It’s Never Too Late…

Hello! Grace here.

I hope you had a lovely weekend. For us, it was a pleasant mixture of my Mum, Paul & Sam Crowe on Hochanda… and also the superbowl over here in the States! We threw a party 🙂

Firstly, if you watched Sam Crowe on Friday (her first ever Hochanda show!) I’m sure you’ll agree that she smashed it out of the park! Didn’t she do brilliantly? The mixed media stamps are so cool! I’m excited to have them over here in the States in the future. For now they are available on our general website:

https://claritystamp.com/search?type=product&q=sam+crowe+stamp+stencil

If you didn’t get to watch it (and also missed Barbara/my Mum getting emotional at the end) you can find the first show on repeat here:

https://www.hochanda.com/cinema/738785

I vividly remember doing a telly show on C&C about 8.5 years ago, and feeling absolutely terrified. So I’m fully aware that doing a live tv show is no small feat. My Mum used to get SO nervous, and now she does it like an absolute pro multiple times a month! Not so dissimilar to how nervous I used to get for voice over auditions, and now I feel totally comfortable doing them. Funny what we’re capable of once we build confidence in something.

I’m sure some of Clarity’s highly experienced design team members and some talented customers were nervous to post their first piece of artwork on a page, and now look at them! Even within January I’ve watched new Clarity & Groovi Worldwide members share their first piece of art nervously, almost apologetically… and once they receive such positive feedback and support from their peers, now they share everything they do! It’s lovely to watch! That is why these groups are so important actually. It’s a support group. And I’m chuffed to be a part of it with you.

Speaking of needing support… I have some good news! I recently booked my first audiobook, which is very exciting! And guess what?! It will be on Audible later in the year!!! I may have Harry Potter’d this in to existence 😉

But unlike commercials for shampoo or promos for BBC America, this is very new territory for me. And I’ll admit that I’m more than a little nervous about it! As soon as I stop working Clarity every day, I start reading this book out loud to myself. It’s 9+ hours long, 175+ pages and has 50+ characters in it, all of which have to have different voices. I’m half terrified that I won’t be good enough, and half excited that I’m finally being given an opportunity to showcase what I’m really capable of. Can you relate Sam Crowe?!

That’s normal isn’t it? I wanted this nervous/excited feeling back in my life creatively. Be careful what you wish for! Hahaha. Now I find myself trying to learn how to do a Scottish accent in my free time. I sound MENTAL. But find myself lost in it, and having fun with it very quickly.

I found a quote that I thought was wonderful, and that I certainly can relate to whilst working on this creative endeavor. I’m sure quite a few of you can relate to it too.

My Mum was always artistic and creative, but she went the academic route, got a bachelors degree in languages, and actually ran a language school in Germany before deciding she wanted her crayons back.

Even short-term, we lose our way sometimes. I’ve noticed that there are quite a few of our customers saying they stopped crafting because of something life-related that came up, they had to get on with the requirements of life and now they’re trying to get back into their passion projects.

Dave bought me this years ago. And it’s on my office wall, as a daily reminder.

So, let’s make 2020 the year we do that for ourselves!

Lotsa Love, Grace xoxo

Clarity – The Home of Art, Craft and Well-being.

14 thoughts on “It’s Never Too Late…

  • 4th February 2020 at 3:36 pm
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    An absolutely perfect blog post for the start of February! Thanks, it’s just the ‘kick in the pants’ I need to get going creatively again!

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  • 4th February 2020 at 3:50 pm
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    Good luck with the audio book, Grace. I listen to books on Audible too, and my favourite performer is Miriam Margolyes, precisely because she inhabits the different characters, even the men, and makes them all sound different. I loved her Bleak House. Let us know when you’re “on” xx

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  • 4th February 2020 at 4:26 pm
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    How brilliant. Can’t wait to hear the finished result Grace. I am sure you will be fabulous and it will be the start of yet another amazing career option. Can I confess now that I was not at all keen on art at school and dropped it like a stone after Y9 (although I carried on with music: recorder, violin, choir, early music group, orchestra). I am so glad that I took up paper crafting (I was always a knitter and sewer) and eventually started my blog. The blog came into being exactly one week before my fiftieth birthday and little did I know that four and a half years later I would be adding to it every day. You are right. It’s never too late.

