Slice of Life: March 21 -- Getting Crafty

I'm not crafty.

Creative?  Perhaps.

Crafty?  Not so much.

My mom, on the other hand, is the epitome of "crafty."  She makes her own greeting cards, creates beautiful and intricate quilts, and makes all sorts of other projects.  I, however, didn't inherit those genes.

I have great ideas, but I usually struggle to turn them into reality.  I've tried my hand at more than a few projects, only to scrap them before they were ever finished because I could quickly tell there was no way my version was ever going to be worthy of the final product.

Lately, however, I've been trying my hand at a few somewhat crafty projects.  Somehow my desire to dip my toe in the waters of "craftiness" coincided with my venture into motherhood.  It started with the decorations for Wesley's nursery.  I must say I am quite proud of the frames I created that spell his name above his crib (even though I did have my mom's help).  For Father's Day, I made two signs for my husband, Stephen, using Wesley's footprints and photos I took of him holding letters to spell out "Dad."  For Wesley's first birthday, I went all out, making small campfires complete with tea lights and a large campfire using actual wood and rocks I retrieved from the drainage ditch next to our house.

Today, I decided to design a spring decoration for our front door.  My current spring wreath is looking a little shabby after years of enduring the beating of wind and rain.  I decided I would take a look at a couple of discount stores to see if I could find a new wreath.  Unable to find what I wanted, I ventured to Michael's today, hoping to find something on sale.  Not only were the prices high, but I didn't see anything that captured me eye.

I decided to walk down an aisle just to see what the store had to offer, when I spotted a ten by ten square of grass and a little box.  For some reason, I instantly thought that I could use it to make something to hang on my front door.  Knowing I needed something else to finish of my creation, I walked two aisles over and found a letter "Z" to include in my design.  I then found some ribbon to complete my vision.

It sounds like I was awfully confident in my creation, but I actually Face Timed my mom while I was in the store to get her opinion.  She assured me she thought my idea would work.  I headed to the checkout and was proud to find my grand total was $18.

As I left the store, I was still a little unsure how it would all come together.  Tonight, however, I grabbed my scissors and began making my vision a reality.  The ribbon still has to be hot glued to hold everything together, but I have to say that I am pretty happy with the finished product.

Who knows?  Maybe I am a little crafty after all.