Crafty Ass Female

Today on the podcast we have our first overseas guest: Jess Roebuck. Jess is a single working mum to three-year-old Ben, living in England & working as a teaching assistant. She started scrapbooking using Project Life® in 2015 - when her son was born - despite believing herself to be purely academic + not at all creative. Jess is on the Wild Hare Kit design team & mostly scrapbooks in a travelers notebook. She absolutely identifies as a ‘creative’ now, who loves taking photos, starting new projects, working on mini albums & telling her own stories. We are happy she reached out to us looking to come on the show, since her interview is chock full of relatable goodness + is one of our new faves! BOOM!

On this Monday before Halloween, we decided to release this episode on the spookiest topic we could imagine: POLITICS…and voting…and the election. EEK! Welcome to episode 47: The Election Episode, one which A + K think is super important in this day and age, as electing representatives to address our needs, issues, and values is yet another thing we women have to be resourceful about, and let’s be honest: is downright confusing! This episode reveals how the relationship + conversation between informed women voters like Kristin, and uninformed women who want to be voters like Amanda, needs to develop + grow.

We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring back our very first guest interviewee, Ali Edwards, to the show today with this very special episode centered around the projects she hosts this time of year: December Daily® and One Little Word®. // Listen to Ali’s 1st interview with us here (https://www.craftyassfemale.com/episodes/24/aliedwards).

Today we have Jennie McGarvey on the show. Jennie is a SAH turned work-from-home mom of 3 school-aged boys, who has been scrapbooking since 2001 and involved online since 2011.  Jennie added a paper planner to my line-up in 2014 and has never looked back!  She’s been published in print magazines & a member of many design teams since getting involved.  Currently, Jennie is am a member of The Happy Planner® Squad, Doodlebug Designs Design Team and Citrus Twist Kit Club design team. In addition, she loves teaching, educating + meeting other paper-crafting and planner enthusiasts.

Cecily Moore starts with her background as a Girl Scout, scrapbooking since she was 9, her crafty mom’s influence, having a Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design, switching to become a graphic designer, and then starting The Paper Curator. The girls also talk about losing your ‘craft mojo’ and getting it back, digital scrapbooking vs. manual, and realizing your niche. Cecily reveals her 5-year plan for The Paper Curator, and the process of making a collection!

Amy Tangerine walks us through the creation of her book Craft a Life You Love, doing life ‘out of order’, and having a positive outlook. Amy & the girls also play an impromptu game of ‘my therapist said’ sharing some key takeaways from therapy including letting go of negative thoughts and limiting beliefs.

In this episode, A + K go back & forth sharing items on their LESS/MORE lists. KRISTIN’S LESS/MORE LIST: LESS excess. LESS unrewarding work. LESS pain. MORE space. MORE time. MORE connection. AMANDA’S LESS/MORE LIST: LESS of more, MORE of less. LESS agonizing, MORE organizing. LESS trying to be good or have other people think I’m good, and MORE having fun just playing. LESS trying to get to where I want to go, MORE just being where I am. LESS focus on happiness, MORE focus on wellness.

The second annual Awesome Ladies Live Feminist Scrapbooking Retreat hosted by our very own Kristin 'rukristin' Tweedale took place in her home town of East Lansing, Michigan the weekend from August 17-19. It was AWESOME! There were LADIES! ...and we crafted together LIVE! What was also LIVE during the retreat was the recording of today's episode: the finale of what's been a HELL of a Season 2! A + K discussed the theme of this year's retreat which was Self-Care Through Storytelling.

So is Pinky her real name? (The girls get to that right away.) Also in this episode, Pinky talks about going to Parsons School of Art & Design, how Brooklyn and living in New York influences her work, and being a woman in the street art community. Pinky also discusses her cheeky, cheerful style and her desire to make the world more fun. The girls discuss understanding the inspiration behind everyday inanimate objects + giving them personality. Other gems in this episode: Pinky's approach to her booth at the NSS trade show, whether or not she reached her goals for NSS, her feelings on licensing her work, advice to artists who are just starting to make art, and what she had hired help actually help her do. 

In this episode, the girls talk to Kam about the origin story of her 30 Days of Lists challenge, how it's evolved, and gotten to the point where she now hosts it every March, September, + December of the year! Kam + the girls also discuss all the different ways you can prep for the challenge and create your lists, whether it's in a notebook, in a pocket page album, on a post-it, as a blog post, or even as embroidery!!!

Today we have Joanna Alberti on the podcast. Joanna is an illustrator, product designer, and small shop owner located in Rochester, NY. She is the creator of philoSophies™ (pronounced fill-ahs-SO-fees) which is a greeting card + product line featuring the main character Sophie, her philosophies on different occasions, and inspirations on friendship, love, and confidence.

