Monday Blog

Good afternoon Clarity people. Stuart here with your daily dose of the Clarity Matters blog.

How was your weekend? It was a wet one, wasn’t it? But I like that. We had a nice cosy Sunday afternoon playing with the chickens in the living room and enjoyed another great meal from Wifeby’s new Jamie Oliver recipe book (he’s good)! And on Saturday the rain held off just long enough for me to lay some carpet in my office. Which, by the way, is harder than it looks. Despite watching YouTube tutorials. I’m convinced it would have been a bit easier in a bigger room (my office is tiny), and the carpet offcut I had was an ‘L’ shape so I needed to add a separate section in to fill the gap which is not ideal. But at least it looks like I tried. A little bit lumpy, but it seems pretty well stuck down and it’s not going anywhere! Having spent an hour or so getting that done, I still might treat myself to a professional job next year. It’s nice to have a job done properly. DIY really isn’t my forte. I lack skill, and, more importantly, desire. So many other things one could be doing with time. Like reading a book… As an older gentleman from my church has told me many times, DIY stands for Don’t Injure Yourself. Quite right he is, too! As far as I’m concerned DIY is just an excuse to be left alone so I can listen to the football on the radio uninterrupted. Do it yourself? Well, I’m always happy to have the skills, but, really, no thanks. I’d rather stick to my ethos of stimulating the economy by paying someone else. Not always possible – you can’t empty the coffers every month – but certainly preferable…

Well, if you can make it out, below is a little snapshot of my humble attempts. It’s not perfect, and the whole thing isn’t finished yet. But I needed to get that job done just to be able to clear out the house of my junk…

DIY, though. Not for everyone, in the traditional sense. But crafting… well, crafters are all about ‘do it yourself’, right? That’s the whole point. And companies like Clarity, well, we’re the crafting equivalent of B&Q. We’re you’re one-stop supply shop for all those bits and pieces you need to get the job done. Properly. And, just like the B&Q video I watched on YouTube last week, we’ve got so many similar YouTube tutorials to help you work through all techniques and skills you need to get the most out of your crafting experience.

Because, the big difference between crafting and DIY that I can see, is that whilst DIY is very much about the end result, crafting is mostly about the process… I mean, with DIY, as long as it works and doesn’t look too much like a pig’s ear, you’ve been a success. It doesn’t matter how much stress, how much wasted material, how many muffled profanities, how many mystery bruises or how many screws were left over that shouldn’t be – as long as it works – you’re HAPPY!

With crafting, however, if you don’t enjoy it, what’s the point? If you get angry or upset during the process you’ve not gained anything. Especially when you can go to the Card Factory and pick up 10 Christmas cards for £1.00. They won’t be as nice, but it will certainly be less stressful. Crafting has a much more cerebral benefit than DIY. It’s a hobby to help the mind and thus the soul. And that’s a big thing for us at Clarity – the notion that crafting should be enjoyed. And we go out of our way to help you do just that. Think of our YouTube videos or Barb’s Facebook live sessions in the Clarity SHAC Shack… Plus the templates we produce, the instructions we write, the New Design Club we run, the blogs we write (mostly Barb’s blog)… Everything we do is geared towards enjoyment more than the end product. Because if you enjoyed it, you’ll be happy, despite what it looks like. But, as so many of you have experience by joining in with the SHAC Shack, a little practice goes a long way and actually, the end result looks amazing most of the time. I mean, just think of the blue blog last week? ALL amazing. Just look on the Clarity Worldwide Facebook group – ALL amazing.

So I hope this little post has been encouraging and uplifting. We’re here to help you enjoy the process. So I’ll put links below to all those places I’ve just mentioned. And if anyone else wants to chip in with some crafting wisdom please do add a comment below.

Well, I hope that you find some resonance with my thoughts and observations. But more than that, I hope you are able to enjoy our content. I hope you find much inspiration from the blogs and the Facebook groups and YouTube and that your crafting will be a pleasure, not a chore.

Bye for now,

Stuart