A little bit different post today
Hi and welcome to today’s post – no tutorial or video for you today but I did want to blog for you today. Mainly to let you know more about me, Tricia aka Smiths Crafty Creations and aka Smithy (you can call me what you like), and why I love Stampin’ Up!
So, I’m 41, married to my best friend and soulmate Ricky of 18 years, with two very kind and caring boys aged 8 and 14.
Their names are Ricky Jnr and Mackenzie.
We live in a semi-detached house with lots of rural space, fields and greenery around us (from the back view of our house anyway) just look at the views.
We have two german shepherd dogs named Roxy and Millie.
Roxy is Millie’s mum and is 4 and a half, and Millie has just turned one. Family life and having a good circle of people you can trust around you is so important to me as these are the people who matter the most.
Why do I like creating things?
You won’t be aware but back in my high school days I had planned to go to University to Study History and Art as those subjects, along with English and French were the ones I was best at. However, having only passed one out of three highers during my prelim exams (B+ Art) , I threw the towel in as I had no confidence in myself or confidence that I could indeed pass all three exams. Pupil support in terms of career direct was pretty rubbish when I was at school. After deciding not to stay on any longer, I was given two options Office Work or…… Office Work….. yuk I thought. But, it turned out things happen for a reason as I went on to have a very successful 19 year career within business administration in the same continuous contract from aged 16 to 35. In fact, I only left because I couldn’t do any more or climb the ladder any further.
It was then I decided a change would be good and a change to part-time, less hours, was even better. After about six months of uncertainty in a new role I didn’t like and looking for jobs while in my new job, I found my dream job, which I joined in 2016 and am still here today. A small close knit voluntary organisation with a fabulous staff team.
It was just unfortunate that during or just after my first year in the role I started to really struggle to get out of bed in the mornings and was eventually diagnosed with fibromyalgia, I think that my normal 110% effort in life came to a halt, and my body needed the rest. Good timing for having just not long cut my working week back for fun! I was also diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) 🙁
Life Changing
At this point, everything happened at the one time, I had to stop the gym, I couldn’t go for walks, I couldn’t run anymore as I was in so much pain, and the chronic fatigue – Wow! it is just nasty. You can imagine it was hard that my life, or how I filled the time in my daily life, done a complete 360 – that was hard to come to terms with, and still is hard even today. But, positivity does help (and medication) !
Okay, so my body couldn’t be as active, that’s fine, I’ll pace myself and rest often – but my mind couldn’t slow down and I knew I had to find something to focus on that wasn’t physical – and I found my creative side again.
Now it was by chance I was taken along to a craft class and I attended for a few months doing various papercraft projects (no stamping!). I quickly realised that my need for more creativity meant that I no longer was enjoying the crafts at class. So I didn’t go back and I started to buy my own crafting supplies, which very quickly led to a massive hoarding of uncoordinated products, mishy mashy crafts that I couldn’t focus on, and by now I’d spent a small fortune and found myself spending more and more on just crap really – £1 crafts, collecting buttons, buying things for sake of it – then I found my upline on YouTube.
Finding my creativity again…
I purchased my first Stampin’ Up! product second hand and I just loved the red rubber. I only managed one order to my upline before very quickly deciding to join her team. I thought if she can do it so can I – that’s it I want to learn more, start my own channel, start my own classes and give my mind a focus again. That’s how I roll – 110% (okay mostly all mind now and less physical but I still push push push)
Becoming a Demonstrator
I HAVE NOT LOOKED BACK 🙂
That was October 2018 I became a demonstrator and within eight months I had become a Silver Status with a small team and small pool of customers. I have a YouTube channel which is linked in the image below – feel free to pop over for inspiration and subscribe too if you like – I’d love this.
Why do I love Stampin’ Up!
Well, I’ve always been creative whether this was through Art at school, or to show my creative side through my fitness – does that even make sense? But, for me becoming a demonstrator has given me focus, it has given me a purpose in life again (other than mom and wife). I have made so many new friends, many of which will be lifelong friendships. Its much easier to be part of this online community than it is to be a friend in real life at the moment. And most of all I have FOUND MY CREATIVITY again yay!!
Stampin’ Up! Products are fantastic quality and coordinate beautifully with each other as we have lots and lots of coloured inks that have matching cardstock, matching DSP, oh and then there’s the stamp sets that match the DSP, and the punches and dies that match the stamp sets….. ahhhhhh. Oh – embellishments too! I could go on allll day.
What qualities do I have that help me in my Stampin’ Up! Business?
Well, as well as a degree in Management, Accountancy Qualifications and Payroll Training I have a wealth of knowledge around administrative processes and procedures and have used a PC computer all of my working life.
In my day job I do alot of social media tasks and this experience has helped me in my business. I have also lots of marketing experience in terms of visual design of logos, posters, adverts etc for Social Media – although no formal training. I love to analyse statistics so keeping an eye on my social media stats and insights is a must for me (not all though!). I also have some experience around Search Engine Optimisation and WordPress.
My advice..
Follow your dreams and do what makes you happy. If you can visualise something …. you CAN achieve it. I am still growing as a demonstrator and learning too. Time goes soooo fast these days as I’m always creating (when my health doesn’t slam me down).
If you’ve thought about joining Stampin’ Up! and would like to become a part of my growing team aka #TeamSmithy please feel free to contact me via the contact page link above or via my JOIN MY TEAM page https://smithscraftycreations.com/join-my-team/
Or, you can visit the join my team page for a list of most commonly asked questions when people want to join Stampin’ Up!.
Wanna know some fun facts about me?
I have 14 tattoos.
My favourite drink is Semi-skimmed Milk
My favourite food is mince and tatties
I am allergic to cats (but not dogs) oh and nickel, and most perfumes, in fact all perfumes booo
I am the youngest of three by 10 and 12 years!
I live in Fife but was born just outside Glasgow.
I used to fight in Thai Boxing before I had the kids and trained in Thailand once.
I used to ride quads and motocross bikes for fun with my husband at a track every weekend.
I love fishing
I love all animals
My family is my life 🙂
Don’t forget to check out my Shop Now page, Customer Reward Page, Monthly Creative Crafting Kit Page and my Special Offers pages.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel too www.youtube.com/smithscraftycreations
