Crafty Ladies: Meet Laura Harris

Say hello to another Crafty Lady - Laura from Laurafallulah. 

Laura's shop is filled with pretty, colourful, vintage-inspired jewellery and accessories. I especially love her stylish felt flower brooches!

Laura & I have been crafty chums since the early days of Etsy and it's been lovely seeing her shop develop over the years and to meet up from time to time to chat about the ups and downs of making and selling and being your own boss.

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Hiya, I am Laura also known as Fallulah, hence the Laurafallulah.

I am a designer/maker from SE London who uses my interest in vintage design along with my love of bright colours and bold pattern to create fun individual accessories. I work from the spare room in my flat, which I share with my partner Richard, although I can often be found stitching on the sofa in front of the telly.

I spend my weekends walking, be it in near by Greenwich park or round galleries, and eating! I just love food and London has a great thriving street food market scene which I am gradually working my way round. I am also a member of our local cinema and the ICA so spend a lot of time watching all kinds of movies from arthouse to mainstream.

Recently I’ve been making…

I am currently working on new flower brooch designs to add to my classic collection as well as some new paper products to add to my Garden Party range which includes a few different cake topper designs. I like to have a range of things which are all year round items as well as a few seasonal things.

For summer I have a new range of jewellery based on the bright colours and intricate style of Papel Picado, Mexican paper cut banners. I love taking influences from all over and the mix of bold colours and patterns of Mexico really appeal to my taste.

 

I’ve been working on…

I have also been trying to spend some time working in my sketchbook on my drawing skills. I haven’t spent too much time perfecting my drawing recently as it is easy to get caught up in technology and the practical side of making. I would like to some day use more illustration in my work, but for now I am enjoying doing something a little different just for the sake of it.

I’ve been reading…

I love blogs, they really appeal to the nosy side of me as its like looking in on a little section of peoples lives. I have a few blogs that I have followed for years such as the classic design blog Decor8 and the lifestyle blog SFGirlbyBay . I have also more recently started loving the more journal type of blogs such as Dainty Squid and Skunk Boy, I love both of their mix of fashion, design and just life experiences.

I am also really interested in health and nutrition so I regularly catch up with Whole Heartedly Healthy and try out Lauras great recipes and health tips.

While I sew, I’ve been watching…

I will pretty much watch anything! I love all different kinds of TV and movies and can usually be found binge watching RuPauls Drag Race or The Office (an American Workplace).

I am not really the kind of person who can sit and do nothing so I frequently irritate my partner by punching confetti while we catch up on which ever latest American drama we are watching at the time. I also like catching up on some classic movies which I can’t believe I hadn’t seen like Fargo and City of God, which I saw recently and both of which I adored.

Laura’s 3 Top Tips for Running a Creative Business:

1. Inspiration: Sometimes it is hard to feel inspired when you work alone, my advice it to switch off the computer and get out, go for a walk, go to a exhibition, meet a friend for a cuppa. Sometimes technology can be as much of a hindrance to your creativity as it is a help. I love my computer as much as the next person but sometimes you just need to switch it off and talk to people in real life or see things in the flesh to get those creative juices flowing.

2. Comparison: So this is a kind of buzz phrase at the moment, the kind that pops up in your Pinterest front page about 10 times a day but “Comparison really is the thief of Joy”. This counts for all kinds of areas in life but definitely when running a creative business. Just do you, and do you to your best ability.

3. Take it easy on yourself: I know I struggle with this, sometimes beating myself up for not completing my to do list one day or worrying about where I am spending my money. From speaking to many people, who chose to work in the creative sector and specifically those of us who chose to work from home, it seems many of us suffer with anxiety. Try some mindfulness training, taking the issue, dealing with it (or not as the case may be) and then letting it go. It is a hard practice to get in to but it can make a huge difference to you work and also your work/life balance. Few things are unsolvable and most are not worth losing sleep over with worry. Easy to say, hard to do but working on it every day does wonders for your mental health.

