Welcome to my empire of self-love, inspiration and encouragement.

Where I hope to encourage you in and outside of the craft room,

or if you're locked me for many years, beyond the kitchen table.

This is Beyond Crafty.

I recently took a poll on my patron group.

The question was, have you ever struggled with your body image or loving your body?

100% answered yes.

100% of almost 500 people that participated said yes.

They have struggled to accept their body.

Here's the thing, I have existed in a small,

a medium, and a large, sized body.

For the last five years, it's been a major burden for me.

Something that attributed to depression, I missed out on life memories and experiences with my friends and family.

Let me say that again, I missed out on life memories and experiences with my family and friends.

I've missed weddings, birthday celebrations, get together with people that I love,

all because of my insecurities.

And if I ask these people that cared about me, my friends and family,

what they thought about me or what they loved about me,

my body image would have nothing to do with that conversation.

It would be conversations involving my heart or my mind or the way that I take care of my children

or the way that I try to help others.

It would have nothing to do with how my body looks.

...