Creativity Over Coffee: Cassie Bustamante (Primitive & Proper)

Happy Tuesday!  It is time for our next installment of Creativity Over Coffee.  Today I’m chatting with my good friend Cassie.  You may know Cassie from her amazing blog Primitive & Proper.  She has a great Boho style, a kitchen I would love and she also runs Sweet Clover Barn.  I’ve loved getting to know Cassie and her family (two beautiful children and two sweet dogs) through her blog, but I also had the pleasure of hanging out with her in real life a few years ago.  She is just as nice as she is talented.  I’m delighted that Cassie has joined me for Creativity over Coffee. Grab your tea, coffee or other warm beverage and let’s begin!

Here’s our conversation:

Thank you so much for deciding to join me for coffee and chat about your creative process.  When I had just graduated from film school in London and couldn’t find work, I found inspiration through the many biographies I read from the library.  I used to go there each week and take out more.

Many people believe they are not creative.  I hear this all the time.  It is my hope with these conversations with my talented friends that I hope to inspire my readers to believe that they truly are creativity. That creativity is just sitting inside of them waiting to bubble over.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your creative journey?

Cassie: As a child, I was always pulling out books with arts & crafts project and begging my mom to help me find the supplies and make, make, make. My father can pretty much figure anything out and build anything, and my mother has always been very creative and has enjoyed all sorts of crafts in her spare time.  With them as examples I saw creativity both as an outlet as well as way of making the world around you what you want it to be.  I was not always as creative as I am now though…. In college I went through a very hard time and felt very alone in the world.  Once I finally emerged from that dark place and my kids were born, I felt an incredible joy which led me to tap into my own creativity and nurture my soul, which I had neglected to do for so long.

Bohemian Guest Room

When and why did you start your blog, Primitive & Proper?  Why did you name your blog this?  

Cassie: My blog actually came after my business.  I started the business of Primitive & Proper in 2007 when my kids were both babies, 22 months and 5 months.  I selected that name because I wanted to convey that I carried a range of furniture from the more rustic and primitive pieces all the way to the more refined and French pieces.  Soon after that I read an article in a DIY magazine featuring Young House Love- I still remember it was that “He Says, She Says” feature they once wrote.  I remember reading it and thinking, “What is a blog?”, and also how on earth do I get my husband to want to do this with me? (I still haven’t figured that part out).  I headed to their site and soon discovered an entire world of blogging.  In January of 2009 I decided to start my own blog as an extension of my business, so I selected the same name.  I honestly had no clue what I was doing (not that I have much more of one now, but I mean I was TOTALLY clueless), and thought I could use it to market my furnishings.  I started linking projects up to link parties and discovered this great thing called community.  My blog then evolved into more of an extension of myself rather than my business and grew from there.  

 Emerald & Wood Midcentury Dresser

When do you feel most creative or happy?

Cassie: So we all hear those stories of artists who are in their “dark phases” and that is when they create their most moving artwork and write epic novels, right?  Sticking true to myself, I tend to run against the grain here.   I am my most creative when my spirit feels happy and free.  My creativity flows from my joy.  How do I get to be happy?  I am happiest when I feel a balance in my life… when I feel I have time for my kids (more than just making sure they are alive, but also time to connect with them), time for my husband and dogs as well, time to maintain a semi-clean house, and free time to tap into my spiritual side through creativity, physical exercise, and time spent outside.  The last one is crucial… I recently heard a quote from AS Byatt (via Big Magic Podcast) that stuck with me…. “I think of my writing simply in terms of pleasure. It’s the most important thing in my life: making things. Much as I love my husband and children, I love them only because I am the person who makes things. I am who I am is the person who has the project of making a thing. And because that person does that all the time, that person is able to love all those other people.”  As creatives, we need time to be creative in order to flourish and fully love the people in our lives.  If that creativity is stifled, our happiness and ability to love will be suffocated as well.

 Fall Home Tour

Do you have a favorite project?  

Cassie: Over the years I have done so many projects, but I think my favorite might be our kitchen backsplash.  The kitchen is the hub of our home, and the color speaks to my soul.  It’s one of the projects that really sets the mood for people when they walk into our home (most people use our kitchen door)- it shows them that we love the tranquility of the ocean, and that we are not afraid to make bold moves.  It was also a project that pushed me to try something different as I tend to gravitate towards projects that involve paint.

 Recycled Glass Backsplash

Who or what inspires you?

Cassie: On a daily basis my children inspire me…. Because of them I want to be a better person to be the role model they need.  They also inspire me with their ginormous hearts; they are two of the sweetest, most caring individuals I know in this world and they love harder than anyone I know.  As their mother, I love them fiercely, but boy do they love hard and give completely.  While they are both growing up in a creative home, Sawyer is more my math, history, science child.  Emmy, however, is a born creative, and I am inspired by the way she thinks and puts things together.  She creates beautiful handiwork while pushing the envelope and thinking outside the box and I love that about her.  She will grow to be a much more creative individual than me (she already is), and as her mother, I try hard not to stifle that (although that can be a challenge as creativity often yields messiness.