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Click here to visit Laura's shop and see her full range of pretty accessories. You'll also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click here to read more posts in the Crafty Ladies series.

Crafty Ladies: Meet Gretel Parker

This fortnight's Crafty Lady is Gretel Parker, who makes the most amazing little felt creatures. I am always slightly in awe of needle-felters but especially of Gretel's magical work.

Gretel creates needle-felt sculptures, teaches needle-felting workshops and is the author of Little Needle-Felt Animals. She writes about her work and life in the countryside on her blog, Middle of Nowhere, and sells her sculptures and a range of needle-felting kits and supplies from her Etsy shop.

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Hello! I'm Gretel; I've been a professional needle felter for seven years. Previously I was a freelance children's illustrator and designer, but needle felting took over my life. I live in a scruffy little cottage in the middle of the Shropshire countryside with my two cats.

Most of my time is spent working - at the moment I am expanding my design range, planning new needle felt kits to add to my existing stock and building up my supplies business, as well as organising workshops. When I'm not doing that, I like watching horror films and listening to pretty heavy music. Crashed on the sofa with my partner Joe and the cats is my favourite way to relax.

Recently I’ve been making...

I've recently been using alpaca wool to make little birds - this is a first for me, as I use merino wool exclusively.  I have a workshop coming up at the p-Lush Alpaca show in Coventry on Friday March 27th  and ought it would be nice to use the relevant wool. I've found it more difficult to get a smooth finish, but it's been interesting to work with something different and I kind of like the fuzzy effect, though it's not my usual style.

    
I’ve been working on…

I've just started my first teddy bear design - not the cute cuddly kind, but an old fashioned scruffy bear with a wonky head and slouchy tummy. I've never previously been drawn to teddy bears, but it's a challenge and I do love challenges. It's easy to get into repetitive habits when making is your full time job, so this is stretching me a bit. So far I've spent over ten hours on it, trying to get the right shape and I'm about halfway through. New designs always take longer, with quite a few false starts and ripping out.

My other new work this year is a little hare brooch - I wanted to do something a  bit different to the standard leaping hare and this crouched hare design looks lovely pinned to a jacket.

I’ve been blogging about…

Many people know that my world was shattered two years ago, when my long term partner died. I'm now in a wonderful  relationship with a great guy called Joe. As my blog isn't just about my work, but my real life too, I was really happy to announce the change in my circumstances as I know that people think of me and the support has beem amazing. That's what I love about blogging; it's a real community.

I've also posted about a visit to the historic Chetham's Library in Manchester, with lots of pictures of dusty old books - all very Harry Potter! And updating my readers on my latest work for sale and workshops that I'm doing this year.

 

I’ve been reading…

I don't have time to read much, but at the moment my bedtime book is The Lamplighter by Anthony O'Neill - it's a dark, Victorian crime novel, which is my favourite kind of fiction. And provides a nice break from the cuteness of the teddy bear I'm working on!

    

While I work, I’ve been watching…

Needle felting isn't the easiest of crafts to combine with watching anything; the danger is stabbing yourself when engrossed in a plot.  But I always have something on. I rarely watch scheduled TV, so have  been catching up with the new series of Father Brown on BBC1, Wolf Hall, Broadchurch and my guilty pleasure, Made in Chelsea. Otherwise I find a good horror film on Netflix.

Gretel’s 3 Top Tips for successful needle felting:

1. Try to draw out a design before beginning to construct it - you don't have to be a good artist and it doesn't have to be anything more than a doodle, but it will help fix the shape in your visual memory, especially if you can draw it from several angles.

2. Make things that you love - and pour your heart into them. It's a waste of time making things you feel you 'should' make, they never come out the same.

3. The question I am most often asked - how to get a super smooth finish. It's all about time and patience, there is no magic trick. Use a size 40 spiral needle to finish off with or a size 42 triangular needle and really pay attention to working down the tiny bumps and crevices.

