Break for Creativity

Being a mom, it should come as no surprise that I don't have much time for projects anymore. Most of my free time is put into chores, and that which isn't is spent doing as little as possible... starting anything crafty takes too much time and just creates another mess to clean up. And in our small townhouse, I have no place to set things up in any kind of useful way (which will change when we move into our new house! Yay!) But now and again, I find occasion to do something creative, which I always enjoy, even if it creates a lot of extra work.

Today, I had 2 cards to make. The first was a thank you card for a blanket that a friend made for Owen. Perfect opportunity to use the owl stamp I recently bought! (because really, who doesn't love owls?) I thought it turned out pretty cute, and I use the combination of brown and navy blue as often as I can (at least until I run out of navy blue cardstock.)

Next, I made a card for a friend who just had a baby girl. Because I know she's going to be buried in a pile of pink, I opted for a pretty-but-neutral green, cream, and blue color scheme. Sticking with the bird theme again, I thought this turned out pretty cute.

Finally, I tackled an idea that hit me walking through Michaels today-- a custom gift bag for a soon-to-be 6 year old girl. Because I am working on packing for our move and realized I buried my wrapping-paper-gift-bag tub, I decided to buy a plain white gift bag and fun tissue paper for the present I was buying. On my way to the check out I saw those long-stemmed (long sticked?) lollipops that are always super cute and an idea was born. I mean, who wouldn't be excited to get a gift bag decorated with yummy and super cute lollipops?

So although it ate up about 3 hours of my night and pushed my cleaning routine back significantly, I am very satisfied with what I was able to accomplish, and renewed my excitement at the prospect of having a space of my own in our new house to continue crafting and experimenting.