Friday, January 4, 2008

Getting Crafty

with SHIP by RLS

handmade frames like this one are available for purchase
through the Etsy shop of SHIP by RLS

Last November I woke up and felt crafty. As a kid we had an art box, this huge monstrosity that crayola threw up in which my mother would pull out on rainy afternoons or snow days. She would sit us down with
a cup of hot cocoa (extra marshmallows) and open the box and we’d be on our own coloring, gluing, and cutting away the day spewing refrigerator art and mini pieces of paper all over the floor.

I took a 17 year break from crafting. Ok, intermittently I made sports team posters involving glitter pens, but other than that, crafting and I broke up. No real reason, we just grew apart, we went our separate ways. And then last November … crafting walked back into my life. It started innocently enough I was making handmade books here and there, and then December came around and one morning over coffee I decided…everyone will get a handmade gift from me. My drafting table, reserved for paying bills was transformed into … craftland. Books were made, calendars created, stencils cut, and … and a frame was made. How was I to know that one little frame created because I couldn’t find the right one at Michael’s Crafts would lead me into the world of official artisan.

Its interesting how slowly you grow up and one day you realize you’re an adult and people are constantly asking you what it is you do for fun, do in your free time and … you don’t know. What DO I do? And here I was, I found something, I was having fun! I was cutting and gluing and creating and I had these really cool tangible pieces of my time and I was proud of them and excited and I was sharing them with people and they actually wanted them!

I found Etsy by accident, such an accident that I can’t even remember how I came upon it. But it has opened up so much for me that I cant even believe that a recycled frame and a website have lead to so much, and not just a shop and all that comes with it but friends and an artist community/family that has pushed me further than I ever would have taken myself.


Thanks Etsy and BostonHandmade!

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