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Visit Gretel's blog to see more of what she's been making lately and check out her shop for finished pieces, kits and needlefelting supplies. You can also find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Pinterest.

Click here to read more posts in the Crafty Ladies series.

Please note: the Amazon links in this post are affiliate links.

Crafty Ladies: Meet Wendi Gratz

Time to meet another Crafty Lady! 

Wendi designs wonderful, joyful sewing patterns. She's a master of lots of stitchy skills, creating patterns for machine sewing, quilting, handstitching and embroidery which she sells in her shop, Shiny Happy World. 

She creates video tutorials for every technique you need to complete her projects (such a great idea!) and also shares lots of free patterns and sewing lessons.

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Hello! My name is Wendi Gratz and I design sewing, quilting, and embroidery patterns especially for beginners. All of my patterns include links to videos teaching you every skill you'll need to complete the project – and you can find all my patterns, videos and tutorials at Shiny Happy World.

I live in the US in a pretty remote area - the nearest fabric store is over an hour away. I'm up high in the mountains in North Carolina with my husband (Alan), our daughter (Jo), our dog (Augie), and way too many chickens. :-)

If I don't have a needle in my hand, I probably have a book. Or a spoon. I love to cook and eat good food and I post a lot of recipes on my blog too.


Recently I've been making. . .

Softies! I love designing softies and I've got three “collections” going on right now – so I've been making a lot of them. :-)

The Cuddle Club softies are cuddly and huggable and made from the amazingly soft cuddle fleece I discovered a little over a year ago. I've been moving from big, fat pillowy stuffed animals to some lankier guys with long arms and legs and weighted hands and feet that are lots of fun to pose and play with.

The Party Animals are smaller felt critters. They're more at home on a shelf  - not really designed for vigorous play and trips through the washing machine. :-) These guys are all hand-sewn, which is good because I'm completely incapable of sitting in front of the television without a needle and thread in my hands.

The Dress Up Bunch are all dolls with the same basic body so they can all wear the same clothes. It's so much fun to design outfits for them! And this year I'm starting to design some other accessories too. I'm working on a pet for them right now. :-)

I've been working on. . .

Quilts! I love non-intimidating applique quilts and I've built quite a collection of patterns. I always like to invite the maker to play with the patterns. I show them the effects they can get by tilting the head a bit, or playing around with the placement of the ears, and I make all my quilts with the same block size so makers can mix and match the blocks – like adding a single cat block to the bird quilt. :-)

I'm working on taking that a step further with a quilt that has a lot of mix and match possibilities built right into the pattern. I'm working on a bunny quilt right now, with mix and match bodies, ears and faces. I'm hoping to have it ready in time for Easter crafting! And then I've got something totally new to come by summer. I'm still trying to figure out how to make it work really well, with lots of opportunities for creativity and play – but still keep it super easy. :-)

I've been blogging about. . .

My tidy studio. Seriously – it's like I can't stop talking about it. But I did the most successful declutter of my life at the end of the year and it has completely changed the way I work.

I love it! And I'm expanding the tidiness out into the rest of my house as quickly as I can. Supply-hoarding is a problem for a lot of us creatives, so people seem ok with the fact that I've been writing about this a lot. :-) The two best posts are this one that's a tour of my whole studio, and this one that answered reader questions about how, exactly, I did the declutter.


I've been watching. . .

The Good Wife and Foyle's War. I watch an hour or two of television every night while I do handwork and right now we're bouncing between these two series. I love them both! We don't have any kind of cable or satellite – so we only watch what we can get online or through Netflix. I'm also in love with Master Chef Junior. Other favorite series I turn to are Firefly, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and Elementary.

I'll admit – it's sometimes hard to stay focused on my work when I'm watching Miss Fisher. The costumes are spectacular!

I've been reading. . .

