My Secret Geek Revealed

All my life I have been a crafter. I can’t paint or draw, but I love to create. Those of you who know me personally can attest to my passion for all things crafty. I began with flower pressing when I was 6, then quilling and calligraphy when I was 8. Using those crafts to make cards, I then progressed onto other types of paper based card making, and in my teens was heavily into Fimo and jewellery making. I bought my pyrography machine in my early 20’s and have made some lovely unique gifts with that.

When my son was born in 2010, I began to teach myself cake decorating and did a college course in cake decorating. I think of all of my crafting hobbies, cake decorating was my favourite up until that point. I love everything about the process of cake decorating (except for getting the icing rolled out!). However, due to my neck problems, and FM and fatigue, it eventually drew an end to that career path as I became unable to stand for more than a few minutes, and my hands became too shaky and painful. I can’t bring myself to say I have entirely given it up – I still live in hope that I will be able to use those skills again- but each cake I have made over the past couple of years has brought me to tears.

Being a crafter with a disability like FM and fatigue is very frustrating. Not only has my disability hindered my ability to work, it has also stolen the ability to do those things that I love the most in life. But I have always been stubborn and I refuse to be told I can’t do something. I stubbornly believe that where there’s a will, there’s a way. Creativity runs through my veins; I just had to find a different outlet.

I have discovered the perfect creative hobby that I can do from my bed; digital crafting! I was frustrated for years by the knowledge that my computer was capable of doing the things that I dreamt up, regarding design, but that I didn’t have the knowledge to know how to use it. The Covid-19 pandemic has given me the time and opportunity to finally do my online course in graphic design, and I have been able to take my passion to the next level. I am so excited now whenever I receive a new project to work on and a new challenge to push my skills to the next level.

I have always had a passion for graphic design and have been a lifelong secret font geek! Wherever I go and whatever I see, I am always looking at logos, graphics and studying how fonts have been used in design. I know it’s super geeky, but a font isn’t just a means to convey words; when we choose a font for a project, the font we choose conveys huge meaning in and of itself, either about us or our product. Have a look at some text around you next time you go out and you’ll see what I mean.

On my journey of creative discovery over the past few months, I have discovered one website that I have found to be invaluable; Creative Fabrica. Creative Fabrica is a site for designers that has hundreds and thousands of fonts, graphics, designs, mockups, svgs and more, I am totally in love with CF and have found so many beautiful fonts for use on my projects. Some of the fonts and graphics are available to purchase, and they offer a monthly subscription option, but there are also hundreds of free fonts and graphics available for download too. I have downloaded so many that my poor computer started running low on memory and I had to buy a separate memory stick to store them on!

To find the fonts, follow the link: https://www.creativefabrica.com/fonts/

If you are looking for super free fonts to boost your computer’s ordinary range, have a look at: https://www.creativefabrica.com/freebies/free-fonts/

If you like graphics and images there are also loads of those that you can use for your own projects too. Some are available for personal use and some have a commercial use licence that comes with them! Check them out at https://www.creativefabrica.com/graphics/

I personally love the watercolour graphics. I found that when I started, I was using a lot more of other peoples graphics, but the more I have developed my own skills, the more I am creating my own designs from scratch.

I could tell you my favourites but we would be here all day as I just have SO many! If you haven’t already come across Creative Fabrica, I really recommend it to anyone; have a look and see for yourself! – see if you don’t become addicted like me!

See you next time!

Beckey x