My ongoing love for all things tiny

Small creative projects that have sparked joy

Today, I really wanted to explore the importance of tiny. I am sure that we can all agree that the smallest acts can make the greatest impact. A smile, a helping hand, a kind word or a pat on the back can change the course of our day. A compliment from a stranger or an unexpected cup of coffee can bring disproportionate joy and delight.

Small steps can lead to powerful change in all areas of life. I recently listened to a podcast by the amazing Madeleine Dore who also writes here on substack. She invites us to find the small things than can nudge us into beginning. The momentum of showing up and taking these small steps repeatedly can then set off what she describes as ‘a snowball of courage’. I find so much hope and inspiration in these words.

One of my first forays into creative enterprise was opening a tiny haberdashery shop underneath my bunk bed when I was a little girl. My customers were mainly family members, along with one or two encouraging classmates, yet I delighted at displaying my wares, carefully gift wrapping them and hand writing receipts. This opened a doorway to dreaming of opening a ‘real’ store one day and was to spark a love of making and curating that has endured my whole life.

I have never been interested in huge or flashy things, instead being drawn to independent shops, boutique hotels with a handful of rooms and supper clubs with just a table or two. For me small is special.

I wanted to share a couple of tiny projects that I have worked on or simply dreamed of, the first being ‘Sprinkles’. Several years ago I created a series of small postcards, each with a button badge and a sweet sentiment. I hoped they would be shared, scattered and sprinkled like confetti, hence the name. They came packaged in a box with a typed manifesto.

‘You hold in your hands a little box of sprinkles. Please share and scatter far and wide. Paper hugs and kisses to add a little joy and cheer. Pop a sprinkle in a pocket or a desk drawer, prop up against a cup of tea or add some string and tie to a bunch of blooms. Scribble a few words on the back, a thought, an idea, a very short recipe, a cute doodle, a sweet reminder, ask a question. Say hello, I miss you or simply I love you the most of all.’

I then asked the senders and receivers to share their sprinkle stories with me and was inundated with the sweetest responses. I wanted to encourage the concept of being a day maker and to show how easily it could be done with the smallest of gestures.

The next small project never fully came to life but I would still love to share. My son (clearly indoctrinated with his mother’s love of flowers!) wanted to set up the tiniest flower delivery service. I would make tiny posies of flowers, just four inches tall and he would deliver them on his micro scooter. He was just seven when he had this idea so clearly some logistical problems arose but I still hold this core memory of his enterprising idea and enthusiasm for spreading a little joy in our neighbourhood.

During the ‘covid years’ we had plenty of time to get creative and devised two tiny but very sweet projects. The first was the matchbox treasure nature hunt. We would go for our daily walk and would take an empty matchbox in our pockets, on the look out for little pebbles, tiny twigs or petals that had to fit inside the box. This added a layer of joy to our walks as we were tuned into noticing small details that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. Once home we would arrange our finds and present them to each other and on occasions would draw them too. Just writing this reminds me to re-visit this lovely activity.

The final tiny project I wanted to share was our boxes of smiles. During a period of much sadness and worry I felt it was important to stay positive and happy. Our smiles were hidden behind masks most of the time so I challenged the children to draw a hundred smiley faces. I cut up tiny square of papers, got out our trusty crayola crayons and on each square we drew a smiley face. I made some small paper boxes and we filled them with smiles and left them in our neighbours mail boxes. We hand delivered them to local shop keepers and baristas to express our gratitude and hopefully make them smile.

This leads me to my reasons for wanting to create The Tiny Department Store. I am truly passionate about the power of small things. It is also ‘tiny’ because that makes it feel achievable and possible. I don’t have the budget or infrastructure to open an actual department store but rather than letting this deter me from following my dreams, I have decided to take small steps to creating something tiny for now and who knows maybe with a snowball of courage and the consistent daily actions of showing up this may lead to something bigger somewhere down the line.

I would love to know about any tiny wins or creative projects (tiny or enormous) that you are working on right now and as always thank you for reading.