A lot! My husband is a writer and I worked in children's publishing for about twenty years before starting my business – so we're a family of readers. I hardly ever read craft books, but I read lots and lots of fiction. I love good stories – no matter what medium – and I wish my designs were better at telling or suggesting stories. It's something I'm working on and I have the work of some of my favorite artists hanging in my studio. :-)

I read for an hour or more every night after I'm done working. Some of my favorites from the last month or so are Clariel (the fourth book in the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix), The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey, The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, and Tongues of Serpents (in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik). I just started The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley - I love the Flavia deLuce books!


Wendi's 3 Top Tips for Happy Crafting

1. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. I know people say this all the time, but it's hard to take it seriously when all you see online are beautiful images of the successful projects that made the cut. But I mean it. If you're trying to learn something new, you're going to make mistakes. If you're not producing some spectacular failures, you're not pushing your skills enough.

2. Don't feel like you always have to push yourself. I know – I just talked about pushing your skills. But you don't have to do that all the time! Sometimes the happiest way to spend an afternoon is working on an easy project that you know you can nail. Don't be ashamed of doing things that are easy.

3. Don't look too closely at your mistakes. You're going to see them. You'll see mistakes that nobody else in the world will see, even if they're using a magnifying glass. But don't dwell on them – or feel like you have to rip them out and redo all of them. Just make a mental note of them so you know where to go slower or use more pins next time, and move on.

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Visit Shiny Happy World to see more of Wendi's work and check out her range of patterns and tutorials. You can also keep up with the news from Wendi's world on her blog, or on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. 

Click here to read more posts in the Crafty Ladies series.

Please note: the Amazon links in this post are affiliate links.

Crafty Ladies: Meet Laura Strutt

Today's Crafty Lady is Laura from Made Peachy. 

Laura wrote a fab guest post for me about creating a DIY wedding and was a lovely friendly face at lots of the crafty events I went to last year.

She's a busy freelance lady - a designer, maker, journalist, editor, author and blogger! She's the author of the Sewing Manual and the DIY Wedding Manual and her newest book, Arm & Finger Knitting, goes on sale next month. It looks like so much fun!

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Hello! I’m Laura and I live in Colchester with my husband and our sweet little Border Terrier, Waffle. I run my own creative business and spend my working days creating editorial, designing and making, offering creative constancy services and writing craft books.

As a fully trained journalist and having worked on a few popular craft titles both trade publications (as the editor of Craft Business) and working as part of the launch team of knitting magazine Let’s Knit before working as the launch editor of Sew magazine, writing is a passion of mine. Having decided to take the leap to work freelance, it is fantastic to get the opportunity to bring together my love of writing with designing and making to spend my days writing craft books.

Recently I’ve been making…

The majority of the things I have been making this year have been for work - lots of yarn based projects for me! But, when I’ve had free time recently, I have been making in-roads with calligraphy practice. I am, by no means, a natural penman, but I’ve been really enjoying the process of taking on a new creative pursuit, (slowly!) building skills, understanding rules and techniques, and discovering new favourite tools and supplies. I’m really looking forward to creating some finished pieces featuring modern calligraphy in the new year!

 

I’ve been working on…

Since the summer I have been working on lots of yarn based projects - mainly creating a range of exciting makes for my new book Arm Knitting & Finger Knitting - 35 no-needle knits for the home and to wear - which goes on sale in March. Creating designs with arm knitting was a fantastic challenge - it is great to be given the opportunity to work with a familiar medium and to adopt different and unusual techniques!

I’ve also been working on some exciting new jewellery designs and lots of crochet projects - which I can’t wait to share!

I’ve been blogging about…

Made Peachy is my creative journal, I love to share the things I make, recipes I love and creative pursuits to try. It’s fun to be able to share some of the exciting commissions that I have been working on too - I really enjoyed making this Sloth plushie for a new children's book release this summer!

In recent months, I haven’t been able to share my makes as much as I’d like, as many of these were for my new book - I was so happy to be able to finally share the details of this recently!

I’ve been reading…

As I have been crushing hard on calligraphy lately the most visited blogs in my browser all have a hand lettering theme!

