Thatch Creative

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Thatch Creative

Freelance Creative- Communications Consultant, Design, Branding and Media.

And a little Empathy Card business on the side: Real Life Cards, for Real Life People...

26/11/2025

🎄Christmas jumpers: ON. Festive fun: BEGUN. 🎅

Such a great afternoon at our Local: Kent Festive Meetup. One of the downsides of working for yourself is missing out on the team Christmas do… but not us.

This afternoon, we all stepped out of our home offices and freelance worlds to gather for our festive networking lunch at !

Pizza, prosecco, plenty of laughter, selfies, connection, and community. What’s not to love? We all left feeling so much more festive and Christmassy than when we arrived 🎄✨

Info for our next meetup in the New Year (😱) will drop into your inbox if you’re on our mailing list — and if you’re not, comment “IN” to join.

For now? Bellies full. Hearts even fuller. 💛

23/11/2025

Choosing kindness over chaos. ✨

Whilst the world gears up for Black Friday, I wanted to do something different — something slower, quieter, and rooted in generosity rather than pressure.

So… I’m running a little Anti–Black Friday Giveaway, exclusively over on my mailing list.

If you’d like to be in with a chance to win some joy from my shop, just make sure you’re subscribed before Wednesday — you can sign up here: subscribepage.io/vRJ2wR 💌

Would love to have you there. 💛

23/10/2025

🌻Invisible Disabilities Week: Insta vs Reality

It’s , and I thought I’d take this opportunity to give you a gentle reminder that what you see on socials is never the full story…

Chronic illness can suck. Especially when it’s invisible. It’s easy to make assumptions from “looks” alone.

This first photo was taken on a week where I pushed through pain to have a nice day (and get things done) with my boy. No one would have known what was going on under the surface…
The second photo? That’s the grainy dark room reality no one sees — the recovery, the exhaustion, the pain, the tears, the heart palpitations, the light sensitivity, the migraine brewing under the surface, the nausea and not being able to eat. The quiet fight to keep going, whilst sitting in the grief of feeling awful.

Being punished for having a “normal” day that “well” people wouldn’t have to weigh up with consequences.

Social media doesn’t make space for the messy very easily. And even when it does, it’s often controlled mess. Do I hate sharing this hideous, unpolished, sniffly photo with you? Absolutely. Socials reward the polished and filtered versions. But when life already feels heavy, that pressure to appear “fine” can be exhausting.

Over the last few months, I’ve been reflecting on how easily looks can deceive — and how often we forget the real human stories behind the screen. So I’ve decided: I’m choosing depth over noise. I’ll be spending less time here, and more time writing unfiltered letters in your inbox instead.

💌 If that’s your kind of space too, you can join me via the link in my bio.

💛 And if you’d like to read more about the challenges of living with an invisible illness, I wrote a blog called “Looks Can Be Deceptive.” (🔗 in my bio for that too!)

Remember: we only see a tiny proportion of what’s going on for someone. So before we make snap judgements, let’s take a minute to remember that looks can be deceptive, and choose kindness and empathy above all else. (I’m saying all of that to myself as much as to you.)

16/10/2025

We had such a great time at our Local: Kent meetup yesterday. Hannah | ’ first one co-hosting with Karen | !!

This lovely bunch bring so much joy! 💛

We started the morning with some time networking and catching up over ‘coffee’ from the bar ☕️ before we sat down for a brilliant workshop by Vardeep Edwards | about brand strategy and communicating who we are as a business. She really got us thinking about all the elements that make up who we are and the values that underpin what we do.

It was so nice to have some new faces there and hear how welcomed they felt, and what a relief it is to be in an group that is about inspiring not competing. 🥰 We’d love to hear in the comments (or privately) about your experience of coming along to DWL: Kent. So please tell us. 👇👇

We’ll be releasing details of our next meetup soon (which will be our 🎄 social). Make sure you’re signed up to our mailing list so you don’t miss it! 📅

Lovely to see you and so looking forward to the next!

13/10/2025

The things that really matter... 💛

Lately I’ve been trying to notice the tiny things that help me slow down —
a walk with , a Pumpkin Spiced Latte ☕️, a view that makes you stop mid-step and just breathe.

It’s so easy to fill life with noise — deadlines, notifications, never-ending to-dos. But every time I pause, I realise: this is where the depth actually lives.

The quiet. The small joys. The small wins on a bad day. The moments that don’t need to be “productive” to matter.

I’ve been reflecting on that a lot lately — how to keep choosing depth over noise in work and life (and I'm going to be sharing more about it in my emails... Let's call them letters...).

💛 If you’d like to slow down with me, you can sign up here: https://subscribepage.io/vRJ2wR — I’m going to be spending more time writing there these days, with a few little shop treats too.

For now, here’s to walks, PSLs, and the tiny moments that fill us back up again. 🐾

04/10/2025

🐾 This is Theo. He’s getting older now (how? 😭) and lately I’ve been feeling the weight of how short and precious his time really is.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the busy: deadlines, to-dos, the endless scroll. But what Theo really wants isn’t more “busy me.” He wants presence. He wants quality time. And honestly… don’t we all?

