My Approach to Being
Crafty
I grew up with a very typical "Mormon" mom. She cooks, sews, crochets, quilts,
sings well, raised 8 righteous kids, and is still at it with almost 16
grandkids! It was great to have so
many resources at my disposal as I was growing up. As a teenager, I picked and chose what kind of
"homemaking" skills I wanted to learn, and now that I'm a mom of a 15 month old "boddler" (baby
+ toddler) who is still learning to walk and LOVES to spend time with me, I'm
adjusting my priorities and slowly finding what works for me, just like I did
growing up. Good thing I spent the
last 7 years in grad school with a busy schedule! I had to learn to do only the important things, because as a
crazy grad student I didn't have time for much other than studying, yet I
needed to keep my sanity! So I
found simple crafts and sewing projects that kept me sane in grad school, but didn't distract too much from my
coursework. I still use the same
approach as a new mom. I do enough
so that I feel like myself, and that I have my own identity, but I don't do too
much to where I am ignoring little Miss P (who will be joined any day now by a
little brother).
I wanted to share my approach/philosophy of crafting, and
then share with you a few crafts I have done recently:
·
Know
yourself and know what you like to do. If you hate crafts, don't feel like you have to do
them! I learned after scrapbooking
my whole mission (it took 3 months straight), I hate scrapbooking. Haven't touched it since! I can also only crochet one stitch, so
I avoid crocheting, for now! I
like to embroider, sew and make simple cards; these are things I've been doing
for a while, so I can do them fairly quickly. Do what you know you can handle and are comfortable
tackling, and be OK with it if you can't.
Just find something else that you do like!
·
Know how
much time you have. I used to voraciously
sew for 2-3 days straight, but can't do that anymore (not since before grad
school and parenthood, anyway). I sat in my basement for the first three months
home from my mission and did nothing but scrapbook, watch movies and go to
Institute. I can't do anything
like that now! Now I know I have
to choose something simple, or something that can be broken down into
manageable chunks. I also choose
not to work on projects once my husband is home from work or late into the
night, because I like to spend time with my husband, and I like my sleep!
·
Use your
resources! I regularly
outsource portions of my projects to my sisters or mom or dad who have supplies
or skills I need.
·
Stick to
what you have on hand. I stick with projects that I already have most of
the supplies for, and only every once in a while start something totally
new. That helps keep the craft
budget (yes, that's a category in our monthly budget) in check. I also live in a tiny apartment with no
space for a craft room, or even a craft closet! My supplies have to remain minimal.
·
Only make
what you really need. I don't
just craft/sew for the sake of crafting--unless I really need some stress
relief. I don't have a pinterest
account, and I don't really troll blogs for new projects. I usually am crafting/sewing because of
some sort of need, be it gifts, clothes for my daughter, new baby supplies,
Halloween costumes or holiday decorations. Yes, you need holiday decorations. Or, at least I do.
They make me happy.
·
Don't be
afraid to buy something instead. Sometimes
I want to make something so badly, but in the end it's cheaper just to buy it,
or I find a good substitute on sale.
I'm OK if everything isn't homemade, and honestly, it's not always
cheaper to make it myself. Not
like when my mom made EVERYTHING for us!
Here are a few projects that I've done recently. If you want to know how I did
them, I can do some detailed
tutorials.
Embroidery:
I have found that simple embroidery is a quick and easy
project. I have a bunch of
embroidery patterns that I've accumulated from Mormon Handicraft and craft
stores. I've embroidered quotes
and scriptures for new convert baptism gifts. I have holiday embroidery patterns. I make up patterns sometimes. I tend to stick the finished
product in picture frames. When I was invited to a baby shower
last year, our budget was tight, and I couldn't afford to buy a typical
gift. So, I found an extra picture
frame, and embroidered a stick-person family to give to my friend. I sketched out the family to look like
each of the family members, including the new baby, mom with long brown hair
and green eyes, and dad, who is a big BYU fan, and finished it in a few hours. I don't have a picture of the finished
product, but this is the pattern I sketched:
Wall Art:
When my daughter, Miss P, was born, I wanted to put "I
am a Child of God" signs in her room in multiple foreign languages. I'm getting a PhD in German, so I'm a
bit of a language dork. This craft
was a perfect example of using my resources. I was in Nebraska visiting my family, so I went to the
hardware store with my dad, bought a bunch of 1x4s and asked him to use his tools (which I don't have at
all!) to cut down the boards and route the edges (is that the verb, since my
dad used his router to round the edge!?!). Then, I used my mom's stash of acrylic paints to paint the
boards the colors I wanted. I
brought my painted boards back to Illinois with me, and when my sister came to
visit me after Miss P was born, I asked her to bring her Cricut so we could
make vinyl stickers. In an
afternoon we had all the vinyl cut and adhered. Then, I used Command picture hanging strips to stick them on
the wall. The command strips were
so much easier than trying to adhere some sort of picture hanging hardware to
the back of the boards and then nailing a level and perfectly spaced
configuration to the wall! Here is
the finished project on the wall above P's crib: http://whitneylovesgerman.blogspot.com/2011/11/flat-stanley-and-penelopes-room.html
Birthday Wreath:
I have a stash of wreaths to put on my door for every
month. I wanted one for
birthdays. I really do want to sew
a "Happy Birthday" banner at some point, but this was not that
time. Like I said, I don't
have a pinterest account, but that doesn't mean I don't see what other people
pin there thanks to Facebook. One
of my friends pinned a simple wreath idea from Our Best Bites, and, after
reading the instructions on the blog, I thought I could handle it. It was cheap enough to fit in my craft
budget that month, and I could finish it during my daughter's nap. DONE and DONE!! I found my supplies at
Michael's (always using a coupon) and bought the balloons at Target. Here is a link to the tutorial:
This is my finished product, albeit in need of some
fluffing. Every time we walk past
the wreath I let Penelope touch it, so it's a little disheveled by now :
I'm completely on board with your philosophy -- and been thinking I should craft a little more.
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