Feeling Crafty!

I've had something on the go, craft-wise, for as far back as I can remember the past couple of years. So here's what I've been working on:

My Journey of Hope: Craft Room Conversion!

Hubby said the sexiest thing to me this past Saturday. He took my hand as I was about to head out of our bedroom, smiled at me and said, "How about on Sunday, we stay home from church, and..."

A Little Something For Me

I have a really annoying habit.

I like to make things, and sometimes, I even like to make things for myself. I'll start the project, and generally, at some point, I come to realize that it's not for me after all. As a result, I don't have a lot of my own work.

With that in mind, I've started knitting a hat FOR MYSELF. No, I really mean it this time! It's a beautiful slouchy beret, called Elleby, designed by Teresa Cole. It has an openwork design that looks a bit like cabling, but without the cables. I'm finished the brim and the first repeat, and it's looking fabulous! Now, I'm only two days of knitting into it, but the variegated thread is looking very nice, and if it continues like this, there's no way anyone will get it, lest they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

MINE!

Fun With Felt: Flower Barrettes Tutorial

Secunda and I were brainstorming the other day, trying to figure out gift ideas that she could make for her friends for Christmas. An initial perusal of some kids' craft books showed me that most of those crafts are a bit below her skill level, so I headed over to Pinterest to find something more in keeping with our skill set. What we decided on was making felt hair accessories, and here is the tutorial for our first project, felt flowers!

Step 1 - This is all you'll need: six (6) small circles of felt (I used a glucose test strip bottle to trace the first one, then used it as a template to cut the others out), thread in a complementary colour, needle and scissors.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Greetings, friends.

This past week and a half has been a blur of dealing with Hubby's work situation. With a full strike vote looming tomorrow, we are more unsure than ever how we will make ends meet in the face of the government hold-back of 10% of his wages, ostensibly for unwillingness to perform 100% of their job (yet they are still working Every. Single. Minute. that they are permitted to be at the school, but that is another post entirely). So, I've spent the last couple of days figuring out how I can generate income for our family. I have a home-based business, so there's always that, but I'm also a crafter/artisan, so I have hung out my shingle and am now working on three commissions for weaving and embroidery, as well as creating embroidered pieces that I feel might sell to my desired niche market. If I can maintain momentum with that, I can make a meaningful contribution to the household finances throughout the year. But it's time to give the embroidery a rest for a few minutes, and introduce a writing exercise that I hope will get me back into the habit of writing. So, with thanks to my friend Lisa, here it is:

The 10 Day Writing Challenge

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn offs.
Day Eight: Three turn ons.
Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now (I will be substituting two emotions for the smileys, as I feel that emoticons are woefully inadequate for conveying mood).
Day Ten: One confession.

There you have it. If I get time, I'll start tonight. I make no promises that I will write every day. C'mon, I've got four kids here...

Tertius and the Coupon Book of Awesome!

It is Tertius' 5th birthday today! It hardly seems like this much time has passed, but here we are, with a little boy who attended his kindergarten orientation today (which he *loved* by the way).

When family members asked what he wanted in the way of gifts, we ended up giving them all of our ideas, so Hubby and I were pondering a cool, fun, meaningful gift for our young man. Trust Hubby to come to the rescue with this brainchild:

He suggested that what Tertius really wants is for us to spend quality time with him. And he's right; as a middle child, he really does crave that one-on-one time between parent and child. I mean, do you know any 5 year old that *doesn't* enjoy being the center of attention?

So the two of us sat down and brainstormed ideas. We came up with 10 things that we felt he would really appreciate, and with that list in hand, we figured out a colour scheme and dove into my scrapbooking materials.

Three hours later, we had a product we were really happy with. We made a booklet of coupons that measures 4" x 6". Our pages were held together by punching a hole in the top left of each page and threading ribbon through to create a half-hitch knot.

Here is a list of the tools and materials we used:

- Card stock in various colours and patterns (I did a large portion of this by raiding my scrap paper folder)
- Paper cutter (mine is a $10 Cricut paper slicer from Wal-Mart)
- Glue stick (I had run out of my tape runner, so I kicked it old school, yo)
- Round paper punch
- various corner punches
- small, sharp scissors
- Xyron sticker maker
- stickers
- alphabet stickers
- ribbon
- computer and printer

Cost for this project:

 - absolutely nothing.

