Gettin' Crafty!

From the time I was a very little girl, I remember loving arts and crafts. From coloring and painting…to cutting and gluing…to basic needlework…I could entertain myself for hours. I lived for art class at school, art lessons in the afternoons, and craft day at Girl Scouts.

Over the past several years, I’ve dabbled in scrapbooking, and I really love it. It helps focus my need to preserve every ticket stub, and the creative possibilities are endless.

Before the girls were born, I bought a lot of “girly” scrapbook supplies…frilly pink paper, beautiful ribbon, adorable buttons and brads. One of my best friends swears I told her, “I’ll need something to do while the girls are sleeping…I don’t want to be bored.” [Insert crazy-person laugh here…as if!!!]

Sadly, I haven’t done much scrapbooking over the past three years. Although I did finally organize my supplies in a user-friendly system, it still seems like such a task to pull everything out and “scrap”. [Or maybe I’m just waiting to find myself “bored”…bwahahaha!!!]

For our MoMs meeting on Sunday, I asked one of my former colleagues to speak to us about scrapbooking. Nancy has a contagious enthusiasm, and such a clear passion for what she does.

We all had so much fun, sitting around in a circle…cutting, gluing, sharing pretty paper and buttons…and gabbing, of course. It definitely reminded me of a Girl Scout meeting (minus the S’mores).

During the meeting, Nancy stressed that you don’t have to spend a ton of money, or invest a ton of time, to scrapbook. She gave us some great organizational tips -- my favorite is keeping pictures you plan to scrapbook, grouped together by event, in a coupon wallet…genius!!!

So…newly energized and inspired, I broke out my scrapbooking supplies this week and put together a page. It’s not the most brilliant of masterpieces…I spent maybe 30 minutes in total…but I have to say, it was invigorating.

[For the flowers, I had the girls finger paint on cardstock. I then cut out ~1" circles, applied adhesive on the back, and had them glue the chips around a circle I'd drawn. I used ribbon for the flower stems and grass.]

Speaking of enthusiasm, passion, and energy…I’m linking up with Marcia’s Virtual Craft Day. Marcia says she’s not “crafty”, but she seems to put together some of the cutest little notebooks, pencil caddies, and party favors. (Enthusiastic, passionate, and energetic, she may be…but I think she’s a bit of a fibber!)

Marcia’s challenge is to set aside some craft time every week, and I think it’s a great idea. I need to sit back, relax, and not worry about creating The Perfect Piece of Art…but just enjoy. I know I will.

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I have been anxiously awaiting the girls getting old enough to begin arts and crafts with them. They love to color and play with stickers. And their scribbles are ever-so-slowly becoming more intentional (at least here and there). I’m occasionally brave enough to dabble with the girls in finger paint, and we’ve even experimented with glue a time or two.

It won’t be long before they’re "artsing-and-crafting" right alongside me…and that’s gonna be some kinda fun!!!