Is Crafting Necessary?

I (Sammy) am rubbish with money, I can't spell, I was thirteen before I could tell the time (I still have to think about it *the shame*) and I am honestly the least organised person in the world but hand me some paper, a pair of scissors and some Sellotape and I can work wonders. 

I am of the school that if something is broken, fix it and if it's not broken... cover it in glitter! In all seriousness, I am a crafter, to my core. For me crafting is not only necessary, it is my life. I am though, totally aware that many, many people make it through life without crafting anything more than beans on toast and do you know what, that is absolutely OK. 

One of my best friends in the world is one of those people. She hates cooking and baking. She can't sew a button and wouldn't even want to try. She has no interest in flower arranging, owning a sewing machine or taking up knitting. Despite her lack of inclination towards being creative we have been really close friends for a long time. I sometimes wonder if it is her lack of 'craft' is what makes me love her even more. 

I couldn't go a day without making something, even if the only thing I make is a mess. I am that person that will, without fail, ferret out a haberdashery/craft/bead/stationary shop in any town ( I am aware that could be seen as a 'problem') For me crafting IS necessary, it is a big part of what makes me who I am. I was brought up in a home that oozed crafts, My Mum made all her clothes and mine, until teen rebellion kicked in. But more than that I grew up in a creative environment. 

Both my parents encouraged my creative flair, I spent many an afternoon in the garage with my Dad learning how to properly use a hand saw, drill and hammer (My tool kit is bigger than my husbands) I am so grateful for my 'make do and mend' upbringing, it has stood me in good stead for many things not least of which, my career. I get to spend everyday helping people to unleash their creativity.

''Making stuff is a beautiful thing''

I (H) refound my crafty side after a spell in a job which wasn't creative.  Although being creative never left me, there was a while when the thought of making something when I got home was so much like hard work.  I studied Art and Design for about 6 years and then took my masters which developed my Museum side and so maybe, I just had enough of being creative in the normal day to day life.  But I still took in inspiration everywhere I looked and so I guess it never really disappeared.

It was still there though and after throwing caution to the wind (eventually) and quitting my day job, I found myself wanting to be creative again and more importantly making stuff for myself.  But there was no crochet brooches here (I tried it, I am not a natural crocheter!)  I took classes when I was still in London, from printing and ring making, through to loom knitting (the only kind of knitting I can do and am willing to do).

I love finding new things to try and I guess I take after my mum at wanting to learn all the time to keep the brain fresh.  My mum also used to be creative with me when I was growing up and so it's been instilled in me for all my life really.  That to make something was much more fun than just to buy it.  Plenty of 'Blue Peter' makes were made on the kitchen table and still exist in my folks loft.

I love looking at what people get up to and love it when my 'not creative' (apparently) friends get crafty.  I love to see what they do and although most of the time it comes out of necessity for them (trying to keep the costs down for a wedding anyone?)  they do a great job and learn more about themselves aswell - i.e they are more creative than they think.  I get the emails from my friends of 'where is there a shop that does...' and 'how can you make', which I love.  I love feeling useful and tend to keep a brain full of 'there is a place that does', so I think this creative thing must be forever in my head, always waiting and bursting to get out.

Craft for us is not just about sequins, glitter and glue. Don't get us wrong, a-lot of it is about that, but it is really about so much more. It is creativity, imagination, expression, passion and practicality. Making stuff is a beautiful thing, even if it is just beans on toast. Because a world without craft would be a sad one. No art, no invention, no anything.  For everyone who dismisses 'craft' as a twee hobby of the 'middle class' and the women of the WI forgets that craft is simply another word for creating. Everything we touch, sit on and see on a daily has been thought of, designed and created by a 'crafter'.

There is room in the world for all of us, crafters and non crafters alike, the world would be a ridiculously boring place if we all had the same talents. The friend Sammy told you about, she is super organised, really good with money and I am pretty sure she has a good grasp of the time telling thing.  By sharing our skills with each other and all our friends, we have made a pretty good stab at most things that life has thrown at us over the years. 

Is crafting necessary? For us, absolutely yes. For everyone else, whether they actively participate in it or not, absolutely yes. 

H & Sammy

What will it take to make Crafting Cool?

