Welcome to Diary of a Paper Fanatic

My History in the World of Crafting

After spending the majority of my life teaching, I decided to retire.  Once I retired I throughly enjoyed being able to go wherever I wanted during the school days and to do whatever I wanted without feeling guilty or being afraid of being seen.  (You have to be a teacher to understand how odd it is to be anywhere else but in the classroom during school days.  It's the feeling that you're playing hooky.  Will someone see you and report to your principal?  the superintendent?) Unfortunately, being able go anywhere you want and watching all the daytime shows ("The Young and the Restless" specifically) started getting really boring.   It was time to find a creative outlet.  The problem was that I had never had a crafting hobby(other than sewing a few skirts)  and I'm not an artsy-fartsy person.  What could I do?

I began my search by wandering around various craft stores.  I saw a few crafts that looked promising so I bought all the basic supplies that I was told I needed to have.  FYI:  It's best to save your sales receipts.  You never know when you'll want a refund.

My first foray was cake decorating.  What a great hobby.  Art & food.  A winning combination!  I signed up for classes at Michael's only to discover that I had absolutely no talent or patience to make all these pretty little flowers.  I spent more time squirting the icing out of that squeeze bag into my mouth than I did anything else.  Cake decorating?  No.  Cake eating?  Yes.

Why not take up candle making?  According to the store display,  candles are supposed to light up my indoor and outdoor spaces. I like light.  I like good-smelling candles.  I can melt stuff.   This just might be just the hobby for me!  Classes and YouTube videos to the rescue.  Let's start making candles.  As for my success as a candle maker, let's just say that I'm really happy that I saved the sales receipt for the supplies.

Two crafts eliminated, I decide to continue sewing.  This meant a new sewing machine (nothing was wrong with the old one except it was... well, old.)  Rather than sewing clothes as I did in the past, I decided to make decorations for the home:  placemats, table runners, and holiday decorations. I envisioned my home looking as good, if not better, as Martha Stewart's.   Off to all the fabric stores in search of the perfect fabric.  Since I was on a rooster "kick" at that time, anything and everything "rooster" found its way into my shopping cart.  Naturally, you can't sew without a pattern.  There were countless hours spent perusing pattern books.  I fell in love with all the projects I found in pattern books.  Unfortunately, I never made anything.  I looked at the instructions on the patterns and discovered that I don't really remember how to sew.  Too bad that you can't return fabric to the store, but you can buy those big Rubbermaid tubs to store fabrics, notions, and patterns.  Perhaps one day I'll return.  After all, the fabric was so stinkin' cute.  It would be such a shame not to use those materials.

INTERMISSION

Enjoy the pupster

This is Bonkers as a pupster

I said "no" to clay, flower arranging, wreath-making, fabric painting, glass painting, wood engraving, quilting (I can't sew), stenciling, making items from light bulbs, rug hooking (I wasn't much of a happy hooker), decoupage, gilding, knitting, and finally crocheting.  Little did I know that an innocent trip to the dry cleaners would lead me to a craft/hobby that I actually would be successful in doing.  As I was leaving with my dry cleaning, I noticed a cute little store in the vicinity.  I must see what's inside.

Eureka!  I discovered counted cross-stitching.  I can count.  I can thread a needle.  I can make an "x." I took my first class at Ginger's Needlework Store in Austin, Texas.  I had absolutely no knowledge of what to do, but I was eager to learn and I actually finished my first cross stitching project during that class.  I was hooked!  My life now revolved around Ginger's store and the internet.  I was constantly buying floss and patterns.  When I completed something spectacular, it was off to the framer's.  One project that I was especially proud of was the Vietnam Veterans' Wall.  After if was framed, the hubby and I presented it to the VA Center in Cedar Park, Texas.  It's proudly hanging in one of the classrooms.

I cross stitched for nearly five consecutive years.  If I started one project, I stayed with it until it was completed. No multiple works-in-progress for me.   I have probably forty completed projects that still need to be framed.  I've gifted many of my projects to my family.  One of these days I will get all of them framed.  Here are a few photographs of my cross stitching.

I consider this my best accomplishment.  It took months to complete.  I still need to frame it.

I bought many of this style of patterns.  I think I have a passion for buildings.

Another one of my favorites.  Lots of trinkets on this one.

This was one of my first projects.  It was a gift to my husband who is a model railroading enthusiast.

I love the design.  So true of Texas.

Ah, but then boredom and most important, loneliness, crept in.  Time to begin yet another search for a new crafting experience.