Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Desperate times call for crafty measures

When we first arrived in Indiana, I quickly realized how alone we were in this new place. We knew absolutely no one. I had moved across country once before, but it was before I had children, so it wasn't as scary.

As a stay at home mom, I found myself slowly going crazy. I had no friends, no family and two young children who were in the process of potty training and being weened off their pacifiers. I found myself alone in this new place.

After a while, I found myself crafting. I made dresses for my two daughters, I crocheted hats, I made them curtains for their bedroom. I made them piggy banks, I made a wood block calendar. Before long, I was spending a lot of my free time crafting.

After my husband lost his job in 2010, I was the first of the two of us to find employment. And as anyone with an office job can attest, I found myself with some free time on occasion. And during one of my lulls, I hopped online to search for some geeky craft ideas. That is when I happened across a wonderful website known as www.craftster.org. And my small craft habit turned into a full blown addiction.

Since joining craftster a little over a year ago, I have learned new crafts, I have improved my crocheting abilities and I have made a few friends, here in the states and abroad. I have received wonderfully crafted art items, and I have sent so many items that have been made with love to new homes.

Crafting has become a part of who I am. And I know that would never have happened without moving here.  I know that would have never happened without my girls and I know it wouldn't have had a chance in Hades of happening without my very supportive husband.

Now I spend my free time making wonderfully fun crafts for others, and I get to teach my two young daughters how to work with polymer clay, and shrinky dinks, and paint, and they even help me sew.  They love seeing what I come up with and they have benefited from it.

My grandma spent hours in front of her sewing machine and the dresses she made me were always my favorite. My children do not have any grandparents, so it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy being able to share the feeling my grandmother gave me with my daughters.
Amigurumi Piggies by me