I’m not sure I can accurately be described as an anti-crafter anymore. Gone are the days when I broke out in hives just driving by a craft store.
These days, I’m more liable to break out in hives when I get the credit card bill tallying my last gigantic purchase at the aforementioned craft store.
I took up hand embroidery this fall, and I even managed to get myself a sewing machine. I know, can you believe it? I even made some stuff.
Amazing.
I also got over my fear of crafting with The Poo. After all, it keeps her seated and occupied for a good chunk of time, and you know what? Paint and glue are washable. Spending that time with my daughter and watching her budding creativity is well worth whatever mess we make.
These winter days are long and here on the prairie we don’t get much snow. Instead, we are stuck inside while the wind howls around the eaves and the temperatures plummet to numbers that almost sound theoretical.
I learned my lesson last winter, when we almost went crazy from isolation and boredom. This fall I took a few trips to the craft store and stocked up on a whole bunch of supplies that could see us through a long chilly day without imitating the Donner Party.
Lately I’ve been searching online for good, easy crafts to do with supplies I might have on hand, and I found that there aren’t a lot of resources out there for those of us who want to make the effort but don’t have an inner preschool teacher. So I’m offering up here one of our more successful crafts: Flowers In A Pot.
Supplies:
Newspaper
One clay flower pot
One egg carton
Pipe cleaners
Paints (I used non-toxic, quick drying acrylic – they come in small bottles and great colors)
Paint brushes
Smocks
Break or cut the egg carton into individual cups. Place paint on paper plate or in a plastic artist’s palette (these are cheap and easy to find at the craft store). Lay table surface with newspaper. Let child paint inside and outside of egg cups. While the cups are drying, let the child paint the inside and outside of the pot.
When cups are dry, insert pipe cleaner “stems.” Place your bouquet in the pot and enjoy for months to come. This would also make a sweet Valentine’s Day gift for mommy’s or daddy’s office, or for a grandparent or favorite friend.
OK, now it is your turn – what do you do on those cold days indoors?
by A.L. Hatch
[tags]kids, children, parents, snow, indoors, boredom, crafts, pipe cleaners, glue, fun[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by the author, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
8 responses so far ↓
Chris // Jan 29, 2008 at 9:21 am
OMG. I consider myself fairly crafty. I knit, I quilt, I make cloth dolls. I made nativity people out of felt last Christmas (including a tiny little Baby Jesus now MIA that I fear was sucked up into the vacuum). I have to say I am jaw-droppingly impressed with your embroidery! You just learned to embroider? I have done some myself, but I always have to look up how to do even the simplest stitches. I’m signed up to take an embroidery class in a few weeks. Anyway, I love the flower pot idea! I’ve been saving egg cartons for some future craft and I think we’ll do that one for Valentine’s. Thanks!
Chris // Jan 29, 2008 at 9:22 am
Oh, I meant to ask, did you learn to embroider from a book, a friend, a class?
slouching mom // Jan 29, 2008 at 9:23 am
Now see, I AM crafty, but no one in my family wants to be crafty with me. Sigh.
A.L. Hatch // Jan 29, 2008 at 9:32 am
Hey Chris,
I’ve been doing petite-point needlepoint for a long time, but always on printed canvases and with no variation in my stitches. I was was bored with that, and I was at Barnes And Noble this fall when I saw Jenny Hart’s book, “Sublime Stitching.” It has hundreds of simple transfer patterns, and her book also describes the stitches in very, very simple terms that even a novice like me could follow. I highly recommend it, if you want to hand-stitch. You can get it from her website, http://www.sublimestitching.com.
My mom is a crafter, seamstress and quilter, and for years I resisted it. I get frustrated when I can’t get something perfect the first time, and as you know, sewing isn’t like that! You have to work at it.
I was shocked at how simple the embroidery was. I think you’ll get addicted. There are tons of great sites and blogs out there about it, including the Flicker embroidery pool, which totally inspires me.
Good luck, and thanks for reading – and the nice compliment!
Meg // Jan 29, 2008 at 10:23 am
Screw the flowers (which are really really cute and I’m sure we’ll be copying you) the embroidery is flipping amazing. I want it. The little spaceships? The “sweet?” I am more than impressed.
Cold days here we do marble painting sometimes. Line a coffee can with clean paper, dump in a few plops of paint and a few marbles or bouncey balls put the lid on and roll it to each other or shake it around so the marbles/balls clang around. When you open it there are pretty lines and (if you use more than one paint color) a magic new color, too.
It’s fun.
Damn that embroidery is fun. Not so much Grandma’s embroidery… I totally have to check out that book. I’m on a budget freeze, but I bet I could get it through inter-library loan!!
Meg // Jan 29, 2008 at 10:31 am
k, I just looked at the sublime stitching website- so maybe not so much from the library… but this Mama has a birthday coming up!
Really it looks so fun.
A.L. Hatch // Jan 29, 2008 at 11:36 am
Folks, if I can do, a tomato could do it. Seriously.
Megin Hatch // Jan 29, 2008 at 8:17 pm
haaaaa! I mean I really laughed out loud.
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