To bead or not to bead, that is the agonising question!!

Who knew how difficult it would be to keep up my initial momentum when it came to crafting new pieces?!

Let me take you back to my first few months as an independent crafts person....

Once the studio space was set up there was nothing that would stop me from making, I was eager and excited every day to get into my space and spend hours upon hours practising techniques and making endless amounts of jewellery.

Then the set back with moving studios put a stall on my productivity rates as I hefted all my gear up the street and three flights of stairs.

However I was still feeling positive and set about making my new space just as lovely as the last, with more space, better storage and loads of natural light, so far so good..

Then came the decline. Somehow I felt less excited than before and struggled to find inspiration. A rather disastrous summer market event left me feeling disheartened and soggy (it rained continuously for 6 hours!)

I went into the studio less and less preferring to work from home and actively procrastinating on tasks I needed to complete until i ultimately came to a stop. A gentle but absolute stop. A stop that lasted a few weeks were I barely had the motivation to log onto Instagram let alone post anything!

A personal low point that felt awful, pointless and difficult to see a way out of. A point where instead of buoying my confidence and filling me with ideas, other people's success felt like an insult and proof I was going nowhere.

This had to stop, and if it weren't for my fantastic support network i think i could have jacked it all in then and there never to be heard from again!! But the ever eternal optimist inside finally broke free once again and told me to pull my finger out and try harder, I mean whats the point in doing this if at every obstacle i fall down and stay there.

So it is with renewed confidence and the spark back in my eye that i say BOO TO FAILURE, you will not have me today or tomorrow or any other day in my professional life because, simply put, I will not allow it.

xx R