The Postman’s Knock: not only is this a feast for the eyes, calligrapher & illustrator Lindsey Bugbee’s blog also shares lots of tips, tutorials, products reviews and even a selection of stunning free printables.

Coordinately Yours: Julie Blanner is a lifestyle blogger and entertaining expert - her blog is packed with fantastic recipes, crafts, home makes and ideas for gifts and entertaining. Julie’s calligraphy series is one not to miss!

Molly Jacques: having taken Molly Jacques’ Skillshare online calligraphy course I have been following her blog, admiring her growing portfolio and picking up tips and techniques along the way!


While I make, I’ve been listening to…

Audiobooks are my jam when I’m working - I find listening to books a bit less distracting than watching TV or a movie. I adore stories set in the deep south - like those by Joshilyn Jackson, Beth Hoffman and Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series has been listened to more than once! Neil Gaiman’s books are also a regular feature on my Kindle too… and my not-so-secret guilty pleasure is zombie books!

Laura’s 3 Top Tips for Creative Business & Freelancers

1. Set a schedule. Map out your tasks and goals for the week - being sure to be realistic, it's common to overestimate what you can achieve in a given timeframe - and work through in order of difficulty, priority or amount of time required. I’ve adopted the Bullet Journaling system allowing me to keep tabs on what needs to be done and by when, check off competed tasks, and re-prioritise when needed.

2. Work/Play. The hardest part of having a job you really love is ensuring that you don't work all the time. Yes, sometimes late nights around an approaching deadline is unavoidable. But, be sure to know when your working day ends and your home life begins.

3. Keep Focused. For many of us being a creative freelance or running a creative business is a dream come true. Following your dreams is hard work, requires dedication, motivations and lots of resilience. Writing down your dream - or goals - periodically is a great way to help you keep on track, it is also a great way to reassess or update your goals as you develop and grow in your creative sector.

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Visit Laura's blog to see more of what she's been making lately. You can also find her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. 

Click here to read more posts in the Crafty Ladies series.

Please note: the Amazon links in this post are affiliate links.

Crafty Ladies: Meet Nicole Vos van Avezathe

As regular readers might have noticed, I'm now running my Crafty Ladies series fortnightly instead of weekly. I love this series and I hope you'll continue to enjoy the posts when they pop up every couple of weeks! 

The second Crafty Lady this month is embroidery pattern designer Nicole who sells her charming work under the equally charming name of Follow the White Bunny. She's shared what she was up to in the run up to Christmas, and her tips for being (and staying) creative.

Nicole is one of the many designers whose businesses have been affected by the new EU regulations regarding digital products. She wrote a great blog post recently about how the new rules have forced her to stop selling her digital embroidery patterns but have also inspired her to think about what she really wants from her business and her creative work. I'm excited to see the new online course she's working on and all the stitchy projects she comes up with this year!

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Hello everyone! My name is Nicole Vos van Avezathe. I live in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, with my husband Erik, kids Luna (9) and Zoe (14) and cat Milo. We sadly lost our other cat Tijger recently. During school hours and often in the evening too, I run a small embroidery pattern design business under the name Follow the White Bunny. I sometimes make craft patterns too.

I love reading, listening to music and doing crafty things like quilting and sewing. I also love good food. I studied Medieval history but after I graduated, ended up working as a typist. Later I did planning & control at a health insurance company, which is an interesting career move for someone with slight chaotic tendencies :)

We then moved abroad to Norway for a couple of years and while my oldest daughter was in school and the youngest doing toddler naps, I started sewing and embroidering. And selling my first patterns!

Recently I’ve been making…

I have a bunch of unfinished sewing/quilting projects waiting to be finished but somehow I just can’t find my sewing mojo at the moment! I did finish the Noodlehead Supertote a little while ago. I like making practical bags with lots of space for when I’m out shopping and this bag is perfect for that.

For a book review, Handmade Scandinavian Christmas, I made some paper Christmas decorations with my youngest daughter last week. It’s always good to put a book to the test I think when you are going to review it. I normally never do any paper crafts (you can only do so many crafts!) but we both really enjoyed it and I was pretty impressed with the results. We did the proper grown up projects by the way but Luna was totally up to the task.

