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. 

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. 

1st April - New Things!

April is finally here which means a lot of things here in the studio; Firstly, that today is the day that I launch my first ever downloadable wedding invitation range on Etsy, and secondly that it is exactly one month until my husband and I fly to Mexico for our 2 year delayed honeymoon! 

Needless to say it's a very exciting month ahead, but today I am most excited about my new wedding stationery range which has been 5 months in the making. 

All of my wedding stationery designs are fully customisable, and once edited are sent as digital files so that the happy couple can print from the comfort of their own home. In designing this new range I really kept in mind all the things I learnt (the hard way) when I got married with the hope that I can help make a couples wedding as stress free and beautifully designed as possible. 

I also wanted to create designs that were not only fun, but also adaptable to the couple at hand. My Woodland range is a neutral and less frilly design that hopefully caters to couples who aren't looking for the typical overly feminine wedding stationery designs. 

The entire collection is now available in my Etsy Shop available in Deluxe and Basic sets as well as individual listings should you just want an invitation or just a table number. 

To celebrate the release of my new stationery I am also hosting a Spring Sale on some of my other lines in my store! You can 30% off select lines until the 29th April when I will be closing my shop doors for my Mexico trip. 

What's more, as an EXTRA treat for any of my newsletter subscribers, I'm sending out an exclusive additional 10% off coupon code in today's e-newsletter. Sign up here if you would like to be informed of any future promotions & discounts, and also for weekly new blog post updates. 

I hope you like my new range as much as I have enjoyed designing it! As always please feel free to leave any feedback or comments - your support is always greatly appreciated! 

Happy Friday

Deborah x