Jamie Buscombe, Class of 2003
Faith. Life. Creativity: From Student to Storyteller
It was our pleasure to recently catch up with Jamie Buscombe (nee Rivett) who has recently launched Maker Mag, a faith-filled, beautiful magazine. If you would like to share what you’ve been up to since leaving MECS, please reach out to us at reconnect@mecs.vic.edu.au.
Can you tell us a little about yourself outside of the magazine - your family, hobbies, or things you enjoy?
My name is Jamie, but you can call me Jay! My husband and I live in the ‘serene’ Bonnie Doom, just out of Mansfield with our three kiddos and two kelpie dogs. With my husband, Mark, together we pastor High Country Vineyard Church and have been serving on staff there since 2021 (time flies)! I love photography, walking with friends and good vanilla slice.
What first inspired you to start the Maker Mag?
Many, many years ago, I had a dream to create a magazine (more of a coffee table book really) that was creatively beautiful, as well as filled with richly encouraging and relatable stories and writing, recipes, and art that all points towards to Jesus. These are collectible volumes, that don’t expire. You can read it all in one sitting or leave it lying around and read a piece here or there. It’s super approachable, and super inspiring for people in their faith walk.
What is the heart and purpose behind the magazine?
My heart is that through Maker you would find yourselves within the stories of others, and it would fill you up! That you’d feel comfortable and excited to share it with your mates, no matter where they find themselves on their faith journey. It is so approachable and aesthetically lovely, and it breaks down all barriers. Whether you are totally new to faith, been a Christian for a long time, have questions, or never stepped foot in a church, readers will hopefully feel spurred on and inspired to press into Jesus.
What was the biggest challenge in bringing the first issue to life?
Putting together in the format I was after. It took a lot of time piecing together Volume #1, as I’d never done it before and scrutinised over every little detail! It has got that bit easier, quicker and smoother with each volume, and I have definitely learnt a lot along the way.
Can you describe the creative process?
Each volume follows different themes, and they prayerfully evolve in the most amazing ways. Maker has an incredible gifted little ‘hub’ or ‘community’ of writers, artists and contributors that are all given an opportunity to submit their work and then once arranged, go through an editing process. During this process, I am gathering art and photography that ties in with all the pages and then the design process begins. It is incredibly fun working and playing around with fonts, patterns, art, photography & colours to get it just right and each volume unique.
Were there particular teachers, mentors, or friends at school who encouraged your faith or creativity?
I was incredibly blessed to have the most amazing friendship circle during my time at MECS. I came in Year 9, and even though I was late to the party, I was instantly adopted into a large crew of friends - and quite a few of us are still very close friends today (this year we all turn 40…) I loved the way the teachers were all so relational and supportive through my time. I have fond memories of our art classes during Year 9 with Mr Distefano, doing film photography and learning the complete process of developing our photos into large black and white prints in the dark room. We took wayyyyy too many photos and used I’m sure way too much film because we all just absolutely loved it! To this day, I still prefer black and white photography over colour - it’s so classic…and I think it’s also because of Year 9.
If you could tell your younger school-self now one thing, knowing where God has led you now, what would it be?
To not be afraid to dream big and just go for it! You’ve got nothing to lose, all the experience to gain, and you just don’t know how God will use your gifts if you’re willing.
What encouragement would you give to someone who feels called to start a faith-based project?
So often we get stunned into not starting anything because it can feel to grand/ big/ overwhelming. So my encouragement would be to simply just start the process. This could look like journalling (praying, writing lists, ideas, potential budget, sketching, thoughts down etc), setting aside a (tiny or big) chunk of time each week to plan a bit, talking to a couple of trusted friends and picking their brains, or perhaps picking someone else’s brain within a similar industry - just get the ball rolling. Sometimes the hardest thing is just starting, but once you are off and away, you will feel the momentum gathering…just start!
