Crafty Crap

In my AP Art class, there was a girl who was just starting to experiment with mixed media. At this point she was still playing around, trying to decide what direction she wanted to go with her portfolio. So one critique day, she brought in an abstract canvas with some rhinestone highlights and painted and real peacock feathers. She loved sparkles and peacock feathers so she thought she’d try introducing them a *little*. And after everyone had given some input, the teacher gave her his advice, VERY roughly paraphrased here:

“So here’s the thing… I do not like this style. These are just elements that do not speak to me personally, but I see that you like them, and you’re doing interesting things with them.

“My biggest critique is, I only merely *dislike* this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.”

Her portfolio was chock full of neon colors and glitter and rhinestones and splashes of peacock feathers and it was a delight. Our teacher despised every piece lol, but she got great marks and I think even won some awards. And more importantly, she was happy and proud of the results. Because she didn’t limit herself by trying to appeal to people who were never going to enjoy what she enjoyed.

DO YOU USE ETSY IN THE UK?

If you use Etsy or EBay to sell things in the UK, whether it’s for your small business or just selling personal items, please check out this website and do some research on the tax implications. I don’t use Etsy myself, but I was planning on looking into it before I found out they’re going to be taxing people.

To be fair, I don’t think it’s as crazy as I first thought, but it’s still put me off especially since they already have pretty high fees.

Anyway, from what I can gather, if you earn more than £1000 in a year on Etsy, eBay, and maybe even other sites like these, then you’ll be taxed. (£1000 a year seems a bit low to me for being taxed but whatever.)

It’s supposedly called “side hustle tax” and is being put into place by HMRC to try and prevent tax evasion and make it fairer for online sellers to be declaring and paying taxes as well as storefronts or “physical businesses” etc.

Seems weird to be focusing on evening it out between the lower classes and making sure they pay tax on £1000 a year and over but not making sure rich people pay their taxes but whatever.

So yeah, if you own a small business or even just sell your own stuff on, be aware of this and have a look into it. This is just a random website I found info on at 7am when I couldn’t sleep. Whether you’re in the UK or not it’s probably still worth looking into to check what the rules and regulations are wherever you’re selling from. I’d hate for small businesses owners and people running side hustles to end up getting fined or worse for not paying taxes when all they’re trying to do is earn a little extra to help with their bills.

My newest Halloween and autumn makes 🍁

Autumnal hearts 🫶🏻

Would anyone be interested in a free autum lead pattern to create their own garland?

Love looking into the product box and seeing all the autumn makes 😍🧡🍁

I think my favourites are the autumn leaf turtles and the bats because they’re the ones I’m most proud of 🥰

Check out my IG for more! @maxandminniecrafts

Quick shot of me making one of our yellow rose turtles

Yesterday was my mum’s 60th birthday, and the third of my Stelara injections, so I wanted to make something to brighten up the day for me and that would make me think of my mum before I continued working on our Christmas products

I’d love to do a long video that doesn’t have to be sped up for filming myself crocheting, but since my content is primarily made for IG, no one would watch it if it was that long!

A little about me: I have chronic illnesses. I have a stoma. I’ve had two surgeries. I’m self employed.

Some ask suggestions:

What illnesses do you have?

How long have you had your stoma?

How do you feel about having a stoma?

What do you do as a self employed person?

In case you want to ask something, but don’t know what. Also, the classics such as: what’s your favourite colour; what’s your favourite animal etc

Ask anything! You ask, I’ll answer!

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.