“I can’t even draw a stick figure.”
This was the narrative in my head from kindergarten into my 30s. “I’m not a creative person.” I watched my friends with their pretty handwriting and impeccable color strokes, knowing that innate artistic talent wasn’t a gift I was given.
“I am a great student.” I was a high achieving student, focusing on working, academics, and rapidly checking as much off my to-do list as possible. Undergrad-check. MBA-check. Multiple jobs-check. Who has TIME for creative pursuits?
My daughter was in her early “scribbling artistic period” and when we’d sit down, “mom, draw me a giraffe! A Unicorn! A mermaid! A castle! The Statue of David” just kidding- but she may well have asked for it.
“Mom can’t draw, baby.”’ Or wait, can I? Do I want to model to my daughter I can’t, or I just haven’t learned how to yet?
Motivated by my wish to spend creative time with my daughter, I bought myself a “how to draw everything” book and told my husband to put it in my Christmas stocking (any other moms out there stack their own Christmas stockings?)
I took the book out and told KJ to pick out some animals. I tried. Not perfectly, and it was fun. I laughed when a mermaid accidentally turned into an unrecognizable blob. I joked that I’m more of an impressionist artist. But also… something happened… It felt satisfying. It felt relaxing.
My husband had been in his own creative flow, tinkering in the garage with 3D printers and a laser engraver. I decided I wanted to learn. I started making jewelry, signs, and toys.
Scratching this creative itch all of a sudden, I felt nostalgic for my high school days of being the yearbook and newspaper photographer. I bought a new camera and I took photography classes. I took photos that even impressed myself.
As I continued down this path, I started to notice something. The more I practiced being creative, the more creative I wanted to be, and in turn, the more creative I got. And something else surprised me: My anxiety lowered. I slept better. When I was stressed, I went out to my garage to work on something. It felt like there was an invisible thread pulling me out to my creative spaces.
While my world and my job is often data, statistics, and emails, I found that turning on this other side of my brain helped me feel more balanced. I realized creativity isn’t an inherent talent, it’s about practice and curiosity.
My husband and I continued down this path, taking classes at our local community college. I was even featured on the front of the catalog. At some point, we asked ourselves, “what do we do with all of this stuff we are making?” That’s when we decided it was time to create a website and share some of this with the world.
While I currently work in enterprise level marketing, I missed the world of small business marketing. I had worked on clients’ Shopify websites in past jobs, but never created one from scratch-so I tried it.
This is now a pursuit we do as a family. It teaches KJ about the entrepreneurial and giving spirit. To be completely honest, we often give away more than we sell, but it truly embodies our value of “Creativity, Customization, & The Joy of Gift Giving.
We are often following our creative itch-recently expanding into things like lure making, resin, and woodworking. I’m not sure where Cropsey Creations will go, but it is very much a passion project, a creative outlet and an opportunity to bond as a family.
Maybe you don’t need to be an artist to be creative– maybe you just need to give yourself permission to start.
What is a small creative experiment that you will give yourself permission to try this week? Even Blob mermaids count.