Today we have Katie Smith on the podcast. Katie is an artist + crafter located in Washington, USA. She loves anything + everything crafty – from sketching and painting to scrapbooking and art journaling, and even crochet and quilting. If it’s creative, she loves it! Her artwork focuses mainly on women, galaxies, and nature.  Katie shares all of her creative pursuits as well as creative tips and tutorials on her blog, www.studiokatie.com. Katie is a published artist in multiple magazines and books, including Creating Keepsakes, Stitch Craft Create, and Brush Mag.

In this episode, France GETS REAL! She talks about how she got started in graphic design, and how she's been a part of the memory keeping community since the late 90s, but did not put her creativity out there right away. The girls then fast forward to present day and talk about Traveler's Notebooks & designing for the industry in 2018.  France also brings up how modern day society is a 'quick dismissal' society, and doesn't give artists enough credit or time or money to evolve their art.  She also gives us crafty ass females a unique perspective on the realities of Design Teams and what's going on when you're on them. Oh yeah. We go there. 

Crafty Ass Female's 'Summer of Special Guests' is underway : our second series of amazing, inspiring interviews with a badass bunch of creative & resourceful women that Amanda + Kristin are thrilled to be able to share with you! Today we're talking to Jaclyn Carter, an entrepreneur, teacher, and mom to two little ones, who runs a company & lifestyle blog called Love Jac that helps you create, share, and connect through art. Jaclyn has expanded Love Jac in recent years to go beyond selling greeting cards. Jaclyn hosts adult craft classes in person and online, and teaches a kids' art class called “Artists & Crafts” where she introduces toddlers to famous artists and encourages the children to create their own age-appropriate masterpieces.

In this episode, Danielle Spurge shares how she 'just started' craft business, said 'YES' to everything, and leveraged Etsy to open herself to opportunities. She also talks about how that lead to her branching off into the craft business consultant she is today, teaching other makers how to make a profit off of their crafty tendencies. Danielle also explains the idea behind 'leveraging' and 'optimizing' your visibility + presence, figuring out what the unique opportunities are on each platform, and goes into the difference between the audience on Instagram vs. the audience on Etsy.

Welcome to Crafty Ass Female's 'Summer of Special Guests' : our second series of amazing, inspiring interviews with a badass bunch of creative & resourceful women that Amanda + Kristin can't wait to share with you! Today we're talking to Brandi Kincaid, one of Kristin's artistic inspirations. Brandi is an illustrator and paper crafter who makes and records memories with her husband Andrew, and puppy Augie Roo, in Bellingham, Washington. She spends all her free moments listening closely, playing with paper and glue, and drawing a version of the world around her. A few days a week you can find her helping guests and giving tours at her local art and history museum, which is, in her not so humble opinion, the best place to practice some of that listening she loves so much. When she isn't making a mess or dreaming up new designs, she's spending time at one of her favorite neighborhood bookshops, thrifting treasures, or watching episodes of Murder She Wrote, because nothing beats J.B. Fletcher.

What was June on this podcast? Haa haa! If you just started listening to us this month, then know the show is not always filled with such heavy topics, as the last few were...Haa haa! ...but in truth, being a 'crafty ass female' means navigating issues such as how social media affects everything we do and how to maintain good mental health and how to be resourceful in a society that still upholds certain sexist social constructs.

Two months ago, Amanda + Kristin came out with EP. 22 of this podcast about MENTAL HEALTH - sharing their mental health history, what they've learned along the way, & different things that have helped - doing their part to destigmatize mental illness & bring awareness to how the struggle w/ it is 100% REAL and common. In light of the recent tragic suicide deaths of both KATE SPADE and ANTHONY BOURDAIN, they felt the need to revisit this topic, dive deeper, and offer again - a candid & open conversation about it.

Amanda + Kristin start the conversation talking about PROTECTION, and then ease into discussing 'big business' on the Internet using YOUR data for THEIR bottom line.   In the second half of the episode, A + K address the more indirect danger of the pervasiveness of the social media culture we now live in: the mental + emotional toll that it has. The girls also discuss the 'antidote' & what we could do as resourceful women to navigate through the 'mess'. This episode contains a lot of the ins + outs behind the functioning of major social networks, and touches upon some major points that will come again in next week's culturally important episode. 

A + K are checking-in MID-YEAR ('cause WHOA: it's June already) with the goals they set at the start of 2018 & talked about back in EP. 06 of the podcast - what's worked, what hasn't worked... Let's jump right into it!