About Me – Hobbies and Chronic Illness

So, a little more about me. I’m a wife, a mom of two amazing little boys, and a graphic designer. I have had a truly amazing career for over 12 years- from award winning advertising agencies to billion dollar corporations. Chronic illnesses seem to make everything tougher. So what is there to do when it comes to hobbies and chronic illness?

Graphic design is definitely my heart. Well, anything creative really! I just love being creative and making things. I also love animals, especially cats and dogs. We have a sweet dog named Pepper, and we lost our precious 18 year old kitty last year. It’s so hard to lose a fur baby. They are such a special part of the family.

I have a few chronic illnesses including Fibromyalgia and Psoriasis. Recently, I’ve been diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis and Raynaud’s Phenomenon. I’ve really been struggling with pain and fatigue. So, I get it. I understand what you’re going through. Having an autoimmune disease is life-changing. The pain with Fibro and Psoriatic Arthritis can be absolutely debilitating, and no matter how much you sleep, you never feel rested. I actually have to rest after taking a shower. So tired, all the time.

The constant pain and exhaustion with chronic illness makes it hard to be able to have a hobby. It can really seem like hobbies and chronic illness just don’t go together sometimes. How can you possibly have a hobby when you feel sick and tired all the time? You either hurt too much to keep going, or you just run out of energy half way through, or many times, before even getting started!

I really needed something that I could enjoy that wouldn’t make me even more tired, so I started to dip my toes back into crafting. Crafting like people who don’t have chronic illnesses is still a bit out of reach for me, though. However, I’ve learned how to compensate for the pain and exhaustion, and I want to teach you my techniques so hopefully you can craft with me! It feels so good making beautiful things, and I hope you can, too.

I love to teach, and I really love to help and inspire people. I want you to know that I see you, and I can empathize with you. And I believe in you. To show you this, and to hopefully help you feel like you can do this, I’m giving you all of my design files that I use in my tutorials here for FREE. Just sign up for my newsletters and I will give you full access to my resource library, where I store all my FREE design and cut files that go with my tutorials here. You’ll be chronically crafting with me in no time!

I’m no expert by any means, but if I can inspire just one person to get excited about crafting, that makes it all worth it!

Let me know what you struggle with when it comes to crafting. Shoot me an email at hello@chronicallycrafting.com, and I’ll do my best to come up with a solution. Together, we can do this!

Stay crafty!