Hello! My name is Mandy Fowler, and I’m responsible for the biweekly crafting column on My Chic Life, “DIY Not?.” My first venture into organized crafting was cross-stitching, and I still have the samplers I labored over for hours as a pre-teen. I remember the feeling of accomplishment I got from making something pretty with my hands—a feeling that I savor with each finished project even now. I have a hard time spending money on things I think I could make, and often find myself trying to reverse-engineer things I find that I like – “How can I replicate this at home?”
I look for inspiration everywhere, and frequent dollar, drug, and hardware stores scavenging for raw materials with unknown purposes but lots of potential. My crafting strategy is part Martha Stewart, part MacGyver … I’m a big believer in taking stuff you’ve got lying around your house and seeing what you can make out of it. DIY isn’t always cheaper than store-bought, but you can’t put a price on being able to answer “Where did you get this?” with, “I MADE IT!”
Crafting is cathartic, crazily rewarding, and fires up that creative part of the brain that most of us just don’t get to use enough. Crafting 4 life, you guys.
You can find me on Twitter at @theknittingwar.
About Mandy
Hello! My name is Mandy Fowler, and I’m responsible for the biweekly crafting column on My Chic Life, “DIY Not?.” My first venture into organized crafting was cross-stitching, and I still have the samplers I labored over for hours as a pre-teen. I remember the feeling of accomplishment I got from making something pretty with my hands—a feeling that I savor with each finished project even now. I have a hard time spending money on things I think I could make, and often find myself trying to reverse-engineer things I find that I like – “How can I replicate this at home?”
I look for inspiration everywhere, and frequent dollar, drug, and hardware stores scavenging for raw materials with unknown purposes but lots of potential. My crafting strategy is part Martha Stewart, part MacGyver … I’m a big believer in taking stuff you’ve got lying around your house and seeing what you can make out of it. DIY isn’t always cheaper than store-bought, but you can’t put a price on being able to answer “Where did you get this?” with, “I MADE IT!”
Crafting is cathartic, crazily rewarding, and fires up that creative part of the brain that most of us just don’t get to use enough. Crafting 4 life, you guys.
You can find me on Twitter at @theknittingwar.