My Creative Journey

Introduction
Hi there! 

My name is Rebecca and I am the creator behind LillyPaw Creations Jewellery, a handmade jewellery store selling original pieces designed and created by me!  I use genuine gemstones, high quality Japanese and Czech glass beads, Premium Czech crystals, metal charms, and polymer clay beads. I offer various styles of bracelets from strung to woven to wrap as well as earrings and necklaces.

What I Hope to Accomplish With This Blog
My hope for this blog is that, first and foremost, it will be useful to creators who struggle with physical disabilities, as I do personally, but I also hope that it will inspire creativity (I’d love to see your own unique designs!).   
For my first post I wanted to give you a little back story on me and my business and then, with future posts, I intend to provide my takes on popular items (such as bead looms) with pros and cons as well as create posts that delve into specific areas of jewellery making (for instance, I am planning a series of posts dedicated to the different bead stitches including their origins).  I hope to make these fun, informative, and helpful.  I would also like to attach relevant and helpful YouTube video links by other creators whom I have learned a great deal from and that I hope will help you in return.

A Bit About Me and How I Got Started
I began my creative journey in 2002 by making greetings cards, note cards, and bookmarks.  My mother had purchased a few brass embossing templates, a double ended ball stylus, and some card from a store on Whyte Avenue called When Pigs Fly.  At the time we didn’t have a light box, so I was using two stacks of books, a small pane of glass, and a nightlight bulb to emboss the cards!  Originally began as a hobby, I quickly became hooked and gradually started expanding my collection of templates.  My father was kind enough to make me a light box and that expanded my horizons even more.  I would emboss my cards or bookmarks and then hand paint them with acrylic paint.
Some time later, I decided that I wanted to try and make an actual go of things and turn my little venture into a small business. But what would I call it?  At the time, I had a precious black cat called Lillypad whom I had adopted from the SPCA in Edmonton when I was around 10 years old and she was just 6 weeks old.  From the moment I laid eyes on her we had an instant bond and I loved her from that day on and for forever.  I decided I would name my business after her and I have never once regretted it.

I began selling my goods at local farmer’s markets and eventually expanded into polymer clay figures and beeswax candles.  I also taught a couple of classes (via a local adult learning programme) on making embossed cards.  I am not a fan of public speaking by any means and I’m definitely not someone who likes the spotlight, so teaching those classes was a bit anxiety inducing I can tell you!  It was also a really good learning experience and I guess it’s always good to get out of your comfort zone!

I continued on like this until I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis a week before my 23rd Birthday.  Below I will describe how this disease forced me to adapt to my new reality and how I chose not to give up on my creative dreams.
After being diagnosed with RA I was thrown (and, if I’m being completely honest, I still am even years later).  At the beginning I was still able to do basically everything I could do before, but, as the disease progressed, and after the dislocation of the index and middle fingers on my right hand which, once the temporary cast had been removed, left my fingers at a permanent ninety degree angle, I was no longer able to hand emboss.  That was devastating and I thought that I would never be able to do handmade cards again.  For several years I languished in this state, believing my creative days were over.

Then, quite by chance, I stumbled on the Sizzix Boutique embossing machine by Stephanie Barnard.  It is an adorable little machine in the shape of a handbag and it is hand crank.  I was able to emboss again!  My heart sang!  I purchased some Posca paint pens (a small pack as they are reasonably expensive) to use instead of the acrylic paint and brushes I had been using before to colour the embossed images.  A year or so later, I came across the Sizzix Sidekick die cutting machine (also hand crank) that allowed me to make small die cut images.  I was in love!  I had never done anything with die cuts before, but once I found myself in that world I saw how much additional creative freedom it allowed.  I started off using clear stamps and acrylic blocks to stamp images and then used the accompanying dies to cut them out with the Side Kick, but I am not the best stamper (never have been) and especially with my hands being as they are it wasn’t always super clean stamping.  I kept seeing crafters on YouTube using a stamping tool called a Misti.  It looked exactly like what I needed!  When I went searching, however, I found out that it was quite expensive (at least here in Canada).  Luckily, I came across Hampton Arts’ Stamp Perfect Tool.  It has made a world of difference for me and it is one of my absolute favourite tools (seriously, ask my Mum, I can’t stop gushing about it!).  I now use Ohuhu alcohol markers to colour my stamp and die cut images (I know a lot of crafters use Copics, but they are horribly expensive and Ohuhu’s are a really nice, affordable alternative).  I started off using ColorBox ink pads to stamp my images, but found that when I went to colour them in with the alcohol markers, the ColorBox ink would bleed (in order for it not to bleed I would have to leave the stamped images quite a while before I could colour them), so I recently transitioned over to Ranger Distress Oxide ink pads to do my stamping (Black Soot is my default now).

