A thought on Creativity...

It's been a while since I've blogged about just thoughts I have. I have a lot of thoughts. Since I have A.D.D. I often find myself and my thoughts all over the place. Recently I've been thinking a lot about the concept of creativity. I'm in a History of Creativity class right now, which has somewhat kept the thought of creativity in my mind as well. As you probably know, I opened my first Etsy shop (Just Buttons & Bows) just in September. It has taught me a lot about business, organization, art, and, of course, creativity.

When I was two years old my mom bought our family a trampoline because I was such an active child she needed something to give me to do with all my energy. When I was four I was enrolled into a program called Creative Dance at BYU. I stayed in that program for fourteen years. It was a way for me to have an outlet for my wannabe-artsy self (I thought I would be an artist one day...ha!) to create things that I love and express it through music and dance. I continued to dance after that program, and I am now working on teaching dance.

Two years ago I was going through a really hard time and I needed to get my mind off of things. I had been handed down my great-grandma's Bernina sewing machine, so I decided to re-develop the talent I had started to build when I was in seventh grade.

I now have my Etsy shop which is my current outlet for my "artsy", energetic, random self. I created my shop because I was looking for something new to have as hobby and I am obsesssssed with bows, sewing, and pretty fabric. I put a lot of hard work into creating my shop and making it my own--different from any other shop I had seen. I've seen so many shops (I've had too much fun browsing on Etsy recently) and I've seen so many amazing things created because of people who have a passion for what they do and the random, fun, unique ideas they have. I have also seen shops that are exactly the same as others, no creativity involved. I've wondered why people go through the effort to open a shop if the only way to create something is by going off of the creativity of someone else. I've had so many friends recently ask me for advice about opening their own shop, which is SO exciting. Some of these friends are even selling bows and things similar to mine, which is great! I didn't personally invent bows or earrings, so obviously I'm not bothered these people are opening shops similar to mine, because they're being creative. They are making something generic their own. I'm so excited for these friends to find the joy in doing what I've had a blast doing for the past few months. It's been exciting to share excitement and encouragement to friends who have so many creative ideas that they are about to do amazing things with.

I'm so grateful for everyone who has supported me with my shop. I don't have a shop to make money. Honestly, making money is basically only necessary so that I can have my shop open. I just love sharing something that I love doing with other people. So thank you to everyone who has supported me since day one (September 19, I think?). I'm grateful to have people in my life who still support the two-year-old inside of me who still needs a creative outlet. Thank you, you guys are the best :).


Just for fun, I was able to get a map of all the cities that things from my Etsy shop have gone. It makes me so excited to see all the places that my work has gone!