I Am a Maker

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Maker

Photo of me and Mr. Lovely by Justin Hackworth.

During and since Alt, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. It was so inspiring to be there and see people working and pushing themselves to do more and be better. And to me, the most inspiring people were the ones who knew without a shred of doubt who they were and what they wanted. And it got me thinking about answering those questions for myself.

The deal is, I consider Lovely Indeed to be a DIY-focused lifestyle blog. I wouldn’t just call it a DIY blog because I have such a passion for so many other things, which is why I love to share with you about our travels, the food we eat, the shops I love, our married life, and on and on. I can’t just choose to ignore those things because the sum of them all is what makes up my life with Mr. Lovely.

And beyond that, I just can’t bring myself to say that I’m a crafter. Please don’t get me wrong — I love crafts and I love crafty people. DIY is what got me started blogging. But if I really think about it, I would call myself a maker. Because I don’t just craft. In our house, we make everything, big and small. I make cupcakes. I make music. I make accessories and I make headboards. I make up songs and dances. I make my family happy. I make adventures.

I’m still figuring out what all this means and where I can channel it, but as far as I’m concerned, this right here is a pretty handy place to put it all. And so I hope you’ll keep sticking around with me to see what I make next. Because once you figure out you’re a maker, you kind of don’t ever want to stop. xoxo

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26 Comments

  1. Your post made me smile 🙂 i like the name maker a lot better than crafter too. And I think it’s great to share about your life too – a glimpse into where you find your inspiration. Hugs!

  2. I agree on once you figure out who you are you don’t want to stop! I make cupcakes and ever since I found out I could do it I’ve never stopped! I’m glad you’ve found your identity and best wishes with your future making! =)

  3. Thanks for sharing this, Chelsea! I cannot tell you enough that I feel the same way! I started my blog by documenting all the things I was making and now it’s such a huge part of what I do but I too, also make so many things and am interested in sharing so many things. Excited to see what you do next!

    1. I love that! It’s such an exciting time to be part of this community, and especially coming back from Alt, I feel like we’re all supercharged to take over the world. 🙂

  4. I agree! This is the question I’ve been battling with a lot recently as well. I know what I blog about – coffee as well as my current inspirations and musings. But I have no idea what I would classify my blog as. It’s not just a coffee blog but it’s also not a design blog. So, I’m still figuring it out as well. Thanks for sharing this post. It looks like a concern lots of other bloggers have too.

    1. Definitely. And I think it’s okay to take time to figure out what you and your blog are. It’s a really cool thing to watch as it evolves and changes.

  5. I am also a maker! I love the term because it makes it much more difficult to be shoved into a box. There are so many preconceived notions surrounding words like “artist”, “crafter”, or “designer”. Maker is so deliciously vague it can include everything and anything and begs the question: What do you make? And then a conversation can begin.

    1. I love that! I’ve never thought of it that way, but it is definitely a conversation starter. That’s an awesome way to open up communication.

  6. Chelsea, it was so lovely to meet you at Alt! It’s interesting because these are the same thoughts that have been circling in my mind, too. Before I started blogging, I wasn’t a maker — but I am now. We all evolve, and so do our blogs, so it’s hard to classify yourself as just one thing.

  7. So nice to see this post! I have yet to make it to Alt but I’m sure it would be overwhelmingly inspiring for a crossover blogger like me… 😉 I started my blog to share sewing projects, but now love to blog about so many more things–I also just added “lifestyle” to my blog header tagline! It’s great that there are so many creatively interested people and multi-talented bloggers out there to inspire each other at conferences and online!!

  8. You know, I came to a very similar conclusion this year at alt. I kept writing notes in my journal with the tagline of craft and kept crossing them out and writing in making. There is just something so much more all encompassing about it. We’re not all one dimensional, I think this gives us space to breath.

    1. So true. And it’s not even that I don’t “crafting,” it’s just that there’s so much more than that. I feel like people hear “craft” and immediately pigeonhole you.

  9. You are so right – and many of us can relate to that, I think. Some bloggers really have a very well defined niche and some don’t. That doesn’t always mean that it’s everything and nothing, it’s just what we are. From now on I’ll say my blog is about “making and sharing”. Much easier than “DIY, design, fashion and lifestyle”.

  10. I think we are all makers – that we NEED to make, to create. And all this categorizing/analyzing has resulted in many of us cutting that part off from ourselves. If we can’t make a living at it, then we don’t do it. If we aren’t the best at it, then we don’t do it.

    We are still those ancestors living in caves who decorated the walls with a swipe of pigment by firelight and who crosshatched a design in a clay pot just because it looked beautiful.

    And most of all, we are still those same people who need to sit around a fire telling each other stories. Experiencing the arts together.

  11. YES! I just read this for the first time. I’ve been calling myself a maker too–it captures so much more than “crafter” and is prettier than “DIYer”. Love!

  12. Hi I just bumped into this blog, stumbling around the internet trying to figure out, what does it mean to be a maker, to have the soil of a maker, and as you describe it it is exactly that, I am a maker myself, therefore you can always find me doing lots of DIY, because it just comes naturally…without any learning or effort but most importantly I’m always making things, and I believe that’s my passion and purpose, I make bread, I make sausages, I make cheese, I make yogurt, I have an allotment with vegetables, I design little electronics projects,I make scented candles,…and the list goes on and on.
    But the interesting things is it feels natural for me to make things, specially new things something I’ve never done before…and I sort of find the skill for whatever it is inside me without further learning…very weird.
    All that is great, but I would like to meet people like minded to help me channel and focus that energy, power or call it whatever, to maybe make a living of it…or at least a second income…not sure what I need to do with it , it is yet to be found out.
    Thanks for your blog.kind regards