For the longest time, maybe for all time, it has been seen to be ultimately 'cooler' to have something made for you than to have made it yourself. Designer clothes, handbags, jewellery, homewares and even food. To be seen with these ready-made products in your possession is and always has been desirable. I am as guilty as the next person when it comes to lusting after a Chanel handbag (knowing I will never be able to physically part with that kind of money for something I just put my stuff in) or an Anthropology bed throw (Arrosa Quilt anyone?) The question I find myself asking, on quite regular basis (usually when I am cruising the Net a Porter website) is...Why?

Why is it more desirable to have something made by a stranger in a factory in Asia than to use our bare hands to create something completely unique? Don't misunderstand me, I don't think everyone should make everything for themselves, or that designer products are in some way inferior, far from it. But why do so many people find it so hard to see the value in handmade products? Why if something is handmade is it seen as less desirable, less valuable than something from a brand or a fashion house?

Obviously not everyone feels this way, and certainly some high end designer products are made with as much care as handmade ones, I suppose the difference boils down to four things.

• Environment : Lets face it a high-end designer boutique suggests high quality, high value, high prices. Craft fairs, even good ones, suggest (to some) market stall prices, and 'home-made' quality. Even a well put together display on a trestle table is a far cry from a shiny white flagship store. They do it by fooling us into believing the 'exclusivity factor' with the image that less is more. You will rarely see a shelf in Dior laden with twenty bags, three per shelf if you are lucky, a very different look from a heaving craft show stall. It is hard to imagine someone paying  (the price of a small family car) for a handbag displayed on an upturned milk crate (unless it was in the Tate modern) or crammed on a table with twenty of exactly the same but slightly different clutch bags. 

• Branding : Many of the biggest fashion houses have been around for a long time and spend billions of pounds on branding and promoting their products. They can command premium advertising space in fashion magazines and have top models and celebrities be seen in/with their products. People know their names. Chanel, Gucci, Burburry, these brands are international and renowned. They can afford to tempt us into believing that by owning a designer product that we will be admired by our peers. 

• The Cool Factor: Explaining this is as hard as explaining to X factor contestants why they have been voted off the show, despite their phenomenal voice. It is the difference between the popular kids and the not so popular ones. It often has little to do with quality and more to do with perception. Until a few years ago Vintage was just called 'second hand'. It is about how trends influence peoples perception. 

• Conventionality: People in general like to be safe, they like to follow the crowd, owning a designer bag aside, they like to be considered 'normal'. Art and crafts are in general the polar opposite. Craft is unconventional, unusual, controversial, boundary pushing and unique. To some this is a little scary, they know where they are with a recognised brand, they know that people will admire their pricey purchase and it will be seen as a status symbol. With crafts they are not necessarily guaranteed that ego boosting response. 

In order to make crafting cool, we have to change the way people think about hand-crafted products. As crafter's we have to be brave about our own works worth, be braver when pricing our creations and honest about what it takes to produce our creations. If we don't value our work, why should anyone else! We need to take a good hard look at presentation and be proud to tell the story of how much love has gone into our wares (we crafts people are a rather self deprecating bunch). We need to take on the tricks of the high end designers, our customers need to know they are going to feel special and admired for their choice to be pro craft. Crafters are lucky that 'trends' have been in our favour in recent years, but trends come and go. We need to be pro-active and not let go of all the hard work that has been done to make crafts desirable to all. 

We would love to know your thoughts, leave a comment below or come chat with us on Twitter @livelovemake

Sammy xxx

Whether You Think You Can or You Think You Can’t, You’re Right.

Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. –Henry Ford

Most things in life are a case of mind over matter, the old quote "there is no such thing as can't" is as true as it has always been but sometimes it feels like the hardest thing in the world to admit it to ourselves. If you go into something with a positive attitude and it doesn't work out, it can be hard to pick yourself up and start again. Over-analysis of what has gone before is an easy way to get stuck in a 'I can't do that' state of mind. Sometimes it just wasn't the right time, the right place or the right people and sometimes it just doesn't have the staying power you hoped for. None of these things mean that you should give up trying. 

I am going to give you two examples from my own experience today, I wouldn't normally share such personal stuff online, but I think it's important in the chance it may help some of you out there, so here goes. 

