Happy Sunday!

I hope you are all having some relaxing time today with family or friends. I made a quick visit to my favorite little shop in Lincoln, NE, Simply Bungalow and picked up an old Reader’s Digest book that had a super cute cover. I have ideas racing around in my head on how I can make an Idea Book from it….stay tuned to see what I come up with.

I’m also now watching the skies, wondering if they are about to open up and give some relief from the mugginess and water the yard for us!

Today I have a special treat for you! I reached out to someone I had never met before on Instagram, Julie Avery, to see if maybe she’d join in on our Cultivating Creativity Challenge for July. I had fallen in love with the beautiful colors in her feed and the fun crafty goodies she sells in her shop Lemony Stitch! She is as colorful of a personality as she is in her shop! Come take a listen after Julie introduces herself to you:

Hello Hello! I’m Julie Avery. I am a maker. I love all things crafty and pretty. I’m obsessed with lemons and sunshine and secretly wish I could pull off wearing rainbows everyday. Color and all things happy are my jam! I’m the owner/creator of Lemony Stitch – crafty business where I specialize in fun fabric things such as banners and lemony stitch washi. I’m a huge fan of supporting other makers – the handmade community is an amazing place to share and cultivate ideas and friendships – lift each other and love life! My laundry is always overflowing. I love house plants. I don’t know how to text without emoijis. I have 4 children (2,4,8,10) and a very busy and supportive husband. I aspire to be a blogger and motivational speaker. I’m a Mormon. I currently serve in my church as a teacher over the woman. I love to pray. I seek to inspire others to be happy, lift each other and enjoy this beautiful life we’ve been given.

www.lemonystitch.com

Instagram @lemonystitch

Cultivating Creativity with Julie Avery from Rachel McGough on Vimeo.

I can relate to Julie in a number of ways. First being in a creative business I think people sometimes think all we do is creative work. Though we may make creative products we certainly have lots of business-y work to do as well. Buying supplies, doing taxes, loading products onto our websites, organizing projects, etc. Also being in a creative business gives way to coming up with not only lots of ideas we may want to try for ourselves, but also ideas that we can apply to our business. When you are being creative for work that typically moves to the top of the list vs perhaps an idea I just want to do for myself. It is a challenge to force ourselves to add in time just for you.

I love how Julie mentioned that involving your family is so important. Even though you might be the only one who sews in the family, think of ways that you can involve your spouse or kids. Whether it be decisions on fabric choices, or a pattern, having their input or even help will make the projects and creative time more meaningful and fun!  It also inspires your family members to be creative too in their own ways when you have projects you enjoy working on.

Thanks to Julie and her kids 😉 for joining us today. Go check out her fun fabric Washi Tape and all the inspiration over on her IG!

Thanks too for all your notes and words of encouragement on the July Challenge!  I’m happy to hear that you are enjoying the series!  There may be a new topic in the works for August!!

Be sure to sign up for the Handmade U Tribe Newsletter!  More to come on that soon!

Have a wonderful week!!

xoxo
-Rach

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