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As a man I am asked how I got interested in DIY crafts. Not to slight any craft oriented male blogger out there but it is a world dominated by the female DIY craft blogger. So I quietly go about creating things with my family and for my family. Not letting on that it is a secret passion of mine to create.

I enjoyed attempting to design any new project I came across.  My personality always lets me enjoy a good challenge by creating any thing from Vinyl projects, to Cooking in the kitchen.  In the meantime  I  prefer to stay quiet and not venture in the world dominated by the Female diy blogger. 

Its starts

Growing up I never showed any interest or ability in anything artistic. I did play the trombone through grade school and transitioned to jazz band in high school. I acquired a love for big band music. Even though I was never considered a virtuoso trombonist or anything close to it.

That was the extent of my artistic abilities growing up. In face if you asked me to pick up a pencil and draw something for you, The result would be an amateur-ish at best stick figure drawing that my 6 year old son could beat out.

So it isn’t like I discovered some talent hidden deep with in the artistic part of my brain. Like any no talent kid out of High school I decided to get a job and go to college. Can you guess what I studied in college? I received a scholarship to play in a college jazz band and sing in their show choir.

Just for your information I cant sing. This gives you an idea about how small this college was. But I can’t complain because it helped pay for college. I found a part time job to work with a company called Yellowhair Buckles. I’ve mentioned them before.

The Awakening

I started out at the bottom doing grunt work. I transitioned after a bit of time up the ladder to design/office/Shipping. It is here where an inkling of some artistic ability crept up through the nether regions of my brain. I found with a lot of practice I could do some pretty adequate designs on a computer. So I exercised my new found mustard seed of talent and became quite accomplished in my design of Jewelry and belt buckles (yellowhair Buckles)

Photo by Akil Mazumder from Pexels[/caption]

I then started to get curious of what else I could actually do. My brother put me in touch with a company that needed a new logo. My mustard seed was sprouting in new directions. It was still small but I was developing in to a semi proficient designer.

Fast forward a few years. I found a beautiful woman and somehow convinced her to marry me. In our church the women would get together a few time a year and do some crafts. When she brought them home I found myself critiquing the designs.(not my wife’s work. I would never do that) my confident self would tell her that I could design it better. I didn’t know where this new found confidence or maybe even cocky attitude in designing was coming from. What is worse is that I didn’t know why I was interested in crafts that women put together at church.

Vinyl Phase of my DIY life

From that point on I started branching out even more. I purchased my 1st Cricut machine. I am now on my 2nd one. After creating many different projects with vinyl, I wanted to try my hand at creating unique T-shirts. My daughters were hitting teenage years and the expense of custom printed tops was going to break my. I created many shirts for them and I also created uniforms for the teams that I coached.  I had saved a whole lot of money in the gift department from Christmas to Birthdays.

My interests were overflowing in the DIY craft blogger department. Youtube and I were close friends now.  Many different sources kept popping up all over the place.  My daughters even introduced me to Pinterest before I even knew how important it would be.  So as I kept broadening my horizons, I just thought there was more out there for me.

For some insane reason I decided to get out of my comfort zone and grow my little artistic plant even more.  I am branching out in wood work.  In fact you can see a website with a lot of patterns available for wood workers craftsman everywhere

A DIY Blog idea is born

As I contemplated my financial life.  Life led me to investigate blogging.  Wow was the first thought that entered my mind.  I need to do this.  With the help of my creative Wife and kids I decided to enlist them in creating a blog. J Family crafters was born.  With that we decided to share our talents and skills with all those who would come to and read our little blog. J Family Crafters was also started  with a budding hope that we might make some money from our artistic endeavors.  A diy craft blogger was born

JFC is  still in its infant stages and we hope to continue to grow by adding more crafts from our family to yours.  I am attempting to make my mark in the DIY craft blogger world.  Technically there is my wife and three daughters in this endeavor.  So I guess we are just adding a little spice and diversity in the craft world.

Please help us out and leave some comments and suggestions about what  we are doing  right and what you would like to see featured.

As I continue with blogging.  I am learning constantly about blogging and life.  I have come to find out a lot about myself.  There are things I need to work on to be successful in life and our blog.  So I have decided to get started and blog about those things that would help my craft blog.

Why Being Assertive is Important and How to Develop It

Learning to be assertive is one of the most important life skills you can develop. Studies have shown that being assertive can lead to a whole host of benefits, from increased self-confidence to better relationships and improved mental and physical health.  How can I gain readers to my blog If I don’t become assertive and confident in my projects that I put forward?

Before you start, it’s important to understand what being assertive means. Psychologists define assertiveness as being able to express yourself effectively and stand up for your point of view while respecting the rights and beliefs of others. The basis of assertiveness is mutual respect and honesty. Assertive bloggers are straightforward and know how to set and maintain healthy boundaries. Their relationships value and promote trust.

Goal setting

If you’re serious about living an authentic life and succeeding in reaching your goals, learning to be assertive is crucial. Think about how you feel about your life right now. Are you satisfied with your personal and professional situation?  Do you worry about what other people think of you? If you’re not happy with where you are now, the good news is that assertiveness is a habit that can be learned just like any other. With practice and commitment, you can change your mindset and live a life more aligned with your true values and aspirations.

Practice being assertive

Try these tips for introducing a more assertive approach into your blog and life in general:
Decide what your priorities are and stick to them.
Work out your individual boundaries.
Develop a positive open posture and look people in the eye when you speak to them.
Use positive ‘I’ statements about how you’re feeling instead of blaming or finding fault with the other person. Be especially wary of feeling tempted to say, ‘you always’ or ‘you never.’
Get comfortable with saying ‘no’ to things you don’t want to or can’t do. Keep it simple and non-emotive and don’t feel you need to add an excuse or explanation.
Only use ‘sorry’ when it’s appropriate for the situation. You don’t need to apologize for saying no.
Offer alternative suggestions to proposals you don’t like.
Look for compromises.
Be honest and direct about your feelings, thoughts, and intentions.
Consider writing a script for a situation that feels awkward. Rehearse being confident.

Try to keep your focus on the impact of the situation and finding a way to work together to find a mutually satisfying solution.  Above all, being assertive means staying in your power, accepting that you have control over how you approach the situation and your feelings about it. Assertiveness won’t get you everything you want all the time, but you will feel in control and deal much better with situations that would have previously been stressful.

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