Queer Crafter

I have mentioned a few times on here, but I actually do some crafty making things on my time away from my blog or volunteering. 

I make handmade cards, I knit, I have a bullet journal that I designed for my blog work and I also enjoy doing those colour in books. Sometimes when I feel up for it, I paint and draw too. 

Now why have I done this post, I hear you ask? Well the thing is, craft work as well as blogging is mainly seen as quite a feminine line of work done. When I started writing and blogging I noticed that a large proportion of the bloggers who I was seeing in groups were cis women mainly doing mummy blogs or craft work. It felt really weird for the first few months trying to get out there because so much of what I was seeing certainly wasn’t me. 

I avoided mentioning that I made things and crafted because I felt that I would be placed with a lot of the women who wrote, and people thinking that men or masculine people couldn’t do this sort of stuff actually depressed me. It felt that it was a reflection on my gender identity and that I couldn’t be really a trans masculine person because I enjoyed doing stuff like that. 

Then I remembered that thinking like that was totally bullshit. Craft work hasn’t ever been gendered and there are probably are a whole heep of men out there who want to do craft stuff but are terrified of what people would think of them. What also cheered me up was seeing an Instagram that was based solely on men who knit. It made me feel so happy seeing tattooed, bearded men sitting with each other knitting, and reminded me that things shouldn’t be quite so taboo. 

Basically, regardless of gender, if you want to knit, or card make or journal, you should do that shit. Be proud of what you can make and do, and show the world that anyone can do anything. Regardless of what society tells you to do. 

Badge Designs

I decided to have a play around with the colorfy app (its free on Google play) and came up with some badge ideas that I think I’m going to make when I get back to Brighton. If you have access to a printer or badge machine please feel free to take these designs or make your own. I just made them with a really simple app so I can’t take credit for them. 

The bottom one is for the Facebook page we have, but I know a few people have asked about it so if they want to make them, please feel free. If you see me around Brighton just ask me about them 🙂 

Review – Colorfy

Very rarely do I ever decide to do a review on an app, but this has kept me amused for a good few days. This is Colorfy its a colouring in app where you can share what you have coloured onto social media.
The pros of this app is that you can colour designs anywhere you are. There is a mixed selection and you can make your own ones providing it has text in it.  It is also really easy to use and if you fuck up there is an undo function. You can also look at other peoples design ideas and like them.

There are also cons and some pretty big cons. You cannot save the pictures unless you either screen cap or share them to instagram and use the auto save features.
There also is limited choice of colours and colouring in pages unless you buy them and even then its not a one off payment, its a monthly subscription.
Also its not cheep if you were to pay for the subscription. Its about £25 for the year and for a mobile app I think personally that’s a bit much for something I would just casually play with.

However I really do like the app. I personally wouldn’t pay for the full subscription but I feel like others may do. It has brought me several hours of entertainment and I am probably going to keep using it until all the free patterns are coloured in and there are quite a few free ones, and for that reason alone I would recommend you trying the app out.

Greeting Cards

As promised I am doing a post on the greeting cards that I have made recently.
I have finally got a chance to sit down whilst away to make some things, and here are some of them. I will do another post with the Xmas ones I have done, but for now, I will show you 8 of the generic / lovers ones I have created.

Firstly, I probably have been able to make about 3 each day. They are made of sturdy card and some have quite fancy decoration on them. Some of them are also 3D and some have little shiny stars or hearts on them. All of them however are different, and all of them are made by myself. I was incredibly lucky to have been given a lot of the materials to make them, and I’m actually quite proud of them for a first attempt, before I get really serious of making them. Eventually I would like to be selling them, because I know there is always a huge market out there for hand made cards and I probably will end up pricing them at £2.50 / £3 per card. If I do end up selling them I will probably have a link on the blog to find them easily.

So do you make cards? Home made items or any other things like that? Do you showcase them on your blog or have a special selling place for them?
Give me a message, tell me what you think about crafting.

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