I married my first husband when I was 21, we had been dating for three years and living together for two of those.  I thought I was in love and we wanted to commit to each other. We were young but at the time it felt like the right thing to do. We had a pretty good relationship in our three years of dating and our first 8 months of marriage. Our problems started when I decided that I wanted to move closer to my parents and help my Mum run Sew Crafty. To cut a long story short 15 months after we got married he told me that he had been unfaithful so I told him I wanted a divorce. I was devastated.  For a long time I was convinced that I never wanted to get into a long term relationship ever again, let alone get married again, then I met Steve.  A year after we started dating he asked me to marry him and I said yes. It felt so different from before, it felt so right.  If I had kept up my 'Never Again' attitude I would have missed out on the last eight years of happiness with Steve.  For my ex and I it was the wrong time, we were too young and grew apart over time, as young people do. For Steve and I it was the right time.

My weight loss/gain/loss/gain is more of an ongoing challenge for me. I have always struggled with my weight since I was a little girl, I have a sweet tooth and have always resisted sports in favour of arts and crafts, not a great combination. I find it very easy to say 'I can't lose weight' or 'I'm never going to reach my goal' as an excuse for eating just one more cake. I have even been known to throw in the old 'I like being curvy' and 'being Plus size make me different' to justify my lack of commitment to the gym.  But I know that I have successfully lost weight before (I got down from a size 20 to a 12 when I was 19) and two years ago I got back down to a size 16 and 50 lb's lost. Since then I have put about 20 lb's back on and I had spent the summer faffing about around the same weight. I needed to have a little word with myself. I sat down a few weeks ago and decided enough was enough, I CAN do this.  I am a grown 31 year old woman who has all the things in my power to make my weight loss possible, for myself and my health. It is only myself that can stop me and I will not let that happen. It has not been easy, nothing that is worth having ever is, but it is going well so far. I cannot promise that this will be the last time I ever have to lose weight, for me it is going to be a part of my life for the rest of my life, because even when I reach my goal, I will have to learn how to stay there, but I am never going to give up. 

The power of positive thinking can be the difference between success and failure. Believing in yourself is the first step to achieving your goal. Looking to past failures is a good way to learn how to make things better going forward, but not as an example of how things will always turn out. It is hard to always be positive and optimistic but if you are always negative and pessimistic the things you want will always be a struggle.

I would love to know your experiences of how positive or negative thinking have effected your lives and I always like to hear if my experiences have helped anyone. Let me know in the comments below or on our Facebook page or via twitter.

Sammy xxx

Previous Post in the series:

Jack of all Trades , Master of None?

Never Making Mistakes is a Mistake

Envy, Such a Waste of Time

Dream a Little Bigger Darling

Dream a Little Bigger Darling

Don't let small minds convince you that your dreams are too big.

-Unknown

I have always been really lucky that my parents, friends and my husband have been very supportive of my (occasionally crazy) dreams.  I had all the usual childhood aspirations, I wanted to be lots of things, from an Actress to a Zoo-keeper, funnily enough (my Mum tells me) the game I enjoyed most as a child was playing shop.  My Dad has always been the driving force behind me, always encouraging me to forge my own path in life and especially in business. 

These days in general though we seem to be very good at being negative, we seem to be programmed to jump to the worst case scenario and imagine all the cons before examining the pros.  It is easy to be disheartened when people are less than positive about your ideas and dreams for your future. When people are always shooting down your ideas and finding fault with dreams it is hard to see a way through to what you want to achieve. The opposite is also true, surrounding yourself with 'Yes' people can also be problematic.  Not every idea you have is going to be gold and sometimes you need a measured approach to test the waters before diving right in.

I think the answer is to have big dreams and big plans to back them up. We need to remember that the best type of success, no matter how it seems, is not gained overnight. The most successful people and ideas have been months, often years in the making.  Planning out how your dream can come true and all the steps that will get you there are as important as each other.  Setting achievable goals and making sure you have balanced support behind you is the best way to get where you want to go. 

I try to think of it like this... I would never just wake up one morning, go to the airport and head out on a round the world trip.  I would spend time doing research about where to go and how long to spend in each place, I would take time to save the money needed to take the journey.  Achieving a dream needs the same kind of attention as planning the trip of a lifetime.  Sure, you don't have to plan every detail of your itinerary before you start, but you need to have a plan, an idea of where you are headed and how you're going to get there. 

The biggest thing to remember about your dreams is that they are just that, YOUR dreams. 

