ABOUT

Paula is a fabric designer for the Craft Cotton Co, blogger, all round crafter, and brand ambassador for Brother Sewing Machines.

Our craft workshops, projects and tutorials are intended to be therapeutic, not 'difficult' or 'exclusive' - just some crafty time out from our busybusybusy modern day lives... A chance to learn a new skill, relax, meet and engage with fellow like-minded people (face to face, or in the wonderful online crafty community) - and make something both unique and beautiful at the same time!

The Crafty Lass® studio - 'The Old Grain Store' is in the beautiful village of Lower Boddington, Northamptonshire - full of rustic charm, yet a stylish, industrial setting. And it is here, that Paula makes bespoke creative commissions, designs and works on providing accessible crafty inspiration!

Make. Create. Inspire.

Paula Milner set up ‘The Crafty Lass®’ in 2015 with a few small ambitions and a passion to somehow make her crafty dreams come true…

“I have always been creative (forever spending my pocket money in our local haberdashery!) and I went on to graduate with a 1st Class degree in Printed Textile Design from Loughborough University. However, my real passion for craft started from my own wedding - where I turned the event into a year-long 'project'! Our wedding was featured on 'Brides Magazine' online as 'Wedding of the Week' - I set about handmaking the table runners, napkin holders, the corsages, cake topper, bunting and hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of fabric flowers for the aisle and tables.

People said - "You should be doing this as your career", "You could sell those", "You need to start a blog with all your ideas and thoughts..."

So, with their words ringing in my ears - and after many a discussion with friends, family - I just did it - I quit my normal 9-5 to follow my crafty dreams. Brave? Crazy? Certainly exciting.

I wanted to teach, I wanted people to realise that they CAN make anything. Even ‘non-crafty’ people can make something that they can be really proud of. They just need time, to be shown how, and have reassurance that they are allowed to have crafty fun! Make a mess!

My crafty ideas, events and workshops are primarily aimed at adults – there are a few kid’s activities along the way – but I think it is so important that adults are allowed some creativity in their lives. Children are often encouraged to be crafty – but I think that adults often lose that creative outlet as it is often so time dependant. So much of life is work, sleep, work – that the ‘time out’ element gets lost. Craft can be so rewarding, so joyous – I want everyone to feel this way! Hence, providing often quick, simple, achievable crafty ideas to gain results anyone can be proud of!

Since starting The Crafty Lass®, I can hardly believe the direction the business has gone. From trying to establish craft workshops (my first ever one had to be cancelled due to zero ticket sales) to teaching 300 people at a Kirstie Allsopp’s The Handmade Festival weekend as a Kirstie ‘Expert’. I am now a fabric designer for the Craft Cotton Co and on their blogging team! I am lucky enough to work with some amazing brands such as Hobbycraft as one of their ‘Makers’, and I am a brand ambassador for Brother Sewing Machines. I teach official Cricut workshops as one of the founding Cricut Crew members. I won the Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday award #SBS in 2017 and continue to be a part of his #SBS community. I work closely with the Women’s Institute and was a tutor at their national college Denman until recently where it has sadly had to close. I have most recently also become an Amazon Influencer* and you can find The Crafty Lass shop here! I have had several national press features and most recently also appeared on Channel 4 as part of the Kirstie: Keep Crafting and Carry On programme.