Life is finite. Things happen. And when I think about what matters most, it’s not the noise, it’s the connections. With dogs, with humans, with the people (and moments) that actually fill us up.

So here’s me, choosing to notice. Choosing depth. Choosing the important things.

This has been a ridiculously busy week, and so I'm shutting down the devices and slowing down for a good few days to rest and recover with my fluffy boy on the sofa.

💛 Tell me: what (or who) are you slowing down for this month?

✨ PS: I’ll be sharing more of these reflections (plus a sneaky shop offer that’s exclusive to my mailing list) in my next email later this weekend. If you’d like to get it, sign up here: https://subscribepage.io/vRJ2wR

09/09/2025

🎉 Oh hi there… it’s been a while.

I’ve been quiet here, partly because I’ve been really unwell, and partly because life has been a lot. Business, wedding planning, podcast prep (for when I’m well enough to record), book writing (slowly!)… and then also just the reality of a body that sometimes needs me to stop.

A couple of weekends ago, I got to pause in the best way — celebrating my amazing little Mumma’s big birthday surrounded by family (and chosen family). It was a huge reminder of what really matters, what’s worth my time and energy, and how much I treasure the deeper connections with the important people, that fill me up. 💛

The break from posting wasn’t planned, but it’s made me reflect:

On how loud life feels online.

On how easy it is to get caught up in the scroll.

And on how, what I value most — empathy, encouragement, real connection — doesn’t always live here on social media.

So while I’ve been quiet, I’ve been asking myself some big questions about how I want to show up online, in my work, and in my life.
I don’t have all the answers yet (more on that soon 👀), but I do know this: I want to choose depth over noise.

Thanks for sticking around, even in the silence. I’ve missed you. 💛

I’d love to know what fills YOU up and what has brought you joy this past month? Tell me 👇🏻

08/03/2025

💛 ...to the women... 💛

To the women who raised us,
Who were brave for us,
Who stood up and fought for us.
To the women who taught us,
And encouraged us,
And held open doors for us.

To the women who love us,
Who choose to celebrate…
WITH us and FOR us.
To the women who come after us,
As much as to the women who came before us.

To all the women, in all the ways,
Who make life better day by day.
Thank you.

⭐️ To every woman in my life, I'm grateful for you.⭐️
Here are just A FEW who have, and continue to, shape me. The list is long, I can't show you all of them, and how sweet it is to be in a position of having too many amazing women in my life to count. ⬆️

01/03/2025

Oh Hi there. 👋🏻

It’s been a little while since I’ve (re)introduced myself, so…

Hello. 🙋🏽‍♀️ I’m Karen- the Thatch behind the Creative.
Here are some facts about me:

🐕‍🦺 I have a gorgeous cockerpoo called Theo. You’ll probably see more photos of him than me.
🌲 My happy place is with him in the woods or rolling hills. (This is us at the woods last week.)
💛 Empathy is my biggest core value. I think it’s the key to communicating well.
📚 I own more books than is healthy, and I’m not sorry about it. I love books, I love to read, and I run a bookclub in my town- that gang are often my favourite part of my month.
✨ Faith is massively important to me. It’s been a rocky road, and it is not always easy- sometimes God and I fall out. BIG TIME. But through it all, He’s still number 1.

Anything else you want to know? Just ask.

Thanks for being here, whether you’ve been around since the beginning or are new to my world, I’m so glad you’re here.

11/01/2025

🎉 Thatch Creative is 6 years old TODAY! 🎂

6 years ago, I took the plunge and launched both my 💻 freelance biz and my 🛒 shop at the same time – not knowing if I’d make it to one year, let alone six!

It’s been some of the hardest years of my life- both personally and professionally, with many tears along the way, and a whole load of imposter syndrome... but it's also been incredible and I could never have imagined how my business would be thriving:
✨ I’ve found ways to work around my health- in your face chronic fatigue 💪🏻
✨ I get to focus on the work I love, with organisations I love.
✨ AND I have YOU – the best community of cheerleaders ever.

Thank you for being part of my journey. Here’s to year 7! 💛

🎂 Every celebration needs cake right...? 🥳

Address

Unit 85-86, The Designer Outlet Centre, Kimberly Way

TN24 0SD

Website

http://www.thatchcreativeUK.com/

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About Thatch Creative

Thatch Creative is a mix of Freelance Creative Services, and a small, one-person-run, card business. The heart behind the cards is simple- real life cards, for real life people.

Karen Thatcher (the Thatch behind the Creative) lives in Ashford, Kent. She is passionate about producing cards that reflect real life situations. From first hand experience, she knows that when someone’s physical, mental or emotional health is at an all time low, sending or receiving a card saying ‘get well soon’ probably isn’t going to cut it. She wanted to produce cards that are empathetic to real situations: from a simple and honest "thank you", to a way of telling someone that you're thinking of them when they're in pain and you don’t know what to say.

All of the cards are digitally and originally designed, printed on recycled card and filled with a whole lot of heart- You may find some sarcasm; you may also find some tenderness, you definitely WILL find real life.

The Freelance side focusses on all kinds of designs and communication needs for small businesses and individuals. For more about the Freelance side of things, get in touch or have a browse on the website: www.thatchcreativeuk.com/freelance.