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  • 4th February 2020 at 4:51 pm
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    What a great week of news, congratulations on the recording for Audible ! I’m listening to the Binding at the moment, by Bridget Collins, it was recommend by your Mum and I also listened to another one she recommended, BlackBerry and Wild Rose which I enjoyed. It makes listening so much easier with a voice I like. Sam did a great job with her stamps and I’ve enjoyed the cats and dogs dies! Thankfully I’m not so much into the under the sea ones and I have to save money somehow ! Have a good week. X

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  • 4th February 2020 at 6:17 pm
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    Good luck with your book reading Grace. I don’t envy you trying to master a Scottish accent – there are such a variety of accents too, and after 8 years living in the Highlands I still struggle to even say loch properly!!!

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  • 4th February 2020 at 8:13 pm
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    Great advice Grace, thanks for reminding us it’s never too late. Wishing you every success with the Audio book x

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  • 4th February 2020 at 8:17 pm
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    Hi Grace,
    Congratulations on getting your voice over for your first Audio book, i am sure you will be fine just remember you are your mothers daughter . You will be fine.
    I remember your first show on C& C quite some years ago , well shall we say only a few years ago as remembering this i am now showing my age!!!!

    Watched the shows and just love the fresh cut dies and Paul is always brilliant with showing us different types of card designs and such a great guy to .
    Have a good week .
    Keep up the Scottish accent !!!
    Lynn xx

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  • 4th February 2020 at 8:25 pm
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    Oh, Grace, you’ll just have to come to Glasgow with your mum and listen to all the different Scottish accents for a few days! What an opportunity! Love reading your blog. All the best with your prep. Hx

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  • 4th February 2020 at 8:47 pm
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    Congrats on your book job, sure you will do well.
    When I was regularly traveling the motorways I loved audio books but now I like to have a proper book in my hands, easier to get lost in !!!
    Loving the new Clarity goodies. Good job there is some birthday money in the offing or the bank account would be in a tizz. So tempting.
    🍒🍒🍒

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  • 4th February 2020 at 9:10 pm
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    I was very interested in your blog as I haven’t listened to an audio book since the days of them being on cassette tapes. I have no idea what Audible is or how to listen to it? I don’t have a mobile phone so I hope there is a different way of getting it. I’d love to listen to your book. In fact I’d like to find a way of listening to other books too. I currently read them on my Kindle paperwhite.
    Thanks for such an interesting blog post.

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    • 5th February 2020 at 8:29 pm
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      Hi Janet, Audible is part of Amazon. So if you have an Amazon account you can access Audible books. You don’t need a mobile phone, but a computer or better still, a tablet or an iPad .
      Hope this helps. ! David (Dave). claritystamp.com

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  • 5th February 2020 at 1:09 am
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    I love that quote thank you Grace I will have to purchase the alphabet set and stamp that and make Clarity art with it xx

    P.s. I bet your book audio will be great too

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  • 5th February 2020 at 11:44 am
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    Hi Grace. What a lovely writer you are, actually, not lovely, an interesting and lovely writer!!! I can absolutely relate to what you are saying. Imagine at my age being given the support and backup to follow my dream job and to just keep moving it forward. Not only emotionally, and professionally but financially too. I know what a risk it is to put faith in someone like me, by that I mean someone who is treading on new ground and can’t possibly know how it will turn out. My Life’s experiences have all added up to this Arty Place I am in, perfect timing too. But it wouldn’t be going ahead without the backup from your Mam.

    Grace I wish you all the best with the Book, can’t wait to buy it. You too have the life’s experiences to SMASH this out of the park. A bit of nerves is good, but you are already working hard to make sure you do it to the best of your ability, you can’t do more than that. You will be great. I could listen to you talking all day!! And have ! Ha ha kidding. Xxx

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  • 5th February 2020 at 8:34 pm
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    Lovely writing Grace, good words too. Nerves, I believe, certainly are part of the creative process. A type of energy…or passion. Believe in it , and keep doing it. Dave x

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