Did I Just Network??

I absolutely heart Twitter. I have found several delightful things to do via other people's tweets and have loved every single one.

Since leaving my last job, my dream of running my own business in the creative industry seems much more achievable - my life is more my own now, more predictable and my mind is freer to think, imagine and plan. So the School for Creative Start-Ups "Make Good Festival" on this weekend was marvellous. And of course I found out about it via Twitter.

I'll admit it right now, I was ridiculously excited to be at Make Good - I was going to be able to speak to people who'd realised my dream and I could find out how they did it. So I didn't really make a particularly good impression to the graduates with my exuberance.

I have never felt more inspired or part of a community as I did for the few hours I was at the festival. Loads of graduates from S4CS in the Old Selfridges Hotel, tonnes of brilliant, original ideas from possibly the loveliest people I've ever met. Here is my selection of the loveliest:

 

Jessica Mae

Picture from @JessicaMaeStyle

Jessica O-George from Jessica Mae is a Personal Style Concierge. I'm not going to lie, I was slightly intimated. Jessica is gorgeous, and, as you'd expect, incredibly stylish. She's not all about shopping either: she teaches her clients about what clothes suit their body shape, suit their needs and utilise garments you already own as well as identify gaps (which means shopping, but focussed shopping). She was with Lucy Denver, personal trainer from Denvertronix who was also lovely. Between them, we'll all be stylish and fitter. And Jessica doesn't grab tits Gok Wan style. I checked.

 

 

Betty Etiquette

Oh how Betty and I laughed. She is lovely; truly, truly lovely. She's also dead set on getting people writing to each other with pen and ink, rather than endless texting and emails. I could not agree with this more. So much so, I signed one of her pledges:

 

Her designs were amazing too and arranged into collections - cool spring tones, American style pennants, thick water colour brush messages. The cards were on different weights of paper too, which really added to the whole effect of the beautiful, and very reasonably priced, cards. Betty's website contains lovely images of her cards and I've bookmarked it for future celebrations, particularly as I've been given the role of Birthday Monitor at my new job. Yeah, that's right, I got me a supplementary role.

 

 

Betty Etiquette is also on my favourite social media site and you too can follow the creative loveliness at @BettyEtiquette. And, as I say, Betty is lovely - we laughed tonnes.

 

 

Handmade by Bex

 

I am OBSESSED with these embroidered embroidery hoops. I also love that Bex and I both got excited about her incredibly neat stitching. If you've had a new arrival recently, or are searching for the perfect congratulatory gift, the frames on the right contain embroidered birth announcements. Bex does commissions, works around looking after her children (I told you these people had the life I wanted) and was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and, quite frankly, a genius with a needle and thread. Her items are also really reasonably priced, really on trend and would make a lovely country cottage addition to any home. Take a look at the rest of her work on her website. Honestly, the stitching is ridiculously neat - an absolute thing of beauty. Of course, there's also twitter and Facebook.

 

 

Miss Goodweather

I might have embarrassed myself at this stand but, wait for it, Tara makes and sells breathable, waterproof cotton dresses. WATERPROOF DRESSES!!! That is basically what I was like at her stand, which was in itself a thing of beauty:

 

 

Tara was also inspirational. She did a job she hated and JUST QUIT without any real plan other than she wanted to make stuff. And she came up with this! WATERPROOF DRESSES! Amazing, truly amazing. And, incredibly affordable. The website has a collection you can buy AND, I've just seen, hoodlets are coming soon. I need this in my life. Find the delightful Miss Goodweather on twitter and facebook. I defy you not to become as excited as me about this.

 

 

And, having suitably embarrassed myself with delight, there was even time to chat to Tilly from Tilly and The Buttons who helped me with my shoulder seam problem, which was lovely of her.

 

 

When I met up with the lovely mister afterwards I had a sudden realisation. I networked! I, who not four hours prior had been sympathising that my boss has to do three whole days of networking (and evenings too!) next week. Maybe the crafty kind of networking is networking I can get on board with.

 

I am truly inspired by all these creative and talented women. I wish them all every success in the future and have no doubt that they will continue to be amazing. And they all, every single one, persuaded me to go for it and sign up for the next year of S4CS. Maybe I will!