“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”
– Robert Greene
Hi! Thanks for stopping by to learn a little bit more about me and why I started Pretty Crafty Lady. My name is Rebecca Black and I run a reselling blog Bexa Boss Lady and a YouTube channel to help others turn thrifting into a side hustle. You can learn more about me and my chronic health struggles over on my Bexa Boss Lady About Rebecca page.
But, I also find myself saying “I can make that!” much more frequently than I’d like to admit. My husband dreads those 4 little words.
It started many years ago when I first got married and had a house we owned to do DIY projects. I found myself constantly tinkering with things, painting walls and cupboards, landscaping, decorating, and more. I loved hosting parties and inviting all our friends and family over to laugh, chat, and enjoy each other’s company.
When I opened my gym, we renovated the space ourselves. Mostly to save money but I loved every minute of the process!
Over the years, I’ve tried many different hobbies…
I started with a sewing machine to hem my own pants and jeans. I’m very petite so every time I bought pants I paid $12 to get them hemmed. Then I wanted to make curtains and pillows. The sewing machine was my nemesis and I quickly realized that wasn’t for me.
Then we were going to flip houses, but we had no money and the 2008 crash had just happened so that plain failed.
Finally, I took a cake decorating class at Joann Fabrics and I was hooked. I loved decorating cakes! I started making them for families, friends, and coworkers. After doing a lot of cakes, we even looked into possibly starting a bakery but that really wasn’t something I wanted to do full time. It was just a fun hobby.
Even after all these years, I find DIY and Crafting projects fascinating. I enjoy creating them myself or watching tutorial videos on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. The challenge of being able to do a project myself really gets my gears turning.
When it comes down to my DIY specialty, my talents are all over the place. Some projects turned out great but I will never do them again because I dreaded the process. There are others that were a nightmare and I quickly realized it wasn’t in my wheelhouse. And then my favorite, which are the projects I absolutely loved and would do over and over again if possible.
I want to share all of these with you!
Many of my new passions were born during the years of Covid. Staying home allowed me to try different projects without other distractions. During most of the first 2 years of Covid, we lived in Connecticut which was a state shut down for a long time. I had a lot of time to try different things and practice what I already knew I loved.
Why I started Pretty Crafty Lady:
- I want to continue to create different do-it-yourself and craft projects that excite me. When you have too many interests, it is very difficult to run a business. But, as a content creator, I am not constrained to one artistic medium or craft.
- Sharing my successes and failures with these projects will help create a roadmap for you and your artistic ventures.
- It allows me to develop an online business for all of my crafting and DIY projects.
- Blogging and content creation are other creative outlets for me to express myself. I can learn new skills like photography and video editing.
- Finally, it gives me an opportunity to continue to process my anxiety and depression through art. I can’t even emphasize this enough – it should probably be #1 on this list.
My Inspiration
My husband and I started watching Nailed It episodes on Netflix and it renewed my love of decorating cakes. I love geodes, crystals, and anything that sparkles. I saw some geode cakes on Instagram and tried my hand at making one of them for my birthday. It didn’t turn out too great and my husband didn’t think eating cake every day during a pandemic was a good idea!
That’s when I found geode resin art. I immediately immersed myself in it and wanted to learn as much as I could about this challenging medium. I’ve learned a lot over the years so this is one skill I am very excited to share with you!
Whenever I find a new artistic medium I love, I become hyper-fixated. This usually happens with projects I enjoy creating and feel I’m pretty competent. The thoughts of turning it into a profitable business inevitably pop into my head. But, I am never dedicated enough to something to exclusively do that one thing forever. If you start a bakery, the focus needs to be 100% and 24/7 on baking and cake decorating for years to come.
My creativity comes in waves and it’s only when I have an inspiration in my head that I’m ready to act on it. I never know what I will respond to next, and it drives my husband crazy!
There are several things I really love to do and I will be sharing all of those projects with you.
- Furniture Restoration – I firmly believe in repurposing things already made instead of buying new, cheap home decor. Let’s face it, the older stuff is way better made anyway – plus you can customize it to your own decorative tastes.
- Resin Art – Resin is a very expensive hobby. It takes a lot of products to get a completed project and just the cost of resin is atrocious. I’ll be sharing my large geode art pieces, smaller ones, decorative trays, charcuterie boards, and more!
- Glass Crystals – I started putting crystals on things about 11 years ago when I competed in fitness competitions and couldn’t afford one of the fancy suits the other women wore. I ended up making my own and it looked pretty good! Now I put crystals on everything.
- Thrift Flips – Taking older and outdated home decor to the new century! I find stuff I love on sites like Anthropologie, Zgallerie, and more and then find ways to make it myself.