The start of March always means Spring, St David’s Day and…March Meet the Maker.
This brilliant Instagram challenge for makers and artists was created by Joanne Hawker to show off their small businesses and give a snapshot of life as a maker/artist. It consists of a series of prompts for every day of March (excluding weekends) including prompts such as: Storytime, the human touch and a day in the life.
I don't want the posts I create for this challenge to just be transient or not accessible by non-Instagram users so I will be posting my answers to each prompt on here as well as Instagram.
I always enjoy joining in with March Meet the Maker and seeing everyone’s posts, you can also see all the posts by searching for the hashtag #marchmeetthemaker or #marchmeetthemaker2024 on Instagram. I will probably end up missing a few prompts or having to catch up but it is just lovely to take part where I can.
The full list of prompts
1 - Storytime
Happy 1st of March, St David's Day and of course day 1 of the brilliant #marchmeetthemaker !
Day 1's prompt is Storytime so here is a little bit about Daffodowndilly and a little about me too.
I'm Becky 👋 and I design/make everything in Daffodowndilly. I loved drawing as a child and teen but also loved fossils, rocks and the natural world so the drawing took a backseat in place of geology and natural science for a while. I missed being creative though and I'm so glad I found my way back to this side of my life too.
There was no real planning behind starting Daffodowndilly and it almost started by accident back in 2018ish, I unexpectedly had the chance to create some jewellery kits and greeting cards to sell at a local craft market as an add on to another stall. I didn't want to use my own name so needed to quickly choose or make up a name to brand them with.
I can't 100% remember why I went with Daffodowndilly, it is certainly memorable and is the old English name for one of my favourite flowers - the Daffodil. However it is also easily misspelt by people and makes for a very long introduction!
#daffodowndilly #mysmallbusiness #marchmeetthemaker24 #marchmeetthemaker #marchmeetthemakerday1 #pedddleuk #drawncollective #shropshiremaker #shropshire
2 - Weekend
3 - Weekend
4 - The Human Touch
The human touch is the next prompt for #marchmeetthemaker . My hands are involved in almost every aspect of Daffodowndilly:
- From drawing my designs on my tablet - sketching, adding colour, lining, adding texture and erasing.
- Writing or sketching down ideas in my notebooks.
- Making the notebooks by hand on the wire binder, counting pages, checking the paper quality and paper feel.
- Making the bag charms, using pliers, needle and thread and peeling off the protective paper on the wooden charms that have been laser cut and printed with my designs.
- Typing all the descriptions for the products, taking all the photographs to put on Folksy and my website. Tapping away with website admin, blogs and social media.
- Packing the finished stationery, pins and bag charms into their packaging or storage boxes.
- Packing and parcelling each order - cutting and wrapping tissue paper to protect the pieces, securing your orders with a bow of yellow cotton twine, carefully putting them into boxes or envelopes and sealing them.
- Handwriting you a little thank you note for your order and taking each parcel to the post office to send to you.
5 - Evolution
Day 5's #Marchmeetthemaker prompt is Evolution. So I thought I would show you what Daffodowndilly looked like in 2017/18 versus what it looks like in 2024.
The first photo collage shows what I mainly sold in that time which was cross stitch kits, a few greeting cards and jewellery kits. Whereas now I mainly sell stationery like notebooks, cards and writing paper as well as brooch pins and bag charms. I would love to start doing more kits again in the future as well as the stationery and pins!
2018/2019 Daffodowndilly Products
2024 Daffodowndilly Products
6 - Tasks
The next prompt for #marchmeetthemaker is Tasks. So I thought I would talk about which tasks I love doing as part of Daffodowndilly and the ones I definitely don't love as much.
My favourite tasks are: Creating the designs; making up notebooks, writing paper and gift notes; meeting and chatting to people at markets; seeing designs come to life as products; making the bag charms; chatting with or seeing the wonderful people I've met through running Daffodowndilly; actually manning the market stall; packaging up orders; writing blog posts and taking product photos.
My least favourite tasks are: Stock taking; altering product descriptions or information on my website/Folksy shop; setting up and packing away at markets; marketing; trying to push through creative mind blocks; dealing with spam and scam emails; going through hundreds of sheets of writing paper/gift notes/notebook fronts to check them for printing errors or damage; trying to fix problems or issues on my website or editing a million product photos.
I think this might be a pretty general likes and dislikes list for most makers! What would you add to the least favourite list?
7. Combination
Combination is today's prompt for #marchmeetthemaker2024 so I thought I would share my favourite colour combination - yellow and blue. I really love the combination of these two colours, they are so bright and vibrant but also really calming too. I like them so much I partly made this combo my brand signature colours too!
