Are you the type of person who will receive a compliment for your work and you easily dismiss your project as being amateurish or easy to do? I would be broke if I had to give a dime for every time I receive a compliment and I just dismiss the compliment without accepting the praise at face value. For some reason, I feel anyone can do what I do which doesn’t make me special at all. Deep down I know that I have special gifts but in a way I feel I don’t deserve the recognition for my work.
If you have ever been to the Mikeyssmail Facebook Fan Page, you will see 100’s of people continually posting and sharing ideas. Most of what you will see will knock your socks off. Like me, many of the people feel amateurish because they thought to do something brilliant and just feel like a regular people willing to share.
On the flip side, a few designers may have never thought of what the regular crafting amateurs have done and accomplished. Or they have a team of people figuring out what the designer should do next to “WOW” the audience. It doesn’t take much for a designer to see an amateurish idea and give it a boost with the designers signature spin to it, add in mass media & television, and “presto” you have a designer launching a new product idea based in part of an amateurish idea. In many ways too… because a designer says it’s hot we tend to follow their trend and we are led to believe it’s hot.
Amateurs have an advantage. They are just crafty people willing to take a chance on a failed idea without many consequences. A person who reaches to a designer level has a reputation to uphold and can’t afford to have ideas to be just another project or worse… a failure.
Amateurs need to give themselves permission that they are artists too. They may not have cameras or media attention but they are just as vital to the world of creativity as a main stream designers. Without our amateurs trying new things… the designers wouldn’t be inspired by what they see or use parts of an idea for something greater. It’s like team work. It’s not about having the winning idea all the time, sometimes it’s about just being part of the brain power or a thought that contributed to the final idea.
Remember, when someone is complimenting you on your work… it was your hands or idea that made it possible and by all means that makes you a designer too! Accept the compliment and realize your ideas and work was appreciated.
To see some of the crochet videos check out AllFreeCrochet’s YouTube page.
- Canada’s Top Creative Show – The Creativ Festival - February 29, 2012
- Let’s Get Started – 24 Free Crochet Lessons - February 18, 2012
- Crochet Yarn Painting Project - February 15, 2012