About Me
Hi there!
Welcome to my tiny creative space on the internet. My name is Becca *waves*!
I have always been a 'crafty' person (both in the glue gun and glitter sense, and the 'mwuhahaha nefarious plot to surprise' you sense), a character trait likely developed from both my mom and aunts love of making and my childhood obsession with the show Art Attack (though it always bewildered me as to why Neil always had to whisper the words "loo rolls"....). Some of my favorite memories growing up involve me working with my mom on one of her crochet or plastic canvas stitch projects, baking, or going to my aunts' ceramic shop, the Ceramic Hut, to paint or just hang out and listen to the old ladies gossip for the day.
As I grew older the craft projects started to grow farther apart, although I did try to bring out my creative side whenever I could for school projects or during the holidays for decorations. It wasn't until I was much older and in my mid 20's that I realized that I could use my creative side to actually make the everyday things that I wanted and were useful, not just small trinkets or scale models of cell organelles for biology projects. This combined with my sharp 'internet-ing' skills, honed from countless undergraduate and graduate school reports, essays and project proposals, is how I've come to have a large collection of made by me clothing, a varied assortment of DIY household items, and a whole den dedicated as a creative space/craft hoarder storage area.
Side note: I call this room "The Craft Room" but my partner the, #fluffyblondemonster, insists on it calling our "home office". Yes my computer is in here but let's be honest, pushing aside my sewing machine, and fabric, and yarn, and glue gun to one side of the desk to set up his laptop does not make a room a "home office", it's a craft room that occasionally moonlights as an office to keep the peace (also, LOVE YOU #fluffyblondemonster! and please don't kick me out because I can't afford an apartment with a Craft Room/home office on my own! and yes I'll re-arrange the pile of fabric under the desk as soon as I finish knitting you that nice sweater**)
Being able to find inspiration from all corners of the internet, as well as tutorials ranging the whole gauntlet of skill sets, is really what has enabled me to be the "maker" that I am today. It feels awesome to wear something I made myself, or to gift hand made items to loved ones :) Despite loving all of my hand made things I have become wary of telling others that I have, in fact, made them. This mostly stems from some experiences where people then put themselves down, "oh wow you made that today? I barely made it out the door as a functioning adult, I feel like I should just go back to bed now.", or "oh I can knit but nothing like that", or people then staring, mouth agog, like I've come from another planet that I probably hand-made from discarded space junk and bits of string......These encounters always made me feel super awkward, embarrassed, and confused and I would often then point out any flaws with said hand-made item in a misguided effort to stop the other person from putting themselves down by putting myself down. I know that a lot of other makers have also felt this way and it really does do our time, effort, and skills and injustice.
So this is where the title, and inspiration, for this website/blog/thingy comes in. "Becca made that" became a common refrain from my close friends and family when I stopped feeling comfortable telling people that I had made something. If someone complemented my shirt, for example, they would chime in with "Becca made that" before I could even begin to formulate a reply. They have always been so proud of my "crafty-ness" and I realized that I should be proud of it too! I hope that by sharing my own makes with others I can both give back to the large DIY community on the internet by sharing my inspiration for projects and things I've learned along the way, and to re-learn how to be proud of what I've made for the fact that I've made it with flaws and that makes it better than perfect.