Hopefully I will have time to try a recipe from the book as well. Because we lived in Norway for a few years this book is partly a trip down memory lane for us. I’m looking forward to making a comforting bowl of Scandinavian rice pudding :)

I’ve been working on…

My main craft is embroidery so a lot of the time I spent on crafts involves embroidery. Usually I have several things on the go at the same time some ‘official’ and some for fun or to explore new techniques. I just finished creating and embroidering a design for a magazine, which was fun to do. I have also just designed a pattern called Wave Goodbye featuring a bunch of animals in a VW van.

I started on a completely new and rather timeconsuming embroidery project recently which is kind of a try out for an online class I’m planning to teach next year. I can’t share too much yet but I’m really excited by it! And… I’m working on a Secret Santa Swap present for one of my &Stitches colleagues!

I’ve been blogging about…

All sorts of things! Usually about embroidery though…I rarely plan blog posts, I just write about whatever comes on my path: a vintage book or a so called ‘aha’ moment about how to pull floss from a skein the correctly!

I’ve been reading…

I’m terrible at keeping up with blogs on a regular basis, so once in a while I check posts via Bloglovin’ and often I follow links people post on Twitter or Facebook or something. There was an interesting post by Abby Glassenberg recently about how much money fabric designers really make. The outcome wasn’t a surprise to me but I bet it was an eye-opener for many people.

I love to read books about history or (historical) fiction and I always have my e-reader full with lots of books, afraid that I run out of things to read! You can check out the books I read on Goodreads. For (older) books about embroidery I like to search Ebay or Abe books for affordable, interesting titles. I recently bought a fun, little book about Floral Embroidery from 1975 for just 1 pound. Unfortunately shipping to the Netherlands was over 5 pounds…

While I embroider, I’ve been watching…

Especially when I’m doing detailed stuff (which is often!) and peering through my magnifier all the time, I’m not able to watch tv while I stitch. I need to concentrate and often I just listened to music on my headphones as podcasts etc are too distracting as well. And even though I like alternative and rock music, I tend to go for calmer tunes while I embroider. I even made a ‘Dreamy Embroidery List’ on Spotify with dreamy tunes.  It’s quite a short list now but I’m open to suitable suggestions to add to the list :)

When I’m not crafting, usually later evening I like to watch documentaries about history or art. Or cooking programs! I also love most Tim Burton movies. We occasionally watch whole series within a week or so on Netflix. Currently we are watching the third series of Lilyhammer. It’s about a New York mobster, played by Steven van Zandt, who under a witness protection program ends up in Norway. It’s a kind of tragi-comedy.

Nicole’s 3 Top Tips for Being (and Staying) Creative

1. Stand out by being original and unique. Find out what inspires you personally and develop your own style. Sure you can jump on the Owl, Fox, Moustache whatever bandwagon but in the long run a distinctive design style that is close to you, is more valuable.

2. Develop and nurture special technical skills and expertise. Explore your craft in depth, it’s techniques and it’s history.

3. Try new things, all the time: new crafts, new places to go, new books, new colours etc etc.

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Visit Nicole's blog to see what she's been making lately, or visit her shop to buy her original embroidered pieces or a copy of her super cute Princess and the Pea iron-on embroidery pattern. You can also find her on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or sign up for her newsletter.

Click here to read more posts in the Crafty Ladies series.

Crafty Ladies: Meet Kate Marsden

Kicking off the Crafty Ladies series for 2015 is the lovely Kate Marsden of Made By Mrs M, sharing what she was up to in the run up to Christmas.

I met Kate at Blognix last summer and have bumped into her at several crafty events since then! She creates original fabrics based on her paintings of mid-century architecture, then uses the fabric to make a range of stylish homewares and accessories. If you'd rather make stuff than buy stuff don't worry, she sells the fabric too :)

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Hello! I’m Kate Marsden, a textile designer and blogger.

