Creative Crafters for Christmas: Love Made My Home

With Christmas just around the corner I thought it would be great to interview a number of creative crafters that can offer something unique at this time of year. This week I am delighted to feature Amy from Love Made My Home. 

Hi for those who don’t know you, could you please tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi, I am Amy.  My lovely husband and I love our home, which is how the name of my blog and business came into being - Love Made My Home!  Ever since I was a small child I have loved to make things or create something new from something old.  I was upcycling before the word was invented.  Nowadays I like to crochet and do needlework, but I am just trying to learn to knit as well - it is proving to be a challenge for me.

My husband and I love to garden and visit historic places and go for days out to explore the world around us. As part of that I also work at a National Trust house as a tour guide which I really love, it is great to meet and interact with people and to be able to share what I love.

An ideal day for me would be some time in the garden to catch up with jobs there, then a visit to a historic house for a look round, and perhaps a slice of cake in the café, then home for a good dinner after which I would settle down to watch a period drama on the TV while I crocheted or did some sewing!  Sounds perfect to me!

What sort of creative business do you run?

I have an Etsy shop where I sell bags and stitch markers/progress keepers for knitting and crochet.  Or any other project you want to use them for of course!  My main focus though is designing crochet patterns.  I recently published four patterns in my Little Women Shawl series in my Ravelry Shop and have published patterns for various other items too.  I love designing crochet patterns as I like to fiddle around with yarn and make it into something new that didn't exist and wouldn't have been made if I hadn't come up with the pattern for it.  I suppose you would call me a designer crocheter maker.  I tell people I am a crochet designer - on the basis that saying it will make it come true!

What advice would you give to someone who wants to have a go themselves?

Just go for it.  If you don't do it you will never know.  I am a really tiny small business, but from little acorns mighty oaks grow and all that.  I was curious to know if I could do it and although I am at the beginning and things are still small I am so glad I took the leap and when I first made some sales I was so excited.  So my advice is to give it a go.  Get some advice about tax and accounting if you need to - boring but necessary - and then just make really good use of all of the free tools available to you or the cheapest other ones.  Running an Etsy or Ravelry shop costs very little in terms of money you just have to add the time to it.  Also use other social media.  It is mostly free.

How do you juggle your creative work/life?

I am not sure that I do juggle it!  I crochet at any time and often have ideas floating around in my head when I am doing something else.  Remembering them all is the hardest part.  I try and keep my work time to the daytime - 9 to 5 ish.  However, I rarely actually crochet on an item during the day and sit and do this in the evenings while I watch TV or chat to my husband.  Accounts and so on are always done during the day.  Most of all, as with all things in my life, I try and stay organised and not let things build up so you are overwhelmed with paperwork when you want to be creating.

Where can we find you?

You can find Love Made My Home:  my blog here, Instagram here, Etsy here and Ravelry here.

Thank you Amy for taking time out of your busy schedule to be interviewed. If you are a creative crafter and would like to be interviewed on a future post in the series please get in contact.