A couple of years ago, again, quite by chance, I came across the electric Sizzix Vagabond 2 machine (shaped like a cool suitcase!) by Tim Holtz (now one of my all time favourite designers) and that took my card making to a whole new level as it allowed for both embossing and die cutting with one machine and it also meant I could use bigger embossing folders and dies!  I’m now making pop up cards (my favourite so far is Lawn Fawn’s pivot pop-up dies – they create such a cool effect!), shadow box cards, and magic scene changer cards.  I also have the emboss and transfer set that allows me to use my brass embossing templates and my dies to emboss on to cards which is fantastic.  The only real downside to the Vagabond 2 is the sheer weight of it (it is massively heavy), so when I’ve pulled it out, it stays out for some time so that I can get the most use of it before storing it away again (I don’t have room in the house for a dedicated craft room, unfortunately).

What The Future Has In Store
In the Spring of 2023 I decided to make quite the u-turn in my small business!  I switched from the card making I had been making since 2002 and dove head first into jewellery making.  I ultimately made this decision because I felt like I needed a stronger outlet for my creativity than what I was getting through making greetings cards (not that they weren’t fun to create though!), especially because when I was making cards I was using other people’s artwork (via stamps, clipart, stencils) and although I was creating unique items by combining these in different ways, I couldn’t claim them to be truly mine – to be designed solely by me.

There was (and still is!) so much to learn!  Most of this process has been fun, but at times it has also been challenging (having to take rest days due to repetitive strain injury just to name one).  Then there was the complete redesign of my website – boy, did that take a lot of work!  I hope that when you visit you will see all of the hard work and effort I have put in to make my customers’ shopping experience as enjoyable and easy as possible.  Even my logo has had a bit of a refresh!

I have a lot of fun designing and creating my pieces and I have a special page on my site explaining the intention and thought process behind each collection I have made which can be found here.  I definitely feel more creatively fulfilled now that I have complete control over my designs.

Another impact RA has had on me has been my energy levels – I only have a finite amount of energy each day, so I need to plan my day in advance, taking special note of how much energy I know a certain project will take up and trying to accomplish my projects before mid afternoon as that is the time I start to become fatigued.  This is a major reason why I no longer make beeswax candles and polymer clay (they are just too labour intensive for me personally and I wasn’t seeing enough of a profit from them to justify using my finite energy on them).  If there are days where I can’t muster the energy to make handmade projects I still try and do something productive: watch YouTube tutorials to learn new skills or to get inspired, think of new designs for pieces that I can create and add to my collections on days when I do have the energy to make them, or write a blog post for my website.  But, some days, I will just have the day off.  It has taken me a long time to realise that there is nothing wrong with taking some time for yourself – in fact, it is absolutely imperative, especially when suffering with a chronic disease.  I have found Qigong very helpful in replenishing my energy levels and helping me cope with stress.  

One thing I have learned about my personal experience with RA is that stress makes the effects of the disease so much worse. Unfortunately, life is inherently stressful and I am, by my very nature, a massive worrier – a ball of anxiety, if you will – so I had to find ways to cope.  I have found meditations to be helpful, especially those that involve visualization, balancing chakras, and invoke nature.  Inna Segal, Gwen Randall Young, and David Large are my go-tos.  Reading, listening to audio books, watching TV and movies are all things that help me de-stress.  I have had good success with mantras and affirmations also.  I get a lot of pleasure from playing video games and I love doing word searches, cryptograms, and logic puzzles.  And, creating, whatever it may be – writing, drawing, taking photos, designing and making jewellery – all of these also help me to unwind and be less of a stress ball.  I am a perfectionist and therefore I am terribly hard on myself and that is something that I have to work on every day – being kinder to myself, reminding myself that I may not be able to do the same things as an able bodied person can, but what I can do is still amazing and that I shouldn’t be comparing myself to others anyway. 

A wonderful podcast that I have found that gives me perspective and hope on my illness is Like Mind, Like Body by Curable (they also have an app and YouTube channel).  An app that has been a life changer and life saver for me is Insight Timer.  There a thousands of free meditations (of all kinds) as well as Live events that you can link into for all sorts of issues.  They do offer a premium membership which gives you access to their courses (of which there are a hundreds) as well as the ability to download meditations and courses.  It also has a built in journal if you find that helpful.  I do not have any affiliation with Insight Timer (or any of the others I have mentioned in this paragraph), I just feel that these have all been immensely helpful to me personally and wanted to share them with you in the hopes that they can help someone else too.

That brings us up-to-date with my journey so far!  Stay tuned for my next post where I will be discussing chakras.

Have a wonderful, crafty day!