Cutting Crafts!

Flashback to 1990, Super Nintendo was storming the nation, Polly Pockets were selling out and I was that kid begging to put on ABC so I could watch the 15-20 minutes of magic that was Art Attack !

Neil Buchanan was my idol, a creative magician that could keep in me one spot for longer than 10 minutes! As soon as he finished a project, you would regularly find me convincing my mum I would be extra safe with a pair of scissors.. ✂️

“Please, I just neeeeeeed to cut out this snowflake out Mum!!…” 😂

The days I was allowed to make a proper "mess" were the days I knew what real magic felt like and just like that the seed was planted. ❤️‍🔥

Safe to say Neil inspired the Artist in me that much, I was the 13 year old that would spend any sort of pocket money I could get my hands on, on craft supplies from the cheap shop and news agency near home. Some of which I still have today in the studio. (Ribbons and Beads left mostly)

Looking back, I made some of the coolest things and even ended up with a little market stall where I sold my first commissioned photo frame. To be fair, the biggest success was the $2 face painting set up I had for the kids.

Safe to say, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up!!

Flash forward a few years to almost the end of high school. I was an angsty, rebellious teenager, with too many piercings and a chip on my shoulder. Safe to say a creative escape can only get you so far away from where you live and what you witness. (Stories for another time.)

I always had my creative side that kept me alive. I would cut up and paint my own clothes from the op shop, just to be different and make do with what I had. Just amplifying the desire to be an Artist/Designer and inspire others to be more themselves through expression!

The day I went into the guidance officer to find out exactly what I needed to do to become what I dreamed of, was the day I was slapped in the face with the reality of where I came from.. (Temporary glitch, now I know, we get to choose where we go) 💪

I didn’t come from a place that could afford university, especially for a ‘luxury career’. I was told that day, Art was for the privileged and most people don’t make it until they die anyway! 💔

My parents were flat out feeding the 4 of us at times, or paying our regular public school fees. I was already working to take care of myself and help where I could. I definitely didn’t have that kind of money and I definitely wasn’t going to add that pressure on my parents either. As the eldest I knew full well they already fought enough about the stresses of money.. and us kids…

I Definitely didn’t want to be a starving anything… Even if I doubted myself and the world in every other way, I was determined to break a cycle.. So I had to think hard through the hurt !

I was blessed to have a couple of ‘angels’ watching over me in the form of a few teachers, and was offered an opportunity to get out of class for 2 half days a week with a Pre-Apprenticeship Certificate II in Hairdressing at Tafe.

Turns out, Hairdressing was my hall pass into a creative industry that not only paid me to learn (once I started a full time apprenticeship), it was a completely different kind of creative craft that opened my heart to humanity, kept creativity alive inside me and introduced me to amazing people along the way, some who are life long friends to this day!

After an amazing 15 years of cutting, colouring and styling hair, I have officially and thankfully put the cutting scissors down and I am picking up my favourite ones again. I am fully commitment to making these ones my next mission in life.. You know the Art & Crafty kind of 'Luxury Career' 😉

So bloody grateful for Fiskars Easy Actions ! Now those beauties genuinely are a luxury, as well as make it possible to put in a full days work and still move my hands after. If only they made scissors like that for hairdressing ! 😂

If you want to stay up to date with my adventures or simply get in touch for any reason head to my linktr.ee and follow the links 🌈 https://linktr.ee/Vivid.vibes.au

Hugest love legends,

Dannii xx ✌️