I had everything we needed in my scrapbooking stash. So this was a great project on three counts: it gave our son an amazing gift that he can cash in on throughout the year, it used up items we already had lying around (or tucked into my craft supplies, as the case may be), and it provided me with the focus for 10 really great and personal scrapbook spreads to put into Tertius' book in the future. And now, without further delay, here is what we made!

Thoughts on Being a Working Mother

When Hubby and I got together, we knew we wanted more children, so we talked about how we'd make that work. We decided together that, while they were small, one of us needed to be at home with them. Since Hubby's earning potential is much higher than mine, the choice was easy. I love being a mother, and I have really relished being at home with them. So, now that Tertius is approaching school age, my thoughts turned to what happens when all four kids are in school full-time. And that scared me a bit. Well, maybe more than a bit :)

You see, I have pretty well no marketable skills for the workforce. Hubby would disagree, but I've been out of the work force since 2008, and not doing the type of work I'd want to be doing since 2005. And I had no formal training for that (basically, I had related practical experience and lucked into the job I had, which now requires a 2 year university program). That means that if I want to continue in that line of work, I'd need to go back to school for 2 years, then do 300+ hours of volunteering, then get an established person in that field to sign off on an endorsement. So I figured I'd best start thinking about it now. In my heart, I have no grand career aspirations; all I've ever wanted is to be a wife and mother. So, going back to work was not a prospect I particularly relished.

Then I brought it up with hubby. And he surprised me.

Turns out, he never assumed that I would just automatically rejoin the workforce once the kids were in school. He said that if it was what I wanted, then he's behind me, but if I want to be at home, that's okay with him, too. I really don't see myself in some low-to-moderately paying job for the rest of my employable years. I have a home-based business that's not really doing much right now (and I'm totally okay with that), but I have found that creating is what really brings me joy. So, I'm beginning work on entering a crafting niche market - geek crafts. I'm working out prototypes, and I'm creating, which puts a smile on my face :) This could enable me to stay home, bring in some income, AND do something I really love. Already, I've taken two knitting commissions and have another in the wings, so it looks like things are off to a good start.

And now, back to creating!

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

I haz it.

Most often in relation to crafts. When I start a project, I'll go gangbusters on it for a time, get past the halfway mark, or indeed, have the finish line in my sights, then my productivity on it grinds to a screeching halt. It then languishes in the bottom of my craft pile for days, months, sometimes even years, and I've been working on figuring out why (mostly so I can learn how to not do it anymore).

Take my current project. I'm embroidering a panel for a friend's cloak, a gift for his elevation to the Order of the Laurel in the SCA (Laurels are people who have been recognised for outstanding achievement in the arts & sciences; SCA stands for Society for Creative Anachronism, the mediaeval group I play in). His elevation is in three weeks, and I have to have the panel back in Seattle by July 6th. It has sat, mostly complete for well over a week while I spent that time trying to figure out if I possessed the artistic skill to freehand draw three triskeles on the design to embellish it further. When I finally sat down to do it, it too me all of 10 minutes to draw and baste the lines onto the fabric. I don't know why I doubted myself.

I think I understand the main reason I procrastinate on completing projects. I am a process junkie; for me, the joy is in the doing, not the finishing. With every thing I make, I pour myself into it, the very best of myself, to give the recipient a tangible reminder of my esteem for them. In the case of largesse items I make, it is the esteem with which I hold my branch, principality or kingdom that can be seen in every stitch, every brush stroke, every scratch of ink and every length of trim. And I learn to love what I work on. They become a part of me, and sometimes, that's hard to let go of; but I think I've figured out a way to beat the end-of-project blahs.

I've started choosing projects that have concrete deadlines, such as my current project. Yes, that needs to get done this week. And then I can return to my blackwork needle books, which have no deadline and will get done when they are darn good and ready. I think that if I can learn to strike a healthy balance between deadline items and non-deadline items, I can get more accomplished *and* feel better about laying down one item to spend an hour or two on another, so long as everything gets done.

Here's to balance.