Why I Write & introducing Miss Dotty!

I was nominated TWICE to write this piece on why I write, so I thought I'd really better get on to it! If you're interested in the origin of these writing prompts, head over here. It's quite hard to write about yourself, so firstly I'm giving a bit of a blurb about the two gorgeous ladies who nominated me! 

Picture credit http://www.alwaysmadewithlove.co.nz

Firstly I had a lovely request from Lydia at Always Made With Love who nominated me over in here post here. Although I don't know Lydia personally, I have enjoyed taking a peek at her beautiful blog and some insight in to her life with her baby boy and husband. I  just love Lydia's blog tagline "...my happily ever after look at life". Isn't it wonderful to have a fully positive outlook from the outset! 

Lydia's blog is about life as a mummy and wife and sharing little glimpses into their world.

At the moment she is halfway through a 100 days series "Because I'm Happy". This is a challenge to find the beauty in everyday moments, (something I think we could all aspire to do) for 100 consecutive days. Doing something like this is quite a commitment! 

Lydia is fairly new to blogging, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Lydia's blog grows as I'm sure she'll have a loyal following, myself included!

Picture credit http://www.mnmsadventures.com

I was also nominated by my dear friend Meghan, over at MNMs Adventures. I have known Meg for about 4 or 5 years now and as I've mentioned before, she is the one who got me into blogging. Meg's blog has a huge following and (unlike me) has regularly weekly postings on all kinds of things. MNMs Adventures follow the life of Meghan and her family. You can read about family happenings, birthday party ideas, recipes, craft ideas, general day to day musings, poetry, creative writing and most recently, some absolutely breathtaking landscape photography. If you haven't checked out Meg's Instagram feed for Meghan Maloney Photography, you're truly missing out! She really has captured some stunning Wellington scenery of late, and if you're a fan of sunrise or sunset, you have to have a look. 

There actually aren't enough kind words that I can say about Meghan as she has supported me through this blogging journey and life in general. She is a very special person of which only a glimpse is seen through her blog. 

What am I working on?

At the moment I'm making a felt Christmas stocking for my son. I've started it now because I'm not sure how long it will take me to finish it! I'm pretty sure I'll get it done by Christmas, but just in case...

I'm also thinking about the blanket I promised to make my sister aaaaagggeeessss ago. The main hold up is waiting for her to decide what colours she wants.... 

The last thing I'm not physically working on (yet) but creating a list in my head for, is things to make for the Thorndon Fair. I'm getting together with some likeminded creative types here in Wellington for the Fair in December. We've hired a table and will be hoping to sell all our collective wares! I'll keep you posted on how this works out as I'm sure lots of you are keen to get your hands on some itsmariemade goodies!!

How does my writing differ from others in this genre?

I like to think I have an honest style of writing. I don't like to pretend I know I'm talking about something when I don't. There are a lot of crafty blogs out there, and I don't think I'm specifically different to anyone else. One thing I try to do when I write is keep to quite specific content. I especially did not set out to create a daily life blog, and although I love reading other peoples blogs, it's not something I'm interested in writing for myself. I also don't think I could keep up with so much writing. As I'm not actually doing this blog as a creative WRITING outlet, I actually find it little bit hard to answer this question! The only rule I really have is that I don't write posts specifically about my family or work life. I'm happy to give the odd snippet but I want to keep to just writing about "making things".

Why do I write what I do?

This is tricky to answer as I think I'm a small fish in a big pond when it comes to knitting and crochet! I'd like to think I'm writing about things that my Mum would have liked to make and do. In this way, I'm sharing a lot of the recipes we enjoyed as kids and crafts that Mum would have enjoyed doing, although she did do A LOT more sewing and needlecraft than me. If I had a sewing machine I could definitely go in that direction.....!

I also thought it might be interesting for people to read and follow a self-taught knitter and crocheter and see progress develop. Without sounding too big headed, I feel like I have improved a HUGE amount since I first started! The thing I enjoy the most and really want to be able to do out of this blog is inspire other people to make things. I often get comments from friends or family who have been reading and have tried out a recipe, or decided to dust off their knitting needles! This makes the whole thing worthwhile for me, as like any blogger, I do wonder whether anyone out there is reading what I'm posting! 

How does my writing process work?

I am a fairly impulsive person in many areas of my life, and tend to get carried away with certain ideas. If I think of something, like it, then I often can't get it out of my head till it's done! I sort of work this way for the blog. If I think of something I'd like to do, I'll post it! I don't really have any kind of plan or idea for posts until they come to me! This is why I often have several of the same posts in a row, maybe a few knitting projects, then recipes, then something else! I really should be more organised, and you'd be happy to know that my life is not that chaotic!  

It's also for this reason than I don't have a set number of posts for each week or month. I just post on what grabs my attention. I try to aim for a minimum of one post per month. If I'm working on an ongoing project that is likely to take me longer than a month or so, I try to post a "Work in Progress" post to keep people up to date with what I'm doing. 

I'm not trying to keep up with any trends or anything, but I do like to include seasonal things or celebrations. For example, Easter or Christmas themed crafts, Thanksgiving recipes etc. I've got some great ideas up my sleeve for this Christmas! 

Introducing... Miss Dotty!

So now that you've gotten to know a little bit more about my writing and how I think, I'd love to introduce you to someone new. This is my cousin Briar who writes over on Miss Dotty. Last year she was in Wellington for a design conference Semi Permanent and we met up, got discussing blogging and I encouraged her to start her own blog. Briar is an extremely talented Website and Graphic Designer, Web Developer, Fashion Designer and all round clever creative person. You may have seen her clothing label Ambassador around the place, a super stylish label for clothes with real meaning...anyway I digress :)  

The blog that Briar has started is gorgeous, full of yummy recipes and clever ideas and crafts. At the moment Briar is also involved in the 100 Days Project, a challenge to create something every day for 100 days. What Briar has challenged herself to do, is design and make a new greeting card every day. You HAVE to check out what she has been up to, she has a fancy blade based cutting machine (Silhouette Machine) and everything! You can follow Briar's project here and even seen the flower series she created on my suggestion...

I'm really excited to see what is next for Miss Dotty as my expectations have been totally blown out of the water so far! You can follow Miss Dotty on Instagram (@missdottynz) and Facebook too. 

Your Turn...!

I'd love to nominate anyone else who is fairly new to blogging and would like to share a bit about yourself and why you started a blog or started writing. New Zealand is a small community and we have to support each other in our own writing and creative goals! You don't have to write about me, but share the love and nominate someone else to write too :D