Crafty Mommies!

Ever since I was a little girl I have LOVED doing arts and crafts. I remember making stuffed animals with my sister by cutting my mom's sheets (oops!) into animal shapes and stuffing them with cotton balls. I used to make my own paper dolls by cutting models and outfits out of magazines. In 3rd grade we had a 'nuts and bolts' box filled with random things like pipe cleaners, buttons, glitter, paper scraps and we got 30 minutes every day to just create whatever came to mind. I was obsessed. (I actually plan to steal this idea when I become a 2nd or 3rd grade teacher in a few years). Needless to say, being creative has been a huge part of my life. I've recently started going scrapbooking every Wednesday (mommy's night off) with my best friends and sister and that creative outlet is like air in my lungs. I love it. I'm always scouring the aisles at Michael's just looking for the next thing to inspire me.

Now that I'm a (working) mother, I realize that I might not have as much time to do crafty things, but I still think it's important to set aside some time to do the things I love. I came up with the idea to do a monthly craft club. With the holidays coming up (YES!!!!!) there's so many things I want to make... decorations for Halloween and Christmas, baked goods, gift baskets, Christmas presents, scrapbooks... the list goes on and on. I thought it might be fun to invite others to participate in a monthly craft with me! Every month someone can 'host' and come up with a fun craft for everyone to do. Then when we're done we can take pictures and share them and possibly link blogs in hopes of getting even more people to join. OR we can just submit craft ideas each month and vote on which one we would like to do. It doesn't have to require advanced skills, just something challenging yet fun for us all to do!

Also, another idea I had was a card trading club. My scrapbooking instructor introduced me to this idea a few months ago and I LOVE it! Basically, every month we create a handmade card. This can be for any occasion... Christmas, sympathy, get well soon, Mothers Day, thank you, etc. Then we trade the cards by mailing them off to each other (and we rotate each month). In a short time, we will all have a little collection of cute handmade cards for every occasion that we can either keep or use/give away! I love paper crafts so this is right up my alley. I even have a card making book that gives good ideas for templates and design that I can't wait to put to good use!

I've already gotten 3 people who are interested on Twitter, but I want to try and get 5-10 people who might want to participate to make it more fun. If either or both ideas sound like something you might be interested please leave me a comment and make sure to include your email address. I'm going to send out an email within the next few days to introduce everyone and go over the details. I'm so excited, I think this will be really fun!