Gratitude post - Raksha Bandhan 2020 !

This is a very happy happy post with lots of love and gratitude 💟

As a crafter I get to work on cards for different occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, valentine theme etc., along with these I always wanted to design cards for Indian festivals. In 2019, I took orders for Raksha Bandhan, though I delivered them perfectly, I couldn't customize it for each person as I took orders just before few days of festival.

This time in 2020, I planned ahead. I took orders in prior, noted all the requirements from each client, designed as per the personality for their brother/sister. I have set a deadline for each card to schedule my time according to my corporate job deadlines! I have arranged all the raw material required for each card and handmade envelopes to place each card. I had this habit of saving all the cardboard boxes and plastic I received from my online purchases. These became so much useful for packing along with our regular postal cards.

I was very successful in delivering each card on time! My clients were supportive through out this process. I have posted all my work on daily basis, this also increased my consistency in card making. I could also finally get rid of procrastination by following a neat plan 😇

Looking at my Raksha Bandhan collection, even my mother ordered cards for her siblings, cute isn't it 😄 This was completely possible because of my clients, they were as excited as me in giving minute information and suggestions while designing the card. Most touching part is that even people for whom I have done the card called or texted me to give the feedback on the day of the festival 💓

I am happy sharing my experience with you all and here is my collection. Show some love and comment your favorite card.

The Beginning!

Hi All!

 

I am back again 👋

 

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who responded and went through my first blog post and supported me further.

 

Having said that, in today’s blog I am going to talk about how I learnt this craft more technically and also about 2 special people who stood by me and supported me so closely till date. So, I would call today’s story as “Learning and Loving”.

 

The common tools that every crafter talks about paper crafting are paper, pen/pencil, coloring mediums, scissors and an adhesive. Yes, it is true. There is no magic tool to create an amazing craft – so tools do not decide your art. Your emotion, essence and a basic skill to depict that emotion through art makes the art more amazing. This is the prime funda for any form of the art – Get the emotion, know the essence of it and then portray it with your skill set. When you are able to do wonders with these basic tools, just imagine, what you can accomplish when you evolve more by learning new techniques and getting exposure to many other crafting tools? Yes, the same happened to me;

 

So, as I started this journey, I came across many crafters like me, got exposure to different craft brands and tried to attend few workshops. During the course of time, I realized that this community of crafters is so vast and wide than we think and gradually, it made me feel that I am not alone sailing in this boat. From then on, the journey was more focused and clearer as by then I had benchmarks, role models and mentors who can guide me and help me evolve.

 

Hence, I kept learning different techniques and accessed new tools. Learning and experimenting became a continuous process. I also delivered my products which I received through multiple platforms. All this gave me more confidence and by the end of 2017 – I was very confident of this journey and the path which I am taking. 

 

I also have to mention about my mother who played a key role in this journey – and yes, just like any other typical Indian mother, she too felt that all this crafting is just a hobby until I started earning out of it 😅 Whatever was her opinion – right from the day 1, she was the only person who stood by me and helped me in crafting. She used to guide me in picking colors and designing, I used to enjoy that mom-daughter time a lot!

 

When all the office team meetings and crafting were happening in my life, I had to embrace another new change personally – yes, a lovely human being entered my life.

I got married in December 2018. He replaced my mother when he started sitting with me and suggesting me when I craft, just like my mother. Now, I have this guy constantly helping me grow personally and professionally. He understood my passion and kept encouraging me. Today he is my best support system. I still remember the moment when he had tears in his eyes when I gave him a cute little card on his birthday, we were just engaged by then and I proudly say more than the rings, that moment made us fall for each other!

 

With the help of this support system, I was able to manage my profession, household chores and also never stopped following my passion. Slowly, to come out of my comfort zone of only making cards, I started making handmade gifts - like personalized frames, home decor, hula hoop hangings for the customers. Every product reached their new home safely making my clients happy. It was by the end of 2018 I transformed myself as a complete Entrepreneur. Yes, it took me a lot of time to call myself an entrepreneur, because it is not only designing a product, there is a cycle of steps to be followed till it is at the doorstep of my client. From jotting down the requirements to packing the product, everything was to be taken care with utmost care and love:) Yet, it is still the beginning....!