Creating my own line of handbags, designing a fabric collection, being featured in Vogue, having a family of my own, designing and building my own home, having an epic fly-drive holiday across America, visiting Japan... the list goes on.  I have many, many dreams that may or may not ever become a reality, but that will never convince me that my dreams are too big. 

Sammy xxx

This is the last in my quotes series for now, but keep an eye out, they will be returning once a month.  In the mean time check out the others here:

Jack of all Trades , Master of None?

Never Making Mistakes is a Mistake

Envy, Such a Waste of Time

Don' forget you can follow us in all these places so you never miss a thing <3

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Sammy's Instagram, StumbleUpon.

Envy, Such a Waste of Time

When Steve Jobs was quoted as saying this he was intending it to be taken as a caution to others to not be tempted to just follow the crowd, to be your own person and believe in your true self. This is the rest of the quote...

'Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary' - Steve Jobs

Sound advice there from Mr Jobs. This quote helps to remind me that my life is pretty special. 

Envy or jealously is hard to fight sometimes, especially in this age of Facebook, Blogs, Instagram and Twitter, where we share so much of our lives online for the world to see (that makes me sound old).  It used to be the case that we would occasionally get a glimpse into the celebs high-life in a magazine or on TV, these days just search through the twitter feeds of your favourite movie stars and get a real time photo of the premiere's they are attending.  It is not only movie heros and pop princesses that we envy these days either, our friends and people we admire within our own industries are sharing their achievements online all the time too. Us bloggers are particularly prone to sharing all the fabulous things we get up to (It is what we do), even being a blogger myself it is hard not to fall into the trap of envying those opportunities 'other' people get to experience. 

I often read other peoples blogs, or scroll through Instagram thinking 'How cool would that be, I wish I could do/ have/ go to/ create/ be a part of that' I think that is only natural, What is not natural however is feeling that because I am not doing/ having/ going to/ creating/ being a part of whatever it is, that my life isn't good enough. There is a difference between striving to achieve better for yourself and trying to be something that your not, sometimes it is hard to know the difference. We all have to remind ourselves that what people choose to share online, is just that, what they choose to share. Everyone has bad hair days, bad outfit days, messy home days (weeks/months) times when their kids are screaming the house down and when we just go and buy a cake and eat the whole thing....just me, OK... moving on - we just rarely want to share them with the world.  So what you see online is the best bits, the cinema edit, as opposed to the directors cut if you like. Those unflattering moments left to languish on the cutting room floor.  

It is hard to remember that everyone is as real as you are, being jealous of others achievements and opportunities is a waste of our time and as Mr Jobs put it our 'time is limited'. We need to learn to treasure our own lives. We can all still strive to be the best version of ourselves, but that needs to be the very best of who we are, not anyone else. 

Sammy xxx

Read Pt. 1 of my quotes series here : Jack of all Trades, Master of None

and Pt.2 here : Never Making Mistakes is a Mistake

Never Making Mistakes is a Mistake

I have never been a fan of the word regret, I was always a person who took chances and lived with the consequences. I truly believe that we are who we are because of the experiences that we live through. As I get older this 'no fear' attitude is harder to uphold with the same blind stubbornness of my teens and 20's.

With more experience of life and business comes more knowledge and more reasons to be worried about what happens when things don't work out as planned. This is also the case as we take on more responsibility as adults, owning or renting a home for the first time makes us realise that the buck stops with us, If we don't pay the gas bill, we don't get to have hot showers. We learn from our mistakes.

I spend a lot of time at our shop helping out GCSE and A level students with their textiles projects and it makes me yearn for the days when I used to experiment with colours, textures and technique. When I used to try something just to see what the result would be. When I was at college we had the chance to fill endless sketch books with ideas and samples.  I can't remember the last time I filled a sketch book just because.

With running your own business it is even harder to experiment, the 'money' factor often stops an idea in it's tracks, committing a chunk of money to something you have no idea is going to work is a big gamble. Again responsibility ways heavy. At 21 I would have given it a try and if it went wrong figured out another way to pay the gas bill, 31 Year old me puts all my energy into making the idea work and am left with little to no energy and enthusiasm to figure out another way if it doesn't.

