I have always enjoyed making things. Growing up, my parents and grandparents were always creating new things and always encouraged us to participate with them. In 2007, I decided to turn my passion creating into a small business. Over the last 10 years, I have enjoyed creating and developing new styles of jewelry and crafting in general. In addition to creating jewelry, I have also taught classes, given lessons and collaborated on projects with other crafters. Towards the end of 2016, I started to feel burnt out and completely unable to go on creatively. One of the hardest things that crafters and artists face is burnout. Creating can be such a rush of adrenaline, but when you are also a small business owner, sometimes the other stuff starts to take all of your creative energy. Its hard to balance taxes and pricing and customer service with creating new and unique items. It is also hard to balance a full-time job (a girl's gotta pay her bills!) while trying to be creative. Sometimes its best to take a step back and recharge your batteries. Towards the end of 2016, as I was struggling with what to do about my burnout, my friend Jenny of Whim's Workshop invited me to follow her journey on Instagram as she participated in Inktober challenge. Each day of the month, she drew a different frame of an ongoing story. It was fun to follow along with the adventures of her main character and I looked forward to each day's post. It got me to thinking it would be fun to do something like that. With the spirit of Jenny's Inktober project as inspiration, I gave myself permission to take a year off from my business. I wasn't going to make any sales or create anything for my business, but instead I wanted to create just for the heck of it. I wanted to enjoy trying things I had never considered before. I gave myself permission to fail--that if it didn't work out, I wouldn't be crushed. I would learn from my mistakes and continue creating. I had no idea at the beginning of 2017 what an amazing year I would have creatively. It was the most liberating experience I've ever had. Below are my "themed challenges" for each month with a picture or two of my favorites.
After 365 days of crafting, what did I learn?SO MUCH!!! By the end of the year, I realized I learned so much and grew as a crafter in ways I didn't even realize. There were likes as well as dislikes, but overall, this was a great experience and I'm eager to try it again, this time with different mediums and projects.
What I learned:
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Hi, I'm Paula.I love Jesus, my family and gummy bears. Crafting is my favorite way to worship. ArchivesCategories |