Crafter-day

Saturdays have recently been re-named Crafter-days. My seven-year-old niece BB and I have started getting together each week to work on fun projects. I set up a craft table at my house, and all my art supplies are spread out and ready for her 9:00am arrival. BB takes her time each week sorting through the crayons and glue sticks and colored pencils, choosing exactly the items she’s interested in piecing together.

This past weekend, we spent three hours cutting out hearts from scrap paper, and gluing them into collages to make home-made Valentines. For someone so young, she is incredibly focused, relaxed and interested. Remarkably, so am I. Those who know me know that I don’t sit quietly for very long. But on Crafter-day, I find myself completely immersed and the time just passes by for both of us.

Crafter-day now also includes music. I’ve started putting together playlists of old songs I love, and then I test them out on BB. She gives me a thumbs-up or thumbs-down and we add to our “jams” each week. Can I tell you how happy it makes me that she has learned to appreciate Duran Duran, Earth Wind & Fire, and the Go-Go’s? Picture the two of us sitting side-by-side, singing our hearts out and working on our projects until it’s time for lunch.

My sister joins us for lunch and then she typically takes BB home. Not this week. After lunch, I kept the Crafter-day going when I opened up a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle that I had gotten for Christmas. I spread out the pieces on the dining room table. “Let’s just get the edges started,” I suggested. BB started sorting puzzle pieces into piles of colors, then each of us took a corner, and before we knew it, it was 4:30pm when the last pieces of our puzzle snapped into place. When all was said and done, we spent seven hours doing nothing but creative, relaxing, fun crafty things. And singing “We GotThe Beat.” It was a perfect Crafter-day.

At the end of your busy week, I highly recommend testing out your own version of Crafter-day. What a treat to unplug, open up a brand new box of Crayola Crayons and just doodle! Maybe you’re someone who’d love to go down to your workshop to do some woodworking, or dust off the easel to do some painting, or find the old sewing machine and tackle a quilting project. Is there a craft you’ve always wanted to try? A project you’d love to take on during the winter months? Or something you’d do “if only you had the extra time...”

Now’s the time. And I bet you’ll thank yourself for both the brain break as well as the opportunity to stir up your creative juices!