It's such a beautiful day today!! Being kinda stuck in the house for so long during this quarantine 😷has given me the opportunity to do some de-cluttering and rearranging. I have managed to get all my craft tools and supplies arranged semi-neatly in my brand spankin' new craft table! It's so exciting! But it's also a little sad because now I know how much more I really would like to have. I can't WAIT to do some craft shopping!!! And I've already made my lists. 😳 Yes, lists. Good Lord.
I decided to jump on here today to give you a little more insight into the way my crafty brain works. First, tons of love to all the people in my life who are always showing ME tons of love and complementing me on my crafty adventures. But I'm going to give you some real, heart-felt honesty. Almost NONE of my 'original' crafty ideas...are original!! My inspiration comes from all the amazing crafty things I see at craft fairs, online, in videos, in movies or wherever my eye catches them. I love to follow other crafters and see all the incredible things they come up with! Sometimes I feel like I could only DREAM of being that creative! If my heart really feels it, I'll attempt it. And a good majority of the time, I make it my own, anyway. I never follow the rules, people. Never. I don't follow recipes, I don't read all the instructions, I don't stay between the lines and I don't follow the rules, ever. I'm a rebel. For real. Ok, maybe a jr. rebel. Because I don't break the law. Well...we won't get into my lead foot right now but seriously, I'm good people. Promise. When I decide to get involved in a project it's usually something I make for someone else, whether it's a holiday, birthday or some gift giving event. I believe that making it personal is more meaningful than how much you spent on it or how much that person might 'need' what you got them. What we all need, in my opinion, is more LOVE. So I'm spreading that stuff around every chance I get! If there is any advice I can give to someone who feels they are not very crafty but wishes they could be....it's just do it!! If you have even a sliver of interest in creating something or re-creating something, give it a shot! You might be surprised at what you can do. And for me, most of the satisfaction I get out of it is in the process, not necessarily the result! Do you think I'm going to show you all my failed attempts at being crafty? Who's gonna like a post like that?? Pshhh.
I feel an idea brewing. You WILL see some of my failures in a future post or video. It will happen.
So I dug out some of the things from my childhood that I crafted because even back then, art was my favorite thing in life. Aside from talking, that is. Because that was definitely what I was the best at for many, many, many years. Remember the show, "Blossom"? Do you remember her best friend, Six? Well, that girl could talk! Most of the time it was hard to even comprehend what she was saying because every sentence was like a whirlwind. I used to tell people, when I was a pre-teen and huge fan of that show, that I could put that girl out of business with my mouth!! And anyone that knew me back then, agreed! Ha ha ha.......wow. I'm a tad more filtered now. A tad. Anyway, rambling again. Sorry. So I made some pretty cool things back then. Some of them I was able to keep, like this art project from elementary school.
Now, we're talking maybe 5th grade. I LOVED art class. I wish I had kept more of what I made. Some of it was destroyed in all the moves in my life. Here, we were told to draw something so that we could recreate it on tin. Kinda creepy, but also kinda cool! And it was fun! Need to remember how we did it so I can try it with my kids.
This is where my creative brain was born. Art class in elementary school. Of course some of it is in my genes. My mom was very creative and my dad was very crafty. I knew I would always love arts and crafts because I got the best of both of them! Thanks mom and dad!! My kids are a little crafty. always drawing things. Some are lovers of music, some lovers of building (and destroying!). They all love to just do things. Carving pumpkins at Halloween. Coloring eggs at Easter. Decorating the Christmas tree. Putting puzzles together. Playing video games. If you don't think that every one of those things is some sort of art, you are wrong! Art is all around you! I always thought I was kind of a dork for loving clouds. When I see clouds, my imagination takes over! I imagine pictures in the clouds, which we've all done. I also wish that I could paint them. They are so intriguing to me!! Skylines, storms, the sun rising and setting, the way the light from the sun (and the moon!) gives color to everything around it. I just love the sky and mostly, clouds.
