Music Obsessive, Ink Addicted, Artist, Crafter, Designer, WWE Nerd, Red Sox Fan, with an awesome family.
I’m Gracie and I’m a 35 year old ink and craft addict. I’ve been drawing and crafting since I was a small child. I’ve drawn ever since I can remember, with memories of my bedroom carpet being covered by sheets of papers. My nan introduced me to knitting, and my mum introduced me to a multitude of other crafts, including: sewing, cross stitch, quilling, card-making, and salt-dough crafts.
As I grew up, my love for the arts and crafts grew, leading me to complete a Degree in design, and gaining a position as Head of Design for a company developing craft products. This includes designing for the award winning, The Paper Boutique Brand. I also worked with artists such as the lovely Pollyanna Pickering, and the wonderful Bree Merryn.
As I’ve grown older, my desire to learn new skills has grown. I’m now a full-time crochet addict, and can’t seem to buy enough yarn, and heavily invested in new art materials having been stuck in the house for most of 2020. I hate to start with beginner level anything, and much prefer to throw myself into the deep end – if I like it, I’m going to try it. YouTube is my best-friend.
I’m also a mum to a wonderful boy called Vincent, who is 9 years old. Some of his makes will be shared on here as he loves to join in, and when he’s not joining in he’s always asking me to make him at least one of everything I make for myself or as a gift for someone else. I’m married to the retired-academic and author, Stephen, who is my biggest advocate and best friend. We live in our private toy museum in the suburbs of Norfolk, UK, with our three cats, Sid, Dart and Chester.
Further to my arts and craft addiction, I’m also addicted to getting inked. I had my first tattoo at 15, much to my mum’s horror, which was an outline of a little cherub (now covered). However, the biggest project to date is my left arm sleeve, which is being work on by VivaMorta at Abrakadavra Tattoo Art Club. It is inspired by a selection of my musical inspirations with an underlying awareness for Mental Health. I’m very proud of my tattoos and for me they are part of my identity.
This blog will hopefully inspire you to try different arts and crafts. Where I have used patterns I will always try to link to where you can find them (Many will be free, others will be purchased via online stores such as ETSY), and my favourite materials are listed in my main menu. I’ll do product and pattern reviews, and for a bit of variety, I’ll also include posts about things I get up to outside of the arts and crafts.
I’m always up for a new challenge, so if you see something you’d like me to review before you try it yourself, where I can, I will take on these challenges, so please contact me via email or one of my social media pages.
All views and opinions in this blog are completely my own, and all text and photographs are © Gracie Carver / The Inked Crafter, unless stated otherwise.