Wanna get your craft-girl on?
Then head over to the very fabulous-o Cut out and keep, the ultimate step-by-step crafty community, this is not your grandma’s idea of craft - oh no…This is the talented Cat’s idea of craft, and her ideas are freakin’ awesome!
She’s not only a craft-girl, she’s ed girl of the too-cool-for-school online zine, Snippets - we HEART Snippets.
A lot.
We’re especially heartin’ the feature ’bout people’s work spaces - perfect-o for nosey-girls like moi!
We’re supes excited as Cat has come to hang in our world o’ pink - so grab your paper, scissors and pink pritt stick - and get craftin’ with Cat!
Describe Cat in five words…
Hmm, this is a tricky one. I guess I’d say busy, creative, geeky, enthusiastic and crafty.
What is it you do exactly, Cat?
Tell us all about your website and magazine…
I run Cut Out + Keep, an online community for making and sharing step-by-step craft tutorials and showing off the things you’ve made. My boyfriend Tom is a programmer and webdesigner, so he does all the coding, while I create the content. I spend my time organizing the site, getting people involved and trying to make everyone be creative. I also run Snippets, which is our online entertainment magazine. We’re up to Issue 8, so I spend a lot of time organizing writers, thinking up themes and article ideas, doing interviews and scouting for content.
What made you set these up?
Cut Out + Keep originally started as my blog, I’ve always made things and when I posted photos of my creations, readers would ask how they were made. I eventually started posting step-by-step photo tutorials and my blog grew and grew in popularity and I started adding more content, which expanded in to a podcast, a shop and a zine. At the start of this year, the blog transformed in to a website, we added a message board, profiles and Snippets and then decided that it was time to let the readers get involved and be creative too. Within the past month, we have launched project adding for everyone and we plan to give the users blogs and loads of other features. I love it, because now everyone can have their own little Cut Out + Keep all to themselves.
We HEART all your creations but LOVE Snippets - tell us the inspiro behind the online zine, how long does it take to make and what goes into making it each month?
I started Snippets at the start of the year. I’d been dabbling with journalism for a while and fed up with the lack of creativity fueled entertainment magazines so I decided to start my own. I was lucky enough to have CO+K as a base to launch it from and I had a group of fantastic and creative writers from the start who were willing to contribute, so it all went really smoothly.
To create an issue of Snippets, we think up a theme and then throw it back and forward, while the writers suggest ideas for articles and what they want to write about. We then confirm who’s writing what and what the deadline will be. It usually takes 6 weeks to gather together all of the content, with a huge rush and the majority of work taking place right at the end. In the last week, all of the content is gathered together, proof read, laid out and photography added. We then create the digital cover and other graphics needed for the issue. It can be quite stressful but it’s a great buzz and it’s so satisfying to stand back and look at the completed issue.
What do you love most about doing what you do?
I’ve always loved being creative and making things, so I’m very lucky that I get to do it every day now. The most satisfying thing about crafting is how short period the of time between having an idea and making it a reality can be. You’re rewarded very quickly, left feeling productive and accomplished, while ending up with something unique that no one else has. It’s always a great feeling when someone asks where you bought something you’ve made from.
Do you do this full time? If not, what else do you do? And how do you manage to fit it all in?
I’ve just graduated from University, so I’m taking the next couple of months out to work on Cut Out + Keep. I studied filmmaking at University, while working part time as a journalist and photographer for various magazines, so I’ll probably get a job doing one, or a mixture of these things somewhere in the media. I’ve always ran Cut Out + Keep alongside whatever I was doing, so I’ll continue to find time for it no matter where I go or what I do next.
What’s a typical day in the life of Cat?
I’m afraid there’s no such thing as a typical day in my life, everyday is different and I’m thankful for it. I try to stay as busy and creative as possible, so I’m always emailing, plotting and thinking up new ideas. I’m a big fan of multitasking, so rather than just sitting and watching TV, I’ll be crafting something at the same time. I have a heap of notebooks filled with ideas and scribbles of the things I want to make. I’m also kept busy doing interviews and taking photographs for Snippets. I’m so lucky for having the opportunity to speak to my heros and take photos of my the bands I love playing live.
Though I am very busy, I do like to relax too. I watch a lot of movies and listen to a lot of music. I like to go exploring, snuggle up in coffee shops, go to the cinema and hanging out.
What tunes would a Cat soundtrack include?
I love so many bands, but the majority of tracks on my soundtrack would be by the Manic Street Preachers, PJ Harvey, Bright Eyes, Martha Wainwright, Peaches, Regina Spektor and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Quick fire round - what’s your favourite:
colour: Pink & Purple
movie: Leon
hang out: Camden in London
band: Manic Street Preachers
magazine: BUST
website: Oh, so many, but at the moment www.CRAFTZine.com
What’s next in the world of Cat?
Next up, I’m going to be spending a lot of time on Cut Out + Keep, adding loads of new features, producing loads of content and making it the way I picture it in my head. It’ll take a lots of hard work from Tom and myself, but hopefully it’ll all be worth it in the end. After that, the site should be able to take care of itself, and I can move city and go on the hunt for my dream job.
The colour pink. Discuss.
I love the colour pink. It’s a bright, happy colour, that could never be boring. It’ll always be my first colour of choice for gadgets, home decor and jewellery.
Go visit: www.cutoutandkeep.net
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