As an adult it can be hard to remember that nothing is impossible, I can't pinpoint the moment that changes for you, because it is different for all of us, but in order to create something special that other people want or want to be a part of takes one thing... A Risk.  The risk that it may not work out, the risk that the people you want to sell to may just not be interested in what you have to offer. The flip side of taking that risk is that something even more wonderful than you imagined might happen. It is not until you have taken that chance that you will know, in order to know if it is a mistake, you have to make it.

The reason I wanted to talk about this today is that I am currently in the middle of a big decision making process with the rest of my family for the future of our business Sew Crafty. Going back to what I was talking about in this post, trying to pull more of the things we can offer in to one, more diverse business. It is a BIG risk, but I am determined to bring a little more of my 21 year old self to the table and take the risk that could make our business everything we believe it can be.

Do it. Take the plunge. Take a risk

Sammy xxx

Read Pt. 1 of my quotes series here : Jack of all Trades, Master of None

Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

Have you ever thought 'I wish I could just do one thing rather than lots of different things' I often do. I have always struggled to find the craft/hobby/job that defines me and encompasses all the things I love.

Are you like me? How does the phrase go... Jack of all trades, master of none? I hate to think that this is what I am but it is hard to deny that I have my hand in a lot of pies all the time.  Like many of you I'm sure have a lot of 'hobbies' and technically a lot of jobs.  Does this mean we have a lots of talents, or just one very diverse talent? I'm not quite sure. We interview a lot of designer/makers and business owners here and recently we interviewed Sarah from Homebarn, one thing she said struck a cord with me. When I asked her what advice she would give to herself back at the beginning she said ''Don't try and cover all the bases, stick with what you love and don't spread yourself too thin''  Is this what we do? If you have such a diverse background and your interests and passions are so varied how do we not spread ourselves too thin?

I think the key is also in Sarah's answer 'stick with what you love'  I know that I take on projects because I 'think I should' do them rather than 'wanting' to do them, or more often than not because I know I can do them. I, as H will tell you, am all too freely offering my time to do things for other people because I know I can solve their problem, therein not leaving me time to focus on what I 'want' to be doing. I also know that I am not alone in this, I am sure that a lot of you will be nodding along with that last part...

Lets try a little something shall we....

Make a list of all the things that you do, this may be a long list. I tried to list them in groups to help me remember them all.  I included some things that I want to make time for but can't and some things I can do but don't like doing.

Take three separate pages now and make three headings

What I have to do

What I want to do

What I can do without

Let's put all the things on our first list onto our new lists, pick out our most obvious choices first, then we can make our way down the list and make some tough decisions.

Some times you just can't do one thing without another but think about how you could more effectively combine those activities. For instance as much as I love photography, I am never going to take the leap to being a full time professional photographer, so taking the decision and limiting my photography to be something I only do for our blog and for Sew Crafty helps me to limit the time I have to spend on marketing for new business as 'a photographer'.

Some things like our main source of income, mine would be anything to do with Sew Crafty, are essential and I can't get away with not doing my household chores but I can try and plan my time a little better so I make more time for fun things and identifying things that others can do for you. Once we have identified what we want to do and what we have to do it is easier to let go of those things that we don't need to do.

I am quite handy with a needle and thread and have done many, many alterations for friends and family over the years, this is a good example of something I can do, but don't like doing. I am capable of doing alterations, but it is so boring, often difficult and time consuming, it is also difficult to charge for, especially when it's your friends! So I have taken the decision to stop doing it. I have lots of connections through Sew Crafty of lovely people who do alterations for a living, so when my friends ask me in the future, rather than taking the work on myself I am going to pass it on to one of them. Helping me to have more time to do the things I want and giving our lovely alterations people some business, everyone wins!

I know that I don't want to give up all the things I love to do, I love the feeling of discovering a new skill and having multiple projects on the go, but sometimes we all need to take a step back and trim away those things that we do because we can, rather than because we want to. I don't know if I will ever find just one thing that makes me happy, I am pretty sure that it will always be a combination of all my favourite things that define me. My job is being creative and teaching others how to be creative too, I love that! and if that means I have my fingers in a lot of pies, fine, I will take it, but doing everything just because I can, not any more.

I am going to try and live by the words of Vincent 'What is done in love is well done'

I really hope this has helped some of you as much as me. I know the list exercise helped me realise a few things. This is a different kind of post than usual, let me know if it's something you would be interested in seeing more of here.

Sammy xxx