Supporting creative babes’ wellbeing and ambitions, since 2019.
Creative Babes Club Studios’ are designing environments, facilitating conversations and curating Community events for creatives (female and LGBT+) to support their wellbeing, pursue their ambitions and thrive.
Our atelier, customised for use layout, Coworking community and Space hire packages inspire creative autonomy and wellness - with fuss-free, curated yet practical facilities, on hand art supplies and creative support.
OUR STORY
Since 2019, Creative Babes Club has been supporting creatives’ wellbeing and ambitions. Facilitating conversations about the realities of being creatives via engaging content, community collaboration and hosting (virtual and in-person) workshops and events. But how did it all begin?
Creative Babes Club’s community was inspired by an all-consuming burnout, experienced by creative babe and founder, Alice Rose Toth.
hi, that’s me.
I was inspired by how low - lost - and lonely I felt in my creativity, career pursuits and ambitions. It was a long, dragged out, wobbly process.
I was an anxious student, with low self-esteem and my head in a sketchbook, during my Textiles and Surface Design degree at The Northern School of Art. This continued to spiral as I was handing in my Final Major Project in 2017. Then for years, I was a confused, creative graduate. Feeling stuck, trying (and often, flopping) creative opportunities and overthinking every moment. After a few months of binge-watching PLL (the babes who get it, get it) I got a part-time job as a retail assistant… And as life was life-ing, I worked while simultaneously trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my career.
After over a year of sitting on my new, exciting idea (love that for me) - I took the jump and created the community that I was craving. You guessed it.
Creative babes club.
Fast-forward to 2021… I am a (still anxious) self-employed, creative babe. I was able to quit my part time retail job, which was such a pinch-me-moment… Though, it slowly dawns on me that nothing is fixed. The ebbs are still ebb-ing. I’m human, who knew? I still feel overwhelmed, now for different reasons. I am still figuring it all out. I am still burnt out and, as a creative business and founder, I had never felt less creative.
My creativity is now my career and my to-do list is inevitably more lengthy. This, whilst navigating an online-heavy and at the time, socially distanced world, made my creativity take a back seat. I’m talking: 0 cup-filling time, or creating ‘just because’. I am feeling uninspired. My ideas are foggy. I am working from home (which I love) but can sometimes feel lonely, even for an ultra introverted gal.
It was reaching an all-time-low of energy, creativity and inspiration that brought my ah-ha moment. Our new era: creative wellness. I had been neglecting my wellbeing. Creative self-care was non-existent in my day-to-day life. I wasn’t embracing my creative interests. Or exploring my curiosity.
And so, in 2023, I began untangling my creative burn out. I was intentionally connecting with creative babes for my wellbeing. Putting myself out there more, reaching out to and meeting up with Creative Babes for a conversation over a coffee. I organised cup-filling walks and IRL, creative community events. I was re-discovering my hobbies and creative interests: the uplifting moments, activities and people that nourish my creative being. Acknowledging I am human and that I can’t feel - or be - creative all of the time. *Exhale*.
This was the start of a new, less frazzled, chapter for Creative Babes Club.
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flow
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flow
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flow
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
come exactly as you are, in your creative ebbs and flows
Creative Babes in the
North East:
Creative Babes Club Studios are responding to the limited venues and available, curated spaces for local creatives. Particularly with a focus on wellbeing. North East based creatives can often feel overlooked, burnt out and overwhelmed. This, whilst having seemingly less accessible opportunities than other UK regions, pressurises them to go further afield for their ambitions, such opportunities and events - rather than on their doorstep. And so, we have dreamt up our first Creative Babes Club Studios HQ in Darlington, Tees Valley; a community-driven, regenerating, vibrant market town in the North East.
meet the
founder
Alice, Creative Babes Club Studios Founder and pattern-clashing, textiles obsessive - is the creative mind behind this project. Who, as a local to Teesside, ambitious creative, feels that we must advocate for creative babes (and their industries, skill sets and flair) in the North East. Supporting their creative ambitions, pursuits and wellbeing as they bring their ideas, projects and careers to life.