Cassie’s Family

Do you ever get in a funk?  If so, how do you get out of it?  

Cassie: Don’t we all?  I think you need to have a funk sometimes in order for your creativity to continue growing.  Just as you need the dark sky to truly appreciate the stars, you need a funk to appreciate the gifts you have been given.  When I am in a funk, I step away from projects and focus on re-balancing my life which sometimes results in saying “no” to projects or cutting some things out of my life for a bit…. Once I start to get that balance back, I can then move forward again.

What is your favorite color?  Is there any color you don’t LOVE?

Cassie: Blue, blue, and more blue.  All shades of the ocean speak to me, from the crystalline aqua to the moody stormy deep navy.  As for colors I don’t love… I don’t care much for warm colors. I like little touches of them here and there, but my own aura is very warm/hot and I am an extremely energetic person.  I thrive when the colors around me calm me down… When the colors around me are all red, orange, and yellow, I feel very agitated.

 Cassie’s Dining Room

How has social media impacted your work and the art you create?

Cassie: Oh I could write a whole book about this topic.  With instagram and pinterest, twitter and so many other platforms (like periscope which I am resisting), I feel so much pressure and it all becomes a numbers game.  When I feel myself and my projects getting caught up in that I am drained of creativity… so I constantly remind myself to stay authentic to who I am and what moves me.  Whenever I have created a project simply because I thought it would do well on pinterest, I haven’t felt good about the end result.  I will say that the best thing all of these platforms have done for me is pushed my photography skills.  In the beginning of my blog, no one really cared if my shot was magazine worthy, but now it matters and I want my photos to be beautiful.  For that I am grateful.

How do you balance creativity with the need to make money?

Cassie: Ha!  Make money? I know there is this perception that I make a lot of money on my blog, but I can honestly tell you I don’t profit… anything I get out of it pretty much goes right back into it so that I can afford to do my projects.  I also own my own shop, a vintage barn sale in Frederick called Sweet Clover.  We are two years old, so again the profit is marginal at best and most money goes right back into the business, but my partner Sarah and I have high hopes, complemented by hard work and hustle, to take Sweet Clover to a flourishing and profitable business.

With My Sweet Clover Partner, Sarah (Photo by Jalapeno Photography)

Can you talk a little bit about Sweet Clover?  How did you start doing this?  

Cassie: Sarah and I were actually vendors in a barn sale… it was clear that the owner of the business was not invested, and it was a far drive for her.  She wasn’t marketing the barn sale much and the energy in the place was just down.  Sarah and I were her top performers and also very energetic and passionate about what we were doing.  When she decided she no longer wanted that business, she asked if Sarah and I wanted to take over the barn location- not her business as she was taking that with her- but basically start our own barn sale there.  After much discussion we decided to go for it… so the barn sort of fell into our laps, but we have worked so hard over these past two years to bring it where it is today.  It’s a vintage 2 story barn (it was one story when we took over) full of almost 20 vendors and our vision is to offer an eclectic array of home decor and vintage furnishings to customers who appreciate design.  The last two years have been an incredible journey with ups and downs, and we have recently revisited our mission statement and redirected ourselves and have so many exciting things happening in the coming year!

From Sweet Clover’s September Sale

What advice would you give to someone who is interested becoming more creative or would like to run a creative business as you do?  

Cassie: The most important thing is to be authentic…. no good business was ever created out of imitation.  Even if you are inspired by someone else’s work or shop, stay true to you.  As you start your business, write a mission statement and let that be the founding tenet that you constantly come back to so that you stay true to your vision.  Your business path may meander and stray from your original plan, and that is OK.  Flexibility is key!  But the bottom line is to stay true to your dream.

Growing up I was a huge follower of INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO.  At the end of the program, they would ask the interviewee these questions:

1. What is your favorite word? tranquility
2. What is your least favorite word? As an English major I have a love affair with words, but I would say “queef.”  I am embarrassed just typing it here.
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? beautiful gray days
4. What turns you off? loud noises
5. What is your favorite curse word? asshole
6. What sound or noise do you love? my 12 year old dog Jake lost in a dream, and my kids playing solo in their rooms lost in their own fantasies.
7. What sound or noise do you hate? dry heaving
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? travel writer
9. What profession would you not like to do? nascar driver, anything where i have to be up on a high pole…. i am NOT a thrill seeker.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? what any child wants to hear from their father, “I am proud of you.”

A HUGE thank you to Cassie for sharing her journey with us.  I really loved hearing what she had to say and I LOVE that A.S. Byatt quote.  Be sure to follow along with Cassie!

Primitive & Proper Blog * Instagram * Facebook * Pinterest

Be sure to join us again for Creativity Over Coffee!