The creativity balm

27th June 2018

Somehow over the last few months I rather forgot how to be creative just for fun.  Like many small businesses (and indeed quite large ones too), I am navigating my way through a bumpy retail landscape right now.  Over the last year I have been focussing so hard on finding my path that I just plain forgot that it was ok to enjoy myself along the way.  It seemed that any creative pursuits needed to be aligned with my business.  They had to prove useful, creativity measured with an end goal in sight and anything that didn’t appear to fulfill that purpose seemed self-indulgent and frivolous.  I felt guilty about time spend creating anything that didn’t seem to have a direct impact on my business.

the importance of taking time for creativity

 

Which is completely crazy!

I wouldn’t even be in business if I hadn’t been indulged my imagination and followed my desire to be creative.  If I hadn’t taken the time to mess around and make stuff.  I indulged my desire to play with ideas in fabric and thread.  The more I made, the more I imagined making.  I allowed daydreams to lead, unhindered by the tiresome bother of spreadsheets, and market research into profitability and out of all that a business blossomed.

I was reminded of this when Jane sent me her Snapdragon Studio Subscription box.  I love Jane’s products, I’ve bought from Snapdragon a number of times over the years and so my expectations were high but I was completely unprepared for just how much care and thought had been put into this product.

I Love A Craft Kit

When I was a kid craft kits were always on my wish list.  I tried them all.  Paper making, macrame, tie-dye, silk painting, basket weaving, crystal growing.  You name it and I tried it. I was always lured in by the polished image on the front of the box and sadly so often the finished item did not come close to fulfilling its promise.  Too often the components were poor, the paint brushes shed their hairs, colours lacked pigment, wool was acrylic and glue would fail.

 

enjoy the creative process

 

The Snapdragon Studio Subscription box is not like that. This is something special,  a craft kit of dreams.  Every element of the box has been thoughtfully considered and selected with care.  From the beautiful paints to the thick artist postcards and the seed paper from Jane’s own garden.

 

the Snapdragon Studio Subscription Box

 

In a busy crowded world, it’s not often that mere stuff can create an emotional response.  It takes something more than ‘stuff’ and that’s just what these boxes are all about.  Jane has written about her drive to create something different on her blog, she explains how important it was not to include stuff for the sake of stuff, she writes “Instead they will simply be the exact things you need to learn a skill and make something beautiful and, above all, practical.”

As I opened up the Snapdragon box and sat down to paint a meadow, I felt my shoulders relax and my thoughts begin to calm.  The “just enough” instructions gave me permission enjoy the creative process.  There was no necessary goal to reach, no purpose, just enjoying the act of creativity.  And as I moved the ink pen across the thick, textured paper my mind began to wander and was reminded that the act of sitting still and working with your hands has its very own meditative power.

 

the importance of making time to be creative

 

Read about why Jane was inspired to create the Snapdragon Studio Subscription Box on her blog, over here.  And please don’t every feel guilty about taking the time to be creative just for yourself.

 

creativity and self care

 

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