Learn to be Crafty

Learn to Be Crafty

Learning to be Crafty is not really hard. A lot of people believe that you have to already be creative or have some set of skills to do something crafty.

But let me be first person to tell you that is not the case at all.

But, let me also be clear, to be good at anything, whether it be crafting, sewing, hand lettering, bible journaling, jewelry making, or even being really good a cooking you must first practice at it to get any kind of good at it, and you must also have a passion for the thing you do in order to stick with it long enough to get really good at it.

Now, that all being said, I don’t want to scare you away all together from being a crafty creative individual. In fact, the goal of this post is to actually share with you how you can in fact find the “crafty bone” in your body and make something. This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience.

Most people tell me, “you’re so crafty” or “you have great talents” and things like “I don’t know how you do it”. The truth is  – I’m not really. The reason I am crafty (and I do own all of my craftiness)…. is because I enjoy making other things, especially for others who might or would enjoy them as well.

You want a cute shirt to say something specific? Great!! Let me help you make that dream a reality.

You want some sentimental jewelry with your kids names on it? Awesome!! I know how to stamp their names into metal, and create a pendant.

I trully love creating things, especially personalized things.

Every since I was a little girl, I remember doing crafty things. My mother once put me in art painting classes with an older group kids because she realized, I would most likely enjoy it. I was too young for the class in reality.

But I didn’t care.

I hung in there with those kids the best way I knew how. I remember painting fruit, and abstract things, and even another person’s face. It wasn’t the best looking face, but I never knew before though how to even begin to start to think about painting a face.

In my after school care program in elementary school, we had a teacher that taught us how to sew on old sewing machines using paper to learn how to make straight lines. Now, today, I still cannot really sew.

It is true – my skills are very basic.

Just only the basics are all that I need. And because of that class, I know how to operate a basic sewing machine, and therefore I can sew. Sure, if I wanted to be better at it, I would stive to be. But for now, my basic skills serve me well for the projects in sewing that I do.

And hand sewing a button comes in handy when my husband needs a button fixed on his shorts. Saves a few dollars on hiring a semetress, and the time it takes to drop off and pick the shorts up.

My point is that if you have any little desire or thought on being sort of crafty – well then you should pursue it, and learn a little bit more about whatever it is you might be interested in. Because, anyone can be crafty. Even if you want to make stickers – you can find a way to make them!!!!

I don’t always pursue every handmade DIY thing that I am interested, but if it is something I think I can do, and save money on doing it, you better believe, I will at least pursue it or research it a little bit more towards trying it out. And more than likely, you just might find me sharing it with you here on the blog. Because, this is all about crafting a beautiful life after all, and doing the crafty things in life we enjoy.

For example, a few years ago, I really wanted to learn machine embrodiery. For one, some jewelry customers of mine from my then Etsy shop asked me of all people if I could do it for them. Why? I have no idea, I made jewelry. But something in them made them think I could.

Now, it could be because I also sold totes and a few bags from a supplier who offered personalization on the bags, but that was all done by them – not me. And, I knew that by learning the skill of machine embroidery, I might could save money by doing the personalization service on the bags myself. Plus, I had several things I could personalize for me!

It was almost 2 years of this thinking before I actually got started and did it. I took a class that didn’t require any equipment which was great because there was no investment except the cost of the class and my time to see if it was actaully worth it or somethng I could. The cost was fairly inexpensive, and I was able to take home the class projects I made, so it seemed worth it enough to discover machine embroidery.

Of course, I loved it. And started making plans to add this service to my online shop. And today it is one of my biggest service sales. In fact, I offer services to a local boutique in town.

Now, I don’t want you thinking that I’m encouraging you to craft to just sell your crafts and make money. If you do that, great, but if you don’t and you simply just create for you and yours, that is great also.

Once I found a passion for embrodiery, I knew I needed to learn more. And I knew just the place to learn more right from my own home which is Craftsy.

That’s right, its called Craftsy.

Craftsy is an online educational website that offers up basic classes on anything you can think of in the crafty creative world. Knitting, to sewing, embroidery, and even jewelry making or succulent gardening.

You can buy classes for a low as $20 and you own it forever.

The classes are self paced and include video tutorials and guides for the most part.

Craftsy is even having a deal today through May 7^th that ALL classes are $20 or less. Which is a steal. In the past I have paid more for similar classes with half the value for a single class starting at $40. So to get a class for only $20 is nothing to learn something new!

The class list is quite large, including cooking, baking, cake decorating, photographing, gardening, succulents, knitting, jewelry making, wood working, embroidery, hand lettering, journaling, paper crafting and so on.

I’ve have always used them as my go to source for learning how to do something better and new. Craftsy compiles multiple short videos into one place on a specific topic organizing it so its easy to understand and that you can go back to it over and over. It really is a win-win!

If you want to get crafty – check them out. You won’t be sorry.

Happy Crafting!!!

Layne

 

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience.