13 Things You May Not Know About My Life as A Crafty, Single Lady

I recently turned 43, and I have lived in Quezon City, a huge, bustling, cosmopolitan area in the Philippines since 1994.

I've been single all my life, and crafting has been my hobby since I was 25. 

My craft room

Here are 11 things you may not know about my life as a crafter:  

(1.) My creative journey as a crafter was accidental and unplanned. 

(2.) Contrary to popular belief that most crafters are sedentary, I make sure to be moderately active on most days of the week.

(3.) I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was 16, and crafting has been highly conducive to the stability of my mental health.

(4.) I originally intended to launch a career as a freelance writer. I finished my distance learning course in 2003 and was granted a Career Diploma in Short Story Writing + Freelance Journalism by Penn Foster Career School.

I did earn a bit of cash working on tasks like ghostwriting, editing, and proofreading resumes. 

But I guess God had other (or rather, additional) plans for me. I heard a piece of advice over a radio broadcast, about how artistically inclined individuals can make a living by making and selling greeting cards. Since I knew I was a decent artist, I decided to give it a shot. 

I started out with a meager budget of Php500. I went out and bought colorful cardstock, a bottle of glue, stencils, scrapbook scissors, and felt-tip pens. 

I only wanted to create greeting cards and sell them. But one of my mom's colleagues suggested that a gift card would be a more sale-able product because it's a tradition in the Philippines for adults to give cash to children on their birthdays and Christmas. 

I experimented with a pattern and came up with a prototype for my own gift card. 

My version of the gift card bore a full front flap with a design that would suit the occasion, and had enough space to insert not just cash, but other paper-based presents like gift certificates, concert tickets, video game currency, and even passes to the cinema. 

And aside from greeting cards and gift cards, I also made gift tags and bookmarks.

Some of the keychains
I've created

As my business (and budget) grew over the years, I decided to diversify and include accessories like keychains, phone straps, and refrigerator magnets among my merchandise.

(5.) Being unmarried and not having to raise kids at 43 gave me plenty of time to devote to my crafts. 

(6.) I was more of an artist as a child until my early teen years, and drew and painted to my heart's content.

I briefly went back to drawing and painting when I helped take care of my grandmother, who was bed-ridden for 6 months before passing away. 

(7.) I never learned to knit or crochet, but I was quite good at cross stitch in grade school. One of my projects was hung in our 5th grade classroom's wall.

(8.) I briefly went through a phase when I tried other forms of crafts, like scrapbooking, journaling, diamond painting, making vision boards, and upcycling junk into ornaments. Only the last 2 stuck with me. 

(9.) Now that I'm making good money from my crafts and have enough savings to tide me over for the next few years, I got into collecting art prints and postcards as a hobby. 

One of the highlights of my life as a crafter was attending the first ever paper convention in the Philippines, then called Paper Con Ph, held at Elements at Centris, Quezon City. 

I got to mingle with a huge variety of artists, makers, designers, and illustrators. 

The best part was being able to purchase rare and limited-edition art prints and postcards.

Celebrating my 42nd
birthday at the Venice
Grand Canal Mall

(10.) I was able to receive plenty of greeting cards and postcards when I joined an online community called Random Acts of Cards (RAoC) on Reddit. 

(11.) Being a Redditor and RAoC member meant that I also have the privilege of receiving bonuses and perks from card senders, like washi tape samples, die cuts, and stickers. 

(12.) As a crafter, I enjoy giving away some of the stuff I created. But so far, the best birthday gift I have received was a trip to the Venice-inspired Venice Grand Canal Mall at Taguig.

(13.) Crafting was the gateway from which my life has been blessed tremendously, and not just in the monetary and material sense. 

Not only was I able to deal with the reality of coping with bipolar disorder for the rest of my life. Being involved in crafts led me deeper into the arts and respective handicrafts, not just of my native Philippines, but of various cultures.