Welcome to my craft space. Literally, this is it. Something
that I thought I’d share is a little about how I manage to find time and space
to craft in my life at the moment. I do get asked by people how I manage to
find the time to do my crafting. My answer: I elect to not do other things.
Like exercise. Or clean (I hire a cleaner – if I could only hire someone to
exercise for me too!). And I neglect my husband (sorry!). But, I choose to craft
instead of these other things as it’s a means of me keeping my sanity and
helping me have my own identity outside that of being a mum, wife and
housekeeper (albeit a poor one).
(little corner of the kids playroom)
So I have a few locations where my crafting takes place.
Number one is the little corner of my kids playroom where my sewing machine
sits. If I need to (or feel so inclined), I can even store my machine in the
table and fold it down so it takes up less space. I use the floor in this room
as well to sort my supplies and to measure and cut fabric. There is a full
sized wardrobe in this room that I use to store a lot of my craft supplies in.
(storage!)
I know it seems like a lot – but this isn’t even everything! The projects I’m
currently working on stay out stored in plastic tubs or in a bag I can take
with me to work on a project if I go somewhere. I also have more supplies
stored in the shed – I know, it’s crazy! The one other area I craft is in this
super comfy la-z-boy rocker/recliner in front of the tv of an evening. So there
it is, my craft space!
(comfy rocker - note the tubs next to it with my current projects on the go!)
When I do craft, it normally takes place in the evening. This
is starting to become difficult now that my toddler is pushing the boundaries
of bedtime. Often this means that it is 9pm by the time I manage to eat dinner,
making it too late to get much done. In the last week or two I have been
attempting to craft during the day when the kids are playing in the background
or napping (just to try something different). In order to do this I need to be
able to get the kids focus on something else and in the past I have been able
to distract Jeffrey by letting him play with my felt stack or my fabric offcuts
– though as you can see this leads to a big mess for me to clean up!
(into the felt pile he goes...)
(and of course spreads it around.)
(such a mess!)
Occasionally, I’ll notice that Matthew is no longer
interested in whatever toy he was playing with and he has come to investigate
what mum is doing. First signs are the little fingers on the edge of my sewing
table! He thinks it’s a major win if he manages to snare what I’m working on.
(fingers peeking...)
(he thinks he's being sneaky...)
(caught in the act!)
This
week in particular though, Jeffrey was super interested in what I was doing and
wanted to help mummy with her ‘work’ instead of doing his own ‘work’ (aka; drawing,
colouring and stickers). So I thought – why not get him involved?
I went to my latest stack of offcuts and pulled a few out
and we made a cushion together! It was a lot of fun. As you can see from the
end result, it isn’t perfect. Nor was it intended to be. Nothing was measured,
and it was a bit of a mix and match/free for all in terms of fabric placement
and our attempts at pinning. However, Jeffrey was involved every step of the
way. He fetched the fabric with me and watched while I used the scissors. He
told me which colours had to go next to each other. He handed me pins one at a
time to pin the fabric together and then sat at the sewing machine with me
watching me use it, being sure to tell me to ‘not run over pins mum!’ every
time we came to one. Once the cushion was turned the right way around he helped
me stuff the cushion, and told me when there was enough stuffing inside.
(I love my new cushion mum!)
(I must take it to bed. Can you spot the two toys made by mum?)
Ultimately, I didn’t get as much done in terms of crafting
today, but together I made memories (and a cushion) with my son. He loves it so
much he carried it around the house, slept with it and took it to my parents
house with him for a sleep over.
So if you think you have no time or space for crafting, look
around again and see what nooks and crannies of your house you can find to use.
And if your kids interrupt what you’re doing all the time – why not take a
break and get them involved? It might not get your project done, but you’ll
have lots of fun and maybe get them started off on a crafting path of their
own!
(happy little boy with his craft)
Happy crafting!