(apparently my cousins drew some of the hearts 💕This one was from somewhere around 1985)
For me, as I've said before, I love to recreate. I went to one of those paint parties and was a little disappointed to find out we only had like 1 1/2 - 2 hours to paint the picture. I had no idea how I was going to do that in such a short amount of time. Every stroke, it was killing me to do it the way they were showing us because I had serious plans for my painting and their way was so...simple. Well, that was the idea, but remember...I don't follow directions well! lol But I did, and it was cute. But from that point on I thought....I love to paint...but I don't want to pay $40 and have to cram all that fun into such a short amount of time. So I started googling photos of paintings and recreating them at home. I spend an average of 6 hours on a painting...and my paintings are kind of like that of an elementary school child, I think. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But unlike a child, I pay a little too much attention to detail some times. I wish I could just let the little things go and see how it turns out. I might surprise myself!!
I don't have expensive tools or a great lighting space. I paint because it brings me joy and I do it at my kitchen table or on a fold out dinner table in the living room. Before I found my table easel (for $6 at a craft store!) I held the canvas or would lay it flat on my table. I have reusable little plastic paint palettes. My brushes (also on sale at craft stores) are somewhat frayed and stiff from the kids using them and not cleaning them off properly. I have only experimented with acrylics because I love them so much. I haven't had the courage to try water or oil based paints....YET! I once made a little t.v. with rabbit ears that was functional by turning a paper-made handle to scroll through the pictures I drew to resemble movie scenes. I even made a little tissue box on top of the tv. And the whole thing was the size of a softball. I wish I could show you....but it was crushed in one of the moves. I made it in school, way back in the dinosaur ages (according to my kids). I also made a board game! It was called Teddy Chase. I made little tokens and cards and paper dice. The whole thing was made out of paper. That was destroyed too. 😖😔 I'm getting carried away again (imagine that). I always try to get my kids to craft with me and they last a whole 5-10 minutes. These days kids would rather be in front of a screen for hours at a time. Not me. Unless I'm writing or scrolling social media, searching for my next project to re-create or at work. I would rather have my hands on some paper, paint brushes, glue bottles, a pair of scissors or anywhere that I can 'play' and make something tangible. Why do these kids care so much about these dang video games??? I'll never understand.
Guys. Anyone can be crafty. I've told you where my craftiosity came from...and I want to help you discover yours. And it doesn't matter if you don't know what you are doing or have never tried to create something. We all took art in school. We all colored in coloring books. We all live in a world of creativity where you can use your imagination to create!! And I'm pretty sure part of the reason you are reading this blog is because you are interested in finding out just how creative YOU can be! Or, maybe you just love me and want to support my crazy ideas. Either way, thanks for being here. Thanks for supporting me and trusting me to entertain you! Look at this blog. I'm just getting started. It's pretty plain Jane. And I have to use what is available to me right now, which my wallet says is a free blog until I can get my crap together. Thank you Google!! You have to start somewhere, right? I don't know where this journey is going to take me but I know it'll be fun and I know it will continue to get better as I go. Pick up your pencils, crayons and paint brushes....because YOU are going to have fun too! And you'll be so happy to see just how crafty you can be!
In the coming weeks I am going to brainstorm and come up with some fun things that I think anyone would love to try. First I'm thinking I'll do a little blog/tutorial with pictures and steps so you can follow along at your own pace. You can help me but commenting below and letting me know if there is something you would like to try but need a little guidance. Maybe you saw something online or something I've made in the past and you would like to try it. Maybe you saw something, like I did, at a craft fair or in an advertisement for something. Mother's Day is coming up. I don't know if we have the time but I'm willing to give it a shot if there is something you would like to make for Mother's Day. With the craft stores closed we might have to make due with things we already have because ordering doesn't seem to happen too fast these days either. We could shoot for Father's Day! Either way, I'd love to hear your ideas.
Follow my blog by clicking on the word 'follow' to the right, at the top of this blog so you don't miss any of the fun and chaos! Subscribe to make comments here. Or for the time being, I'm posting these to Facebook and you can always comment there. Since this idea is in it's infancy and I don't expect a lot of people to interact just yet, I will come up with some ideas and maybe take it to vote!
Thank you so much for taking an interest in my crazy arts and crafts adventure! I can't wait to craft with you!!
❤ Sami
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