 

However, it is not easy to stay with same enthusiasm and energy everyday, we all have our own low days every now and then at work, home etc., due to the mechanical and social pressures that we face in our daily life. Eventually, I got habituated to this spirit of race in profession as well as the spirit to unleash my passion. All this made me understood the tag "working-woman" is not so easy. However, the only medicine is to take break, a healthy break for a healthy start! This rejuvenates our energy like more than before.

On the same note, I am giving a break to my narration, let's meet in the next post! Until then, here's a hula hoop hanging designed for a client....

How it all started!

Welcome to the most happening part of my World! Yes, this blog is the most happening place of my world as it is all about my start up – “Heartie Creations”. I started this blog (though very late), to share my journey and all about my baby – “Heartie Creations” – One stop-shop for all the hand-made customized cards.

 

Being myself a married software engineer, everyone expects that all my weekdays end up working on applications, projects, meetings and household chores. But the most exciting part even in these hectic weekdays is the recharging and refreshing source of mine which is my CRAFT MAKING. Yes, even in busy schedule, I work on my CRAFTS. This rejuvenates my energy and focus. Though I am a corporate employee on weekdays, I am a crafter every day. Hence, I LIVE every day.

 

Now let me tell you in my first blog how an art loving child in me became a craft making entrepreneur.

 

Just like most of the girls, I too was fond of arts and crafts since childhood. However, all my love of arts then used to be drawing and doodling. I still remember loving myself for drawing Living organisms in my Science Note books (funny isn't it! for a small girl like me that used to be the only place to project my drawing skills 😋).

 

Slowly, my love towards arts has immensely increased and it did not stop by admiring the arts and artists, it continued to trigger questions in me on art making and how to make these arts more better with MIDAS touch.  Hence, every time when I bought or saw a greeting card, my heart used to voice out to me saying “this could have been more heart touching!". So yes, it all started there.

 

I never realized the actual crafter in me until one day, if I correctly remember, I believe it was in my 7th Standard, that first art which I learnt very seriously was "Quilling". I was taught this art during few of my “Art & Craft” classes. I very much loved that art, and little did I knew then that it will earn a special place in my heart in my later stages of life.

 

Then later I got busy like every other typical Indian student in studies and exams, but the crafter in me was always continued to live by making hand-made greeting cards to my friends. Later, after I got into my professional career in 2014, I joined a club by name "Voice Of Youth" at my work place and one of the activities of the club was to plan celebrations for the birthdays of the club members. One fine day, I had an idea of gifting a handmade card for every celebration and worked on it. I still remember that amazing day as the compliments and encouragement I received from all the club members was over whelming. Since then, my heart and brain continuously motivated me to start concentrating on it with more focus. And that’s when my baby was born - I started "Heartie Creations”.

 

So, all these love and passion which created my hobbies initially, later ignited me to start as a Creative Entrepreneur. I really feel amazing on how even my cursive handwriting practice sessions during my summer vacation in childhood now help me to write amazing content on the cards. May be this is the reason; wise people always say that no learning will go useless.

 

During the early days, the only place to promote my cards to the end users and customers was Facebook. (Thanks to Mark 😋) I always had an amazing group of friends who helped me in capturing my crafts and in the content to take them to the market. I would like to now thank everyone from bottom of my heart for encouraging me and supporting me to follow my heart. They played a key role in my journey of being an Entrepreneur. Now, I am managing all my orders and business through Instagram.

 

This is the first chapter of my journey – there is more to share 😊

 

I shall continue about my present life as a wife, IT person and a crafter in my next blog! You can follow my work on Facebook and Instagram, please find links in the blog.

 

For today posting my first quilling work 💗