How I Got My Groove Back

Sneak peek!! These are the shirts I made for Princess and Tobes' first day in Disneyland!!

One of the biggest selling points of this house was the basement. The previous owner was a model-maker, and half of the basement was closed off (with a door) as his space. I walked into the space and my eyes grew wide... My craft room!!!!

Half the space was filled with remnant boxes from moving (mostly pictures and trinkets that we still needed to find homes for) and the rest was quickly taken over with paper and fabric and all sorts of crafty goodness, as well as a table, desk, and plenty of chairs for crafting dates. This was going to be my new home!

... Eventually. But life with 2 small children and a bazillion things on the go took priority. My craft room sat untouched, and unloved. Occasionally it would be raided for a "quick" card, or a craft supply to run upstairs. Sometimes I would sit at my sewing machine to fix a pocket, or whip up a quick Halloween costume. It was a far cry from the crafting days of yore.

Until yesterday, my friends!! As the countdown continues to Disneyland, my to-do list grows. There's shopping and packing, and booking to take care of, but there's also lists of things I want... Nay, NEED to craft. I have spent the last year pining on Pinterest all the awesome things I can do for Disneyland, but also for my home in general. I want to make scrapbook pages, I want to sew and decorate. I am a crafter at heart, with a serger, sewing machine, and 2 cricuts sitting downstairs, and enough supplies to choke a camel.

A good friend of mine is planning a Disneyland trip as well, leaving just over a month after ours, and her daughter is just a few months younger than Princess. She is a fellow crafter and we used to have amazing craft days together. We started to compare lists and saw all the things we needed/wanted to get done, and a craft day was born.

We bought supplies on our own to maximize craft time. I scoured stores for UNLINED coil-bound books for the autograph books (which are impossible to find, it seems. If you're on the hunt, Michael's. Go to Michael's.) and anything Disney-related to decorate them with. I found the shirts the kids will wear on their first full day in the park, and the fabric and paint to glam them out. I relished in the craft aisles, and pouring over embellishments, stickers, and papers. I dug out my cricut cartridges and planned. Sunday morning my friend arrived, sewing supplies in tow. We got set-up in the basement (christening it with it's first "craft day"). It was perfect. The table gave us more than enough room to sew and scrap all our projects. That afternoon the men-folk took the kids out of the house (it's hard to be super-secret when you've got inquisitive 5-year-olds around!) and we crafted!! We problem-solved, we made mistakes, and we had do-overs. We also had "ah-hah" moments, and relished in our genius. We cheered each other on, inspired each other, and created amazing things.

I want more!! The kids are finally old enough that we can play together, or at the very least they'd be happy hanging out in the rec room (right beside the craft room) while I play ;) I have a list of things I want to make (starting with a fall wreath, and a bunch of things for the kids to follow), and I am so excited to get started.

I'm back, baby!!

(pictures to follow of the results from yesterday soon, as soon as I'm done with the finishing touches)