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DIY Custom Canvas Plant Hangers Dear Handmade LifeDIY Custom Canvas Plant Hangers Dear Handmade LifeDIY Custom Canvas Plant Hangers Dear Handmade Life

DIY Custom Canvas Plant Hangers

DIY Watercolor Paper Cut-Out Greeting Cards Dear Handmade Life

Watercolor Paper Cut-Out Greeting Cards

Martha Stewart Photobooks - Mixbook

Martha Stewart Travel Photo Books

DIY Marbled Wood Bead Keychain

How to make an upcycled applique rainbow sweatshirt from Dear Handmade Life t

DIY Upcycled Applique Sweatshirt

DIY Fabric Stamping with Joone Craft Kits Dear Handmade Life

DIY Fabric Stamping with Joone

DIY paint pouring on wood shapes from Dear handmade Life

Paint Pouring on Wooden Shapes

DIY tassel from Dear Handmade Life

Tassel Wall Hanging

How to Capture Double Exposures on Instant Film

DIY photo mobile Dear Handmade Life

DIY Photo Mobile

DIY pom pom earrings Dear Handmade Life

DIY Pom Pom Earrings

DIY silhouette portrait art Dear Handmade Life

DIY Silhouette Art

How to ice dye fabric Dear Handmade Life

Ice Dyeing 101 Using Fiber Reactive Dyes

DIY polymer clay Instax photo holders

DIY Polymer Clay INSTAX Photo Holders

DIY embroidered necklace Dear Handmade Life

DIY Hand Embroidered Necklace

DIY Travel Trinket Box Dear Handmade Life

DIY Travel Trinket Box

DIY underpants Dear Handmade Life

DIY Underpants

DIY wooden wood burned and painted bar tray and coaster set Dear Handmade Life

DIY Bar Tray & Coaster Set

DIY stitched photo wall art Dear Handmade Life

DIY Stitched Photo Wall Art

Glass Art Inspiration

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I was eight the first time I was called bossy, I w I was eight the first time I was called bossy, I was playing store with neighborhood kids and (to no surprise to anyone who knows me) I was orchestrating the game for optimum enjoyment. 
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As the “the clerk was ringing up” her invisible Oreos (we always bought things we wanted but couldn’t have at home- cotton candy was a top seller) my friend Alea said, “Let’s pretend this is a school, not a store.” 
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Wait… WHAT?!? You can’t change the whole game in the middle of it! The illusion I painstaking curated by crafting a plot and assigning each kid to the perfect role was broken. 
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“No, we can’t just pretend this is a school now! And once you say, “let’s pretend”, it takes us out of the moment and ruins the whole game for me,” I pleaded.
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“You’re too bossy!” Alea said and walked back home.
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The next day, Alea knocked on my door as if nothing had happened. She’d forgiven and forgotten, the way you can when you’re eight. 
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For years afterward, when I was being assertive or loud, I heard Alea’s voice in my head, “You’re too bossy.”
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She was right, I was bossy. I still am bossy. 
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In time, I learned that bossy doesn’t always have to be bad. If I could find a way to be bossy and respectful, it could be an asset. Truth be told, I’m still working on my bossiness. And, my openness. And, about a million other things. 
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I love being a work in progress. I love that something that hurt me when I was a kid led to lots of self-exploration. I love being a boss. Now, being a boss means living with intention. It means curating a life that’s the result of conscious choices that I make, rather than letting life happen to me. 
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So, yeah… now, I let my bossy glow shine bright for the whole world to see.

What trait about yourself have you seen as a positive now that you’re older and understand it better?

PS: The Boss tee available in our online shop - link in profile or go to dearhandmafelife.com/shop.
Confession time… 1. Most of my life I’ve had a Confession time…
1. Most of my life I’ve had a starving artist mentality. 
2. I’ve been working hard through educating myself and self-work on improving my relationship with money.
3. I don’t feel like my finances are 100% in order.
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Anyone out there relate? Or have your own financial baggage that you’re dealing with?
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I grew up feeling like people with money with were sell-outs, wanting money meant you were shallow, talking about money was not cool and struggling financially was a badge of honor as a creative. Letting go of my scarcity thinking and the punk rock mindset of my youth has been rough but rewarding. 
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A few years ago, I started trying to improve my relationship with money. I’ve been reading books, working on my money mindset, cleaning up my credit score (I went from a 435 to a 805!) and taking other steps towards financial health. 
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One step was working with a bookkeeper. Previously, I’d been doing all of it myself and I wish I would have sought help organizing my finances earlier. Today on our podcast, I’m chatting with bookkeeper and financial coach Ean of @moxiebookkeeping about money mindset shifts and financial management techniques and actions we can take right now to improve our relationship with money and our bottom line.
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We cover the cultural shame of money, shifting your mindset away from starving artist syndrome, one small thing you can fo right now to improve your finances, how much to pay yourself, the five bank accounts every business owner needs, how to figure out your real profit and more!
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Listen on your favorite podcast app or by clicking the link in our bio.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice every “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
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"Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
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-Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Want to craft with us? TODAY is the day to join u Want to craft with us? 
TODAY is the day to join us for our free Virtual Craft Brunch with Natalie of @natterdoodles. This is the last event of our Community Over Competition Week in partnership with @ampjar
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🎨 💌Natalie is going to help us create beautiful embellished envelopes to send joy and encouragement to our fellow makers and community members. 
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☕️🍾Bring a mimosa, coffee or your brunch beverage of choice as we craft along together!
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Link to sign up is in our bio.
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📷: @natterdoodles
When I was a kid, I used to listen to the jazz rad When I was a kid, I used to listen to the jazz radio station. Yep, that was me, the odd little girl sitting in her room writing angsty diary entries, redecorating her bedroom for the umpteenth time and listening to jazz music. 
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On one of those afternoons, I heard Nina Simone sing for the first time. My nine year old mind basically exploded when her powerful and gorgeous voice busted through the speakers of my purple 80s boom box. 
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She immediately became my favorite singer and all the years later, she still is. I was lucky enough to see her sing in person with my dad in Hollywood a few years before she passed away.
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I don't remember which songs she sang but I do remember standing there with tears streaming down my face. Even in the big concert venue, her emotion reached me.
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Nina Simone (like all creatives) gave so much of herself to the world. 
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I've started a series of illustrated quotes to celebrate the joy and awareness and pure poetry that artists have gifted to me (and all of us). Of course, I wanted to start with this incredible world-changing woman, Nina Simone. 
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Stay tuned, more to come!
Tomorrow's the day! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Join us for our first ever Dear Handmade Life 2-day Share-a-Thon which is part of our Community Over Competition Week in partnership with @Ampjar.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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What’s a Share-a-Thon? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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For 48 hours, we’re connecting the Dear Handmade Life community through Ampjar and encouraging everyone to share about each other over Instagram Stories to increase your exposure, widen your audience and lift each other up.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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There’s no cost to take part, just sign up for a free Ampjar account (link in our bio) and then share your heart out about fellow small businesses in the Dear Handmade Life community on your IG stories on January 14 and 15, 2021.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We still have a few more FREE COC Week events, like our craft brunch on Saturday. RSVP via the link in our bio or by going to: https://bit.ly/COCWeek2020.

© DEAR HANDMADE LIFE 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS SITE USES AFFILIATE LINKS. WE DISCLOSE ALL SPONSORED POSTS BY NAMING THE SPONSOR IN THE POST.

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