Becky Striepe is a crafty, vegan author in the ATL. Through her blog, Glue and Glitter, she aims to make eco-friendly crafting and vegan food accessible to everyone. You might even say it’s her life mission—because it is. Becky is a believer in the little changes that make a big difference; and when that difference involves a combination of writing, crafting and culinary sorcery? We’re all ears.
CommonCreativ sat down with Striepe to get her take on artistry in Atlanta, tips for taking your creativity full-time, and, we’ll be honest—we wanted to see just how delicious those vegan recipes of hers are.
CommonCreativ: Like many creatives, you lead a kind of double life. How you find balance?
Becky Striepe: I don’t really think of my work as being split up that way. When I was running a crafty business and still keeping up with writing assignments, I definitely felt like I was spread way too thin, and focusing just on writing has been great for me, emotionally. I think of crafting and cooking as going hand-in-hand, so writing about one or the other feels natural. It’s all about using your creativity to improve your life, whether that means making a green smoothie in the morning or sewing together bunting to decorate a wall.
Sometimes I’ll get a freelance assignment that’s out of my comfort zone, but at the end of the day, I’m still learning and sharing knowledge, so it jives pretty nicely. I kind of like those assignments—they make me push myself, and I feel like I’m improving my writing and research skills whenever I complete one.
CC: What was your first vegan recipe? How has your approach changed?
BS: Wow, that’s a tough question! I went vegetarian when I was 16 and certainly did my share of vegan cooking back there, just incidentally, you know? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is vegan, as long as the bread is vegan.
I honestly don’t remember my first vegan recipe, but I was much more into following recipes when I first went vegan. Part of changing your diet is reimagining your plate, and recipe resources like Post Punk Kitchen and VegWeb helped a lot when I first cut out eggs and dairy.
Now, my cooking is a lot more…pantry-based? I belong to a local CSA, and most of my recipe- and meal-planning involves looking at what veggies we got this week and coming up with ways to cook them all. I’m definitely proof that you can eat vegan on a budget—my whole cooking philosophy is based on being pretty thrifty and using what I have on hand.
CC: What’s your creative process?
BS: I love a to-do list, and list-making is a huge part of my process. At the start of each week, I make a master list of everything that I need to turn in or want to accomplish, then break that list down into even smaller lists, then break the more complicated pieces on THOSE lists down into mini-outlines. Just creating my to-do list takes me half the day sometimes, but it helps me focus my energy for the whole week—I never wonder what to do next, because it’s right there on the list.
In the kitchen or craft room, it’s all very instinctual, if that makes sense. I have an idea of how I want the project or recipe I’m developing to turn out, and once I have my ingredients or materials together, I fall into that flow of making and just tweak things along the way until I have something I’m happy with. I always end up with a sheet of sketchy notes—either on scrap paper or on my iPad—about how I made something, then I kind of go through that and rework that sketch into something that another person would be able to follow. Of course, not everything is salvageable, and it often takes at least a few tries to get something worthy of publishing.
CC: What is it about writing and blogging that you find most fulfilling?
BS: I love that so much of my work is also functional. When I develop a recipe or a craft project, I’m not just creating content for a blog—I’m feeding my family or solving a household problem. My goal is to make crafting, vegan food and sustainable living more accessible by sharing tidbits from my real life.
CC: Do you have any tips for other self-starting artists?
BS: Make a plan! When I decided to quit my day job, I wanted to put in notice, like…the next day. My husband—the level-headed Striepe, for sure—put the kibosh on that. We sat down and hammered out a budget and a savings plan. We saved for a year before I quit my job, and that cushion has been invaluable. We still have lean times once in a while, but we also have those savings, so if there’s a leak in the roof, but my bigger clients haven’t paid out yet that month, we can get it fixed and replenish the savings later on.
I hate thinking about finances, but unfortunately, the power company insists that we pay the bill with “money.” Having that cushion makes things a lot less stressful, so I can focus on my work and my family and friends.
CC: How would you describe the Atlanta creative scene?
BS: Thriving! I’m often overwhelmed with how many art openings, craft markets and indie businesses we have here in town. I think that Atlanta doesn’t get nearly the credit it should as a creative hub.
CC: What inspires you?
BS: Inspiration so often seems to strike out of nowhere—my phone is full of notes I’ve written myself at concerts, at the grocery store or in line at the post office. Sometimes I read them later and have no idea what I was talking about, but some of my favorite recipes and projects have come from those little notes. There’s one on my phone now that I’ve been meaning to get to since Moogfest last year. For some reason, in the middle of Orbital’s set I got the idea of making a tempeh reuben salad? Who knows where that came from, but there it was!
CC: Are you a huge fan of any ATL creative projects?
BS: Definitely. I’m constantly amazed by my friends Christy and Shannon who run the Indie Craft Experience. ICE has done so much for the creative scene here in town. We have lots of craft markets, but I feel like ICE has really helped put Atlanta on the map in terms of crafting, and I have loved watching them grow and empower so many crafters to sell their goods!
I am also totally in love with the #weloveatl project that showed at Young Blood last year! It was so awesome to see a group of artists focusing on what’s great about our city.
CC: What’s one unexpected benefit that your blog has had on your life?
BS: I get to connect with the most amazing people, including some of my heroes! Right now, I’m working on an essay for a book on craftivism by Betsy Greer, and there are not words for how thrilled I am! I met Betsy virtually when I wrote an article about her for Ecopolitology and in person at Crafty Bastards in D.C. a few years ago. She is one of my biggest crafty influences and it’s an honor to contribute to her book.
CC: What’s your next big project?
BS: We have a baby due on April 1st, and I’ve been super focused on him, especially now that his due date is so close! I guess you could say that my next project is striking a healthy work/life balance while raising the happiest, healthiest baby that I can.
