Kicking off this week’s “Sisters are doing it for themselves” special we have the lovely Connie who – along with her darlin’ husband Jamie (aka Mr Kapow) – runs Konnie Kapow! Connie was one of our class testers at The Life Craft and is someone I have a lot of time for. So, without further ado let me introduce you!

Tell us about Konnie Kapow! What do you make?
We make offbeat greeting cards from original artwork either by Mr Kapow or myself. Jamie has a degree in Fine Art from Bath Spa University whereas I have a degree in weird doodling from the University of Colouring in Books!

Our focus is on vintage styles, cowboys, rockabilly, pop culture, silly jokes, and lists of things we like, good drawings (and some bad!), birdies and custom artwork.

What got you started in this field? Were you always a creative type?

Jamie is a natural born artist, he’s really talented (and handsome!) but after he finished his degree his confidence in his own abilities plummeted. When we met it had been quite some time since he had done his last painting. In fact, I witnessed him selling off one of his big abstracts at a car boot sale for £3.50!

I am an avid craftsperson who loves making things, especially knitting! I have a really strong desire to learn new crafts all the time however; my talent for art is that I have no talent for art! It’s long been a joke amongst my family (a creative bunch, both my sister and dad are talented artists) that I can’t draw to save my life! During my ‘horsey’ phase I would churn out sketch after sketch of strange beasts with long necks that looked like dog/giraffe hybrids and name them “Trigger” or “Swift Wind.”

Ever since I was a little girl I have had an unhealthy obsession with stationery and made my own in various forms since school. I was always sending stuff to one friend in particular who really ‘got’ my sense of humour. I figured I’d probably offend anyone else who received it! I used to “illustrate” letters to Jamie when we were doing the long distance romance thing and he saw their er… potential?

Then last year I went through a period of suffering badly from anxiety which meant I was off work for about 6 weeks. I’m never at peace, always got 5 or 6 things on the go at once (making a terrible mess) but I found I didn’t have the concentration to knit or read or even watch telly and I was SO BORED but too scared to leave the flat. We had hundreds of card blanks left over from the wedding so I started turning them into silly and or quirky cards and they went down so well with friends and family that I searched online for a UK equivalent of Etsy (where I had purchased a lot of stuff for my wedding) and came up with Folksy where I opened my shop!

Why do you make things by hand?

For me! Because there’s nothing quite compares to the feeling you get when you’ve finished something – whether it’s a card or a hand knitted lace scarf, or a cake for that matter – you hold it out and look at it and think (or shout depending on company) “I made this!” Being creative and making things by hand gives me a sense of achievement like nothing else, “look! I made this! ME!”

What is your craft “philosophy”?

This ties in quite well with what I was saying about the sense of achievement thing. I personally don’t like greeting cards! (gasp!) Well, I don’t like manufactured ones (phew!).

When we got married for example we got hundreds of congratulations cards and I would say that they were mostly about 5 or 6 designs in duplicate. No offence to anyone who sent us a wedding card intended but you send a card because of a life event, something important, every individual is different and I think that this should be reflected in the card. I’m the type of person who has kept practically every letter I’ve ever received and I love it when I get a card that someone has picked because it’s unique, or even better, relevant to me!

At the same time, I am aware that there isn’t much choice out there, particularly if you don’t want (insert name of well known greeting card company) style sentiments so this is why we make cards in the style that we do. One of our favourite things to do is custom cards, we’ve done T-Rex (the band) 40ths, T-Rex 25ths (the dinosaur), dogs sailing boats, elephants in socks, Bruce Willis, rock chicks and are currently working on a Star Wars 40th!

Do you believe that being creative is good for you?

I know it is! Like I said earlier, I was at a very low point when I started Konnie Kapow. I opened my Folksy shop on 10th September 2009 and had my first sale on the 24th which was probably the most exciting thing that ever happened to me! By the end of the month I had notched up a few more sales and my confidence was growing. I started encouraging Jamie to get involved too as it was something I felt we would work well at as a team. He was a bit apprehensive at first but after some of his designs started selling too (everyone loves Owlvis!) you could see his confidence starting to come back and he’s doing a lot creatively now with his painting and photography.

Before I started all of this it was so easy to come home from work and slip into familiar habits of eating dinner in front of the telly and then before you know it it’s time for bed and then you do it all over again! Crafting keeps me sane, literally!

Is there anything that frustrates you about being a creative type?

Yes, the frustrating thing about it is I still have to work full time! Although I’m one sale away from 80 in my Folksy shop and regularly do craft fairs as well as selling in The Maisonette, I couldn’t possibly survive on my craft alone at the moment which is very frustrating! Every second I spend not crafting is doing something I don’t really want to do (with the exception of eating and sleeping, they’re my favourites!).

Do you believe the internet has had an effect on your creativity?

Yes both negatively and positively!

Positive: there are so many tutorials and how to guides available it’s very easy to get free resources and cheap materials using the internet. There is also a really welcoming and strong online crafting community to get to know and lend support when you need it! It’s like being part of a big family! (Incidentally, I wrote a wee article on the sense of community for online craft mag Indie Smiles!)

Negative: the internet can be a hindrance too though, you go on to do a quick blog or update twitter and something else catches you eye or you get into a conversation with someone and before you know it you’ve wasted a whole day!

Many thanks to Connie! You can find Konnie Kapow online in the following places:
Their website
Folksy
Facebook
Flickr
Konnie Kapow’s blog
Konnie Kapow’s twitter
Mr Kapow’s blog
Mr Kapow’s twitter

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