Meet Julie: The Craft Enthusiast Behind "Sum of Their Stories"
Julie, can you tell us a bit about how you first got into crafting? What sparked your interest?
"Growing up everyone I knew made things. My mum was a great knitter and also loved to sew. Both my grandmas were very crafty, one loved to sew and paint and the other seemed to be able to turn her hand to almost any craft. So I grew up just thinking it was perfectly normal to make things.
I remember often receiving craft kits for birthdays and Christmas when I was young, and still think that kits are a great way to try something new. I've written a little more about me and my crafting history over on the blog here."
The Influence of Family
You mentioned that the women around you growing up were very influential. Can you share a particular memory of crafting with your mom or grandmas that stands out?
"My mum taught me to knit but I struggled with casting on and off for several months so I would interrupt her (at the most inopportune moments I'm sure) to get her to cast on a new project or cast off for me when I'd finished. I don't ever remember her moaning but I'm sure she was glad once I got the hang of it!
You can read more about the women in my life who encouraged me to be creative here : Why Sum of their Stories"
Day in the Life of a Craft Blogger
What does a typical day in your life look like? How do you balance crafting, blogging, and your Etsy shop?
"I start every day preparing any Etsy orders that have come through in the last 24 hours. Once they are safely in the post the rest of my day varies. Anything from developing and creating tutorials for the blog, sharing on social media, answering any questions on the blog or social media, paperwork (yawn!) to developing and creating new things for the Etsy shop. I try to publish a new project once a week on the blog although I don't always manage that. From having an idea, creating something, taking photos, editing photos, writing the tutorial and then actually publishing can take anything from a couple of days to a couple of months. I also host a weekly creative link up on the blog called Handmade Monday so I try to visit as many of the links that are shared there each week as I can. I'm not very organized naturally and get very easily distracted by a creative thought. I rely heavily on to do lists and notebooks stuffed with ideas. I've recently started using the timer on my phone to boundary time to help me focus. 30 minutes on one task which I then stop once the timer goes off - sometimes it works, sometimes I cheat and just set myself another 30 minutes! Whatever I do in the day, it is always punctuated regularly with LOTS of tea breaks, it's important to keep hydrated and tea is my beverage of choice!"
Crafting Passions and Projects
You’re involved in so many crafts! Right now, what’s your favorite craft to work on and why?
"That's Sophie's choice! I can't possibly pick just one. I have very much been enjoying experimenting with watercolour recently though. I'm not very good but I'm having a lot of fun trying! I share a lot of my behind the scenes crafting over on my Instagram."
Sustainable Crafting
Sustainable crafting is something you're passionate about. What’s one of your favorite upcycled projects that you’ve created?
"Another impossible choice! I do love crafting as sustainably as possible and take a lot of pleasure from creating something new from things that might normally be thrown away.
I guess I am especially pleased with the art I made with my late grandma's paintings last year. She was a prolific painter and my auntie had inherited boxes and boxes of her paintings and was struggling to know what to do with them all. We each kept around 20 of the best artworks each and then I created new art with the less successful pieces cutting them up and creating some collages. I also made some fun fandom art for my son who had just moved into his own place, and made gift tags from the last of the offcuts.
It felt really good to give new life to my grandma's paintings so now we can enjoy them instead of them just sitting in a box in the attic and I think she would approve."
Challenges in Crafting
We all have our crafting disasters! Can you tell us about a project that didn’t go as planned? How did you fix it (or did it end up buried in the wardrobe)?
"I have lots of disasters! Occasionally I share them on Instagram but most often they sit in the naughty corner (a carrier bag at the bottom of the wardrobe) until I come up with a way to save them. One particularly memorable disaster was my foray into sock knitting when I was a teenager. I made one sock which came out so big it could only have been a Christmas stocking. I never made a second and I think I may have left it in the bottom of my childhood wardrobe when I moved out for my poor mother to deal with."
Behind the Scenes of "Sum of Their Stories"
How do you come up with new ideas for your blog? Do you have a creative process, or do ideas just come to you naturally?
"Ideas are not a problem, I have notebooks stuffed with them. I'm constantly inspired by everything around me, other creatives and their work, old craft books, new craft shows, what's in the shops, items friends and family give me in the hopes I can "use this for something". My problem is finding time to try out the ideas. Not every idea is a good one of course but my creative brain whirs non stop."
Passing on the Craft Legacy
What do you hope your readers take away from your blog? How do you want to inspire them in their own crafting journeys?
"I hear so often people say "I'm not creative" or "I'm no good at crafts" and I honestly think that everyone has the potential to find joy in creating and being creative. Afterall, all kids love to make things don't they? What happens as we get older? I believe that people who don't think they are crafty just haven't found the right craft yet!
We don't all have to be amazing at something to get benefit from it, sometimes it's all about the journey, not the destination. Being creative has so many benefits to our health and wellbeing. If I can encourage anyone to try a craft, make something with their own hands, have a go at something new then I'm happy."
You can see all my projects and ideas over on my blog: Sum of their Stories
You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok
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