Alice’s freelance projects and public speaking facilitates open, uplifting and free-flowing conversations between creatives. Helping creative babes to feel less alone in the realities of being a creative, self-employed, pursuing your creative ambitions and being in your creative industry. From guest speaker opportunities, such as being a panellist for Sunday Girl Magazine’s Issue 11 launch party (2023) and taking part in The Northern School of Art’s International Women’s Day celebrations (2025), hosted by Young Women’s Film Academy… to hosting Creative Babes Club’s panel conversations and podcast episodes. Such conversations have - and continue to - inspire Creative Babes Club Studios’ manifesto. Once an overwhelmingly burnt out babe, Alice knows the value of representing a more human-friendly, creative outlook, lifestyle and work culture 🐌…
“I have felt - and discussed in my creative circles - the divide among North East based creatives, entrepreneurs and the accessible support, resources and self-belief that’s essential in reaching your ambitions. Starting can feel impossible without peer, community and industry encouragement, advocacy and proof it’s an option.”
creative babes club
and collaboration
Alice loves collaboration. Applying her creative skills, honed from her BA (Hons) Textiles and Surface Design degree, i.e. collaging, hand embroidery, design and more…
“I bring my creativity, empathy and vision to Creative Babes Club Studios’ projects, collaborations and community events. I feel it in my soullllll that when creative minds come together - only fab things can come from that.”
Creative Babes Club Studios always inspires this creative, collaborative energy. Teaming up with local, creative and small businesses, including Sunday Coffee and Kitchen, The Open Book Club, Under The Ivy, Off The Ground and PLAY, Middlesbrough. Along with council-led events in and around the North East, such as Orange Pip Market, Middlesbrough, Redcar’s Kite Festival, sponsored by Tees Million, The Northern School of Art’s student union and Urban Fest, Sunderland.
Creative Babes Club Studios’ bespoke Crafty Workshops and experiences are a creative, community staple. Alice and the Creative Babes Club Studios Team are here to elevate and actualise your custom ideas, with unmistakable - and considered - creativity. THAT creative babes feeling. Working to briefs from Tees Valley Creates’ New Creatives and The Freelance Network memberships, Middlesbrough Borough Council, Redcar and Cleveland Council and SPARK*, York. We are continuing to bring creative opportunities - both professionally and ambition driven - for our female and LGBT+ community. We recognise the importance such opportunities, Community Events and conversations have on creative babes. For their ambitions, wellbeing and passions.
Podcast Appearances
Alice has also guested on aligned, creative industry podcasts, sharing her knowledge - and ebbs and flows - with the audiences of No Room For Doubt by Kira Matthews - Elizabeth Stiles’ The Fashion Brand Clinic Podcast - Julia Day’s Quiet Leaders Club and Cat Byrne’s The Peaceful Creatives Podcast.
Creative Babes Club Podcast
Creative Babes Club’s podcast is a project that Alice launched in November 2023, a virtual space for such conversations about the highs n’ lows of being creatives i.e. your creative ‘ebbs and flows’. In these mini series, Alice chats with creatives, small business owners and industry experts - who share their creative journeys, knowledge and flair. As well as sharing her own creative thoughts, musings and learnings. Interviewing Creative Babes such as: Collage Artist, Goose Glitters - Content Strategy Coach, Jess Bruno - Nerrisa Pratt, Maker and Author of The Bargello Edit - and Rebecca, Founder of Women Will Create.
Look out for new episodes…
Lucy Pearce
Studio Co-ordinatorAfter a commercialised ‘dream job’ Lucy Pearce is now the editor of The NE Scene, a magazine celebrating a wide range of creatives across the North East. Drawing on her creative background, Lucy brings a creative, warm and approachable eye to the stories she shares, highlighting ideas and projects that inspire and connect her to different parts of the community.
Through The NE Scene, Lucy helps people discover independent hidden gems, North East talent and showcase it in a way that’s authentic, uplifting, and true to the North East creative scene.
Adele Catchpole
Community CoordinatorAdele is an experienced Artist and Creative Engagement Facilitator, running her own business as well as working on various freelance projects. Adele paints custom pet portraits using watercolour and gouache, pouring love and fine details into each piece of work she produces. From many commissioned portraits, a range of gift and home products can be made with personalisation and are available to shop online, at markets and in a range of local, independent stores and galleries.
Adele also delivers engaging, crafty workshops to families, schools and community groups across Tees Valley. These range from theme specific public workshops at Between the Tides Festival, Orange Pip, Stockton SIRF and more. Project led costume, parade and site prop making for Redcar Illumination Parade, Stockton Sparkles, Middlesbrough Mela and more, to co-created led mural paintings in different community spaces and outdoor public places.
With ten years experience working in different aspects of the creative industry, Adele brings her knowledge and enthusiasm for art, design and hands-on making in all forms to each commission, project and event she takes part in.
