Last weekend, I had the pleasure and privilege of spending the day crafting with my pride and joy, my daughter, Emily. (That's her, far left ... and me, far right). You've likely "met" Emily many times through my blogging ... she's my mini-me, and the reason I got into papercrafting.
Emily had Saturday off; she typically works weekends as a pediatric nurse at the internationally-renowned Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She asked if we could spend the day together in an early celebration of Mothers' Day, since she works next weekend.
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| Peace Valley Lavendar Farm, near Doylestown, PA |
She suggested that we paint pottery. Instead, and because we got a late start and the day was too dreary to go to the Lavendar Farm here in Bucks County (that's for another day, though!), I suggested that we stop at Joann's for some crafting supplies, and spend the day papercrafting and sewing.
Emily worked on a large poster she was asked to make for work, showing some stats on handwashing, infection control, etc. We bounced ideas off one another ... she wound up using titles cut using Cricut's Simply Sweet cartridge, and a nurse cut "fill to page" from Cricut's Every Day Paper Dolls, and a fussy cut kite with ribbon "tails" on the twine string to show "Soaring to Success!!". If Em sends me a pic of it, I'll add it to this post. It turned out really darling, Emily!!
I worked on this paper flower wreath I made for my Mom.
To make most of the flowers shown here, I used Cricut's Art Philosophy cartridge, shown here, and four individual Silhouette Cameo files I purchased at Silhouette America, online.
I hot-glued them to a foam wreath, stacking more than 150 flowers in mostly pastel colors. It's amazingly sturdy, this wreath, and is going out in today's mail to Mom for Mother's Day. I love it and hope I get the time to make one for myself, one day.
My mom is inspirational! (That's my mom, front and center, in the photo above.) Isn't she beautiful and remarkable for 82-years young this year, and a survivor of a massive brain stem stroke? She is incredible. As I grew up, Mom worked as a nurse in the critical care unit of our local hospital, and in cardiac care. She earned her R.N. at King's County School of Nursing (Brooklyn, NY) more than 60 years ago.
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Mom's handmade bikinis kind of looked like this one I found
on Etsy. The ones we made had more of a halter top than
bandeau, but you get the idea. Mom purchased worn jeans
from prisons, and boiled them to sterilize for her bikinis! |
Later, when mothering became a full-time job, Mom continued to work in crafty areas. She designed and exported/sold denim string bikinis in the early 1970's, and collected and appliqued vintage fabrics onto denim skirts, shirts, jackets and pants. She later designed and sewed bridal gowns, eventually turning to a team of Amish seamstresses to contract sew for her work that was sold in some of the area's finest bridal studios.
By the time we were entering college, Mom re-entered nursing, though in case management. She founded her own company when she was 50, and turned it into a multi-million dollar enterprise with 20+ employees. Surprisingly, I never thought of Mom as one with an entrepreneurial spirit ... I saw her as more of a survivalist, doing what she enjoyed doing and earning a reputation and money to support our family as Dad (a lawyer) was nearing retirement.
This weekend while with Emily, I also stitched together 9 burpie cloths for Charlotte, to make a burpie blankie for my precious granddaughter. (That's her up top, too, in the center -- rounding out the four generations of crafty women!!)
While I was stitching the blankie, Charlotte came upstairs to the PaperJungle (a dangerous proposition!) and stood dancing to the rhythm of the sewing machine doing its top-stitch. She loves her burpie blanket, sleeping with it now instead of one or two loose burpies, snuggling.
Do you too enjoy crafting time with your family? I have warm, wonderful memories of crafting with my grandmother when I was a child; with her, I specifically remember upcycling an empty white plastic Clorox bleach bottle, turning it on its side, adding thread spools for legs, and felt for eyes, and making it into a piggy bank.
And I remember cutting Betsy McCall paper dolls, and making clothes for my Troll doll out of scrap fabric. I made ceramics with my Mom and Grandmom, and watercolored with my Mom and Dad.
So I'm just wondering ... Is there a crafting gene? Did you get yours from your Mom, and have you shared it with a child and/or grandchildren? What are you doing to impart the love you have for crafting onto your family? I'd really like to know!
It feels strange -- at least a little -- welcoming summer today, in this year where we've had very weird weather. It's been "summer-like" since March, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 80's here in Pennsylvania. Who stole my Spring?
