Sponsor Spotlight: Daylilies Creations

If you're interested in becoming a sponsor of Things We Make, email me at thingswemake [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll be happy to provide you with info!

Name: Debra of Daylilies
Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada   
Sites: dayliliescreative.com, Facebook, Etsy

Tell me a little about what you do.
In a nutshell, I help creativity flourish: I help people to learn new things, to trust their creative instincts and to just ‘go for it’. I help when someone gets stuck with a creative dilemma like how much stuffing should go into a 12” doll or how much fabric is needed for a lattice smocking project. I provide access to great creativity supplies that are easy to use, great for the environment and for our health. I also provide ideas, patterns and tutorials (like how to dye with Kool Aid, pictured above) and will help someone pick out their next project - and will even send them all the supplies they need if they want to make their project even easier – and I am accessible to help them if they need any help throughout their project. And, if someone likes a project, but just doesn’t want to do it themselves? I will make it for them too – if it isn’t already in our Etsy store.

How can creative people use Daylilies?
We are here to help – so if that means that you just want to read the Daylilies blog for great ideas, then go for it! If that means that you want supplies or patterns, than our online storefront is there for you 24/7. If you want to purchase finished goods from our blog and our storefront patterns, our Etsy store is the place for you! And watch out for our creativity contests too! They are a great way to put your creativity to work to win you great prizes.

But, if you just have a question about a project you are working on – any project at all – you can touch base with the studio through the chat box on the blog or the storefront home page, or you can email the studio at any time. Our Personal Creativity Assistant program will also be up and running shortly to make it even easier to get personalized help throughout your creative projects.

How did you decide to start the business?
After spending the better part of 20 years on my own creative endeavours (I am a trained professional fine artist and a member of the Portrait Society of Canada), I studied for my Masters degree in Creativity and realized just how much creativity has slipped out of our day-to-day lives in society today. I strongly believe that creativity is a good thing – for health, happiness and general wellbeing - and that everyone is creative at something. And that a world without creativity is not a world I want to live in. Daylilies was created to help nurture creativity and to encourage creativity in the world today.

Is this your full time work? If not, do you have any tips for fitting a creative side endeavor into a busy schedule?
Yes, this is my full time work. I really do not know how I would be able to do this any other way! From researching, testing and building projects, and writing them up in the Daylilies blog (and providing illustrated tutorials, like the one below for loom knitting) to running the online store and being accessible to my clients when they have questions about their projects – this is definitely full time work.

I think the whole thing about being creative is that you can’t just ‘fit’ it into a busy schedule. It is more a mindset of doing everything in your life creatively so that when you do have 5 or 10 minutes to work on a creative project, you are already in the creative zone and ready to have fun.

What is the best part of running the business?
The best part of running Daylilies is when I get to hear about the creative work that other people are doing. I love it when I get an email from halfway around the world asking for my help with a creativity question or from someone down the street with bored kids looking for something to keep them busy. The best part of the business has got to be the people that I meet and the things that I learn from them.

What inspires you?
Again, I would have to say that what inspires me is the very same thing as the best part of running the business. I find it tremendously inspiring to meet other people involved in creative work – whether it is their first project or their 4000th project – any creativity is inspiring and the people I meet and the things I learn from them are the most inspiring of all. And I can’t wait to see all the pictures from our Kid’s Creativity Contest. There is no better way to get inspired than to see what kids create!