getting crafty

I can’t remember if I’ve admitted this on this blog before, but I have a trait that sometimes makes me doubt whether I’m fit to be a mother: I hate crafts. Crafting totally stresses me out. The mess everywhere – paint and scraps of paper and glitter and all the little bits that get into everything. Maybe I’ve been scarred by too many experiences doing group art projects in which I felt rushed to keep up with everyone else and get the project done before the allotted time was up. Stress!! And at the end of it you have a rickety little creation that is just going to end up in the garbage. I mean, how many painted plastic piggy banks can a mom keep around the house before she has to sneak them into the bin when the kids aren’t looking?

I try not to expose my true bias to my kids, and I think so far I have not dampened their artistic spirits. I recognize that it’s important for kids to nurture their imaginations and creativity, and I am happy for their art teachers to water those seeds for them – and also clean up the mess afterward.

After our jaunt to the Crayola Factory, however, we have been inspired, me included. So we spent the morning outside in the beautiful sunshine doing some water painting.

That’s mine.

That’s Sophie’s.

Don’t judge. ;-)

We also finally painted the birdhouse Elliot made back in March. It still isn’t actually on a tree where a bird could actually inhabit it. That would require figuring out how to hang it up, and that’s a bit advanced for me. Maybe by next spring?

I also painted some chairs we bought at a garage sale. The plan is to create a crafting area in the basement with these chairs and a big table and lots of bins for paints and markers and beads and glitter and a big wall to hang up their art.

See? I’m trying. We may have that craft room up and running in the next decade or so Then again…