Handmade Fair Giveaway
It's just over a month to go till the Handmade Fair at Ragley Hall, and whilst I still have lots (if not all) prep to do, I'm really excited to share a super giveaway with you!
[EDIT: 6/4/18]
It's just over a month to go till the Handmade Fair at Ragley Hall, and whilst I still have lots (if not all) prep to do, I'm really excited to share a super giveaway with you!
The lovely people at The Handmade Fair have gifted me 5 complimentary tickets to give away to my wonderful customers, thats you guys! These free tickets give you free entry to the fair, to enjoy the shopping village (where I'll be) plus some quirky food and drink stands. Should you so wish to upgrade to the full experience ticket, for a reduced fee, you will then be able to enjoy entry to one Super Theatre, Grand Make, and Skills Workshop of your choice.
Never heard of the Handmade Fair?
Aside from being a fun day out, the Fair is packed with opportunities to get creative and learn from the experts in craft. The Super Theatre will be hosted by Kirstie Allsopp each day and will be featuring exciting talks from some of the country’s best-loved creatives including Keith Brymer Jones, Edith Bowman, Anthony Devine and more. Plus, with a programme full of hands-on workshops, live demo’s and Q&As to choose from across the weekend, you’ll be sure to come away feeling inspired, and with a bundle of skills and knowledge to take home.
Sounding good? Entering the giveaway is quite simple; you can enter twice by either subscribing to my mailing list, or by leaving a comment on this blog post describing what you would love to see me selling at the fair.
Boring bits; by subscribing to my mailing list through this giveaway you are agreeing to receiving email communications from myself. You can however unsubscribe at any time if you decide my emails are not for you, and I promise to NEVER share your details with anyone else or send you spam.
Giveaway closes on the 9th April 12am GMT and winners will be announced on the 10th April 8pm GMT
Good luck!
Create More Than You Consume
When I turned to the last month of my Get To Work book, wondering what the inspiring graphic would be, I found my initial reaction to it quite surprising.
When I turned to the last month of my Get To Work book, wondering what the inspiring graphic would be, I found my initial reaction to it quite surprising.
It read: 'Create more than you consume'
And it touched something in my brain, a memory or feeling, that I've been coming back to a lot recently. This past year - aside from my obvious ruminating which comes with my anxiety - I haven't been able to stop mulling over why I just don't seem to feel like I'm creating enough.
Everyone around me was making and creating and innovating and dreaming at an exponential rate (it seems) and all I could keep doing was going back through all those well worn paths of thought and habits; sitting on Pinterest and mooning over illustrators who I admired, taking in how they created their images, their use of colour, of contrast, or sitting on Instagram and just letting myself be overwhelmingly impressed and jealous, in equal amounts, at other designer makers who just seemed to be creating.
But this little take away card, found in the back of my diary, felt like the answer to all my problems: Create more than you consume.
Too much time had I spent steeping myself in the world of others, trying to understand their work, to be inspired by it, to be immersed in it, and not enough time was given to creating my own work. Time given to sit, be creative, let ideas flow, and to play.
My CBT sessions have highlighted to me my absolute need to control and perfect, and how sometimes that stops me from doing anything because I'm just too scared to start and for it to be wrong. But by taking that path of least resistance, the one where you sit and observe from the sidelines, you don't allow yourself to be apart of the world and will forever just be a creative wallflower.
Switch off your phone for an hour, put on your favourite music, and just let yourself be in a moment to create and to not be judgemental of it. Mentally turn off the mental chatter as you turn off your notifications and watch something magical happen.
Perhaps in this one small change there can be inspiration to be free in other aspects of our lives. Whether that is in our relationships, our beliefs or with some old and worn habits, we can feel more accomplished when we stay mindful in the present activity and just be with it.