I live in far South London with my husband, 4 year old son and 2 cats, St John and Tabitha. I left my day job at the end of last year to concentrate on Made By Mrs M and to spend more time with the little man. I’m very lucky that the increased popularity of blogs and ecommerce has come at the right time to enable me to do this.
 

Recently I've been making...

A lot of products for my shop and in preparation for Renegade Craft Fair and Crafty Fox Market. I’m working on a new range of clutch bags and wallets to complement my existing homewares – all utilising my fabric designs.

I’ve also started thinking about some new fabric designs I plan to work on after Christmas (my to do list for the quiet months of January and February is so extensive that I won’t be quiet!).

In my spare time I’ve been working on my first English paper pieced quilt, but I haven’t had much time for this recently.

I've been working on...

I continue to spend a lot of time working on my blog and also trying to promote my work a little better. Over the past month or so I’ve been promoting my work which is now on sale as part of the RAted range at the Royal Academy of Arts and the new products I’m introducing on the run up to Christmas.

I've been blogging about...

I’ve been working on lots of tutorials for the blog – they all have a textiles slant but a recent one involved making ceramic buttons.

I’ve written a few more ‘advice’ style posts too – my updated craft fair tips proved popular as has my creative business books post.

I've been reading...

I’ve been looking at posts on the Design Trust’s site quite a lot over the past few weeks – they have some great advice for small creative businesses.

On the run up to Halloween I got a little hooked on The House That Lars Built – she had a great series of costume DIYs inspired by artists.

I’ve also been looking for good things to do on an upcoming trip to Venice and stumbled upon this great post on Design Sponge.

Books wise, I’m mid-way through Art Inc. by Lisa Congdon (I mentioned it in this post). Struggling to find much time for reading at the moment though!

While I make, I've been listening to...

While I’m working in my studio I listen to music. Often the radio (Xfm), but I’m currently playing all four Courteeners albums on repeat like a teenager (I saw them at the Reading Festival in the summer and a liking turned into a mild obsession!). I’ve also been listening to Royal Blood rather a lot and a new (to me) band, Lucius.

My music choice doesn’t vary depending on whether I’m working or not. I have to say that one of the best things about working for myself if that I can listen to a lot of music – never been able to do that before!

Accompanying me in the evenings (when I tend to work from the sofa to keep Mr M company!) is 30 Rock – we’re about to start season 4. The only thing I tend to put everything down for is Sherlock, but I think we’re still about a year away from the next series…

Kate's Top 3 Tips for Staying Creative 

I found it very hard to use my creative side when I was at my day job. Some of the things I did do have proved to be really useful this past year too though in helping me grow creatively, generate new ideas and avoid getting stuck in a rut.

1. Never stop learning – by which I mean go back to college for a short course, take e-courses, read books. Try and do this as much as you can afford to. I’ve taken courses in ceramics, painting, screen printing, life drawing and more – they’ve all inspired my work and improved my skills.

2.  Don’t work in isolation – many small creative businesses like mine consist of one person in a room on their own. This doesn’t do anyone any good in the long term (even an introvert like me). Face to face courses help; attend craft fairs and talk to people whether you’re there to sell or not; if you’re invited to an event go, and network (even if it’s painful for you to do so) – start on social media if you prefer though, it’s less scary and I’ve made lots of friends and contacts there.

3.  Create something every day – a couple of years ago I worked on some fibre art projects in which I made a piece every day to represent my mood and how the day had gone. It was an interesting experience as it sparked lots of ideas which were unconnected with the project itself. Now I’m not as regimented but I always try to do something. Whether it’s making something for the shop, sewing one hexagon onto my quilt, a page of my sketchbook or a doodle, I always do something. It’s true that the more you use your creativity the more it grows.

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Visit Kate's blog to read more about her current projects, or head to her shop to see her fabrics, homewares and accessories. You can also find her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. 

Click here to read more posts in the Crafty Ladies series.