My name is Tricia Smith and I’m a Scottish Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator UK based in East Central Scotland (Fife to be exact). This page is to tell you all about me.
My husband and I have been married for almost 17 years and we are best friends. We have two sons aged 14 and 8. We actually got married on my birthday hooray.
Me and my boys
Their names are (l-r) Mackenzie and Ricky Jnr
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 who you can see pictured below.
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 ME/CFS & 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) 🙁 but my therapy using CPAP for that is going well.
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 ME/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 Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator
I HAVE NOT LOOKED BACK 🙂
That was October 2018 I became a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and within eight months I had become a Silver Status with a small team and small pool of customers. My team is now growing and I love it! 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!!
Not only does crafting bring out your creative side, it can also offer friendship and support from fellow like minded crafters – and I have a great group of class attendees whom have become great friends to both myself and to each other. My classes page will provide you with further details about the classes I run.
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. Oh, and don’t forget my creative side …
In my day job I do a lot of social media tasks and this experience has helped me in my business. I also have 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 having learnt the ropes along the way – self teaching is the best way to learn, but I can help you too.
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 Stampin’ Up! 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 become a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and a part of my growing team aka #TeamSmithy please feel free to contact me via the contact page link above.
Or, you can visit the join my team page for a list of most commonly asked questions when people want to join Stampin’ Up!
https://smithscraftycreations.com/join-my-team/
Don’t forget to check out my Shop Now page, Customer Reward Page, Monthly Creative Crafting Kit Page and my Special Offers pages.
If you are interested in either local or private one to one classes, party bookings, are looking to order product or join my team of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators please feel free to get in touch. Please see my Contact Me page for my details.
You may just wish to….
Shop with me…
We have lots of amazing offers on just now.
My #TeamSmithy Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator Team
I am very proud to be a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and a team leader to a growing team of demonstrators who share the passion for paper crafts and Stampin’ Up! Products as I do. If you are interested in becoming a member of #TeamSmithy please see my Join My Team page for more information on becoming an Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator. I welcome anyone from the UK, Germany, France, Austria and the Netherlands.
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 – what a country!
I used to ride quads and motocross bikes for fun with my husband at a track every weekend which I volunteered for too.
I love fishing.
I love all animals.
I volunteer with my local Village Town Hall – to help keep it running for the benefit of our community.
My family is my life 🙂
Why not have a browse through my Online Shop (grab a cuppa, you could be a while!).