
Living in a small, tight-knit town like Superior is a blessing, but establishing a freelance design business from a smaller community also meant working twice as hard to build a network and get my name out there.
But looking back, every single bump in the road was necessary. Being self-taught taught me discipline and proved to me how deep my passion actually runs. Balancing motherhood gave me unmatched time-management skills and empathy. Every struggle just added more texture and depth to the work I produce today through Dark Lemonade Stand.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Dark Lemonade Stand is a freelance design and creative built on the belief that visual art should make people feel something. I specialize in graphic design, custom illustration, website design, and creative branding. My work ranges from helping small businesses find their visual identity through unique logos to managing full-scale community advertising, marketing, and social media.
Right now, I don’t have a traditional brick-and-mortar studio, someday! I would love to open a physical storefront, which has been a dream of my for many years, but for now, it’s a journey of time, budgeting, and patience. Instead, I run my business dynamically through my home, Zoom or by meeting clients directly in person supporting our local shops. What sets me apart is the depth of my client relationships. In our first meeting, I take my clients through an extensive deep-dive of questions. I don’t just want to create a pretty graphic or whatever it may be they’re needing; I want to pinpoint and nail down exactly what they need to grow and succeed, whether that’s a new website, a logo, or an overall marketing strategy. My absolute favorite projects are startup businesses. There is nothing more fulfilling than being there at the very beginning of someone else’s dream, designing the foundation of their brand, and watching them grow over time.
Beyond digital and branding services, Dark Lemonade Stand has expanded into a full tangible product line. I offer custom-designed stickers, T-shirts, hats, and physical prints of my original art pieces as well. I also specialize in creating custom cards for any occasion, including birthday cards, special occasion cards, and holiday cards, as well as personal commission pieces meant to hang in your home or be given as a meaningful gift.
I am incredibly proud of my work with the Superior Prickly Pear Festival. The longest running Prickly Pear Festival. Alongside my husband, Pete Casillas, He has been running Prickly Pear Festival for going on 16 years. I get to use Dark Lemonade Stand to give back to the town we love. Handling all of the festival’s graphic design, marketing, and social media allows me to see my art actively bringing a community together.
That community connection recently inspired one of my biggest milestones: I just released my very first coloring book, called the Prickly Pear Desert Gardens Coloring Book, which I am absolutely so proud of! The response has been amazing, and I am already hard at work on my next project, which will be a children’s activity book. Because we love our community and thrive on supporting each other in every way possible, local organizations have already started reaching out requesting custom coloring books specified for their own town events. It truly makes my heart happy to be a part of Superior.
Ultimately, I want readers to know that Dark Lemonade Stand is a partnership built on intention and love. If you are looking for design services, a custom gift, or want to collaborate on a community project, you can reach me directly at darklemonadestand@gmail.com.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
As a self-taught artist, my definition of mentorship and networking has always been distinctly non-traditional. I don’t rely on a single individual to guide my path; instead, nature serves as my ultimate mentor. Hiking, walking, and completely immersing myself in the outdoors grants me immense creative clarity. My artistic visions flow from a deeply personal, intuitive space channeled directly through my meditations, my lived experiences, and the vivid imagery I see in my dreams. I pull from those quiet, subconscious moments to cultivate a very distinct, signature aesthetic. I work strictly in crisp black-and-white, a stark and highly deliberate style that has naturally led many clients to seek me out for custom tattoo designs.
When it comes to human inspiration, my French heritage plays a definitive role, instilling in me a lifelong reverence for the old-world masters. I find a profound sense of mentorship simply by traveling, wandering through museums, and absorbing the unique energy of different towns. Witnessing how other creators capture the human experience, and understanding what moves their minds, fills my own heart with creative fuel. I have always been deeply captivated by the raw majesty of the Western landscape, the rhythm of music, and an absolute, enduring love for the desert and its cacti.
Icons like Frida Kahlo speak to me on a soulful level, but I am equally enchanted by the broader, revolutionary visual universe of her era. She was surrounded by legendary, vanguard artists who were actively redefining modern art. I constantly look to the bold cubism of Pablo Picasso, the striking surrealism of Salvador Dalí, the sweeping, large-scale narratives of Diego Rivera, and the rich, emotive textures of Rufino Tamayo. Furthermore, I find deep inspiration in the magical realism of Leonora Carrington and the uncompromising, symbolic gaze of María Izquierdo, powerful women who fearlessly carved out their own lanes in a male-dominated art world.
For those trying to grow as a creative, my advice is to look entirely beyond the confines of corporate networking. Go out into the world with a spirit of raw curiosity and start engaging with people as human beings rather than business connections, a genuine connection that our modern society deeply lacks. Dive headfirst into community involvement. For me, volunteering my design expertise for Superior’s Prickly Pear Festival completely changed the trajectory of my business. It was opened a lot more doors within the community.
When you show up with pure intentions and actively support those around you, your network expands naturally. Feed your soul with the things that genuinely inspire you, whether that is classical art, deep meditation, or a quiet hike in the desert and let the world be your ultimate mentor. Humble and genuine!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @darklemonadestand
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/darklemonadestand/
