Forgotten treasure

The feel of a fresh pair of scissors through material is something I underestimated for most of my life until most recently. A well-balanced tool, created to provide precision, stability...to just make things fit, scissors are directly or indirectly part of everyone's life, even if they aren't aware. For me, I remember feeling scissors cut through construction paper in my kindergarten class, creating garland with every color paper in the pack the likes of which Picasso would be impressed. Or how effortlessly they sliced through the pages of an encyclopedia I used when I needed pictures of birds for my 6th-grade science project. But I didn't understand the importance of crafting in my life until I reached high school.

During my high school years, life became a little more uncertain and a lot more unrooted. My father ended up having kidney failure and was in the hospital constantly. This shift in my family dynamic, with mom working countless hours, younger siblings being annoying, and me being a teenager (need I say more), I'd spend a LOT of time in my room. During these times, since money was tight as too small Spanx, I'd redesign my wardrobe. Clothes I couldn't fit anymore I would try to twist and knot to turn into something else. I was too scared to cut anything because I didn't know WHAT I was doing and cutting was so...permanent. But one day, I knew my oversized Aaliyah-inspired Tommy Hilfiger jeans were going out of style. I couldn't bring myself to throw them out, so with a deep breath, shakey hand, and a plethora of prayers, I cut into the leg of my jeans...then I cut a little more, and a little more until finally I created my very own custom Tommy Hilfiger denim skirt. I didn't own a sewing machine, so I made do with a regular sewing needle. You can imagine hand sewing a denim ANYTHING with a hand needle was quite the task, and yet I was so impressed with myself that I didn't care. Aside from my newfound self-confidence, I also realized that the time I spent crafting was void of worry from my dad's sickness, my mother's tiredness, and my regular teenage angsts.

After this experience, I was constantly whipping out the scissors and altering whatever was in my path. If a pair of shoes I loved didn't fit me, I'd put a cut here and a snip there, and boom, I've got a new shoe in rotation. When my family had to move from one home to another, I was ready to craft a new space for myself to make a home where ever my creativity was.

I'm known in all of my social circles for being the craft queen. I can spend hours in crafting stores, daydreaming about how to trim this piece or add this bobble to make something my own. But between high school and my first few years in the workforce, I allowed errands and career advancement to take the place of my love for crafting. In the photo above, what I call "Corporate Wonder Woman", my parents were healing from their kidney transplant/donation surgery ( dad received, mom gave) and I felt like I was running an emotional marathon every day. The day before Halloween (one of my favorite holidays), I was depressed about not having a costume and having no plans to enjoy the sites. After an extra-long cry, I saw a pair of red shoes I was planning to give away in the corner, and my mind started going crazy with ideas. I picked myself up, drove to the local Dollar Tree, and went to town in the craft aisle. There I was, on my bedroom floor at 11:30 at night scissors in one hand, a bag of gold pipe cleaners in the other. My excitement overrode my exhaustion as I snipped and glued, but another feeling reminded me how important crafting was to my mental health. As I put together my prize-winning costume ( $10 gift card to Dunkin Donuts), I began to remember how crafting made me feel confident and complete. No matter what was happening in the world around me, my creativity was a gift I was blessed with but had stopped using.

Nowadays, my crafting has more of a front seat in my life. I was able to create the program fans and some favors for my wedding, and my husband got me a sewing machine to take my crafting even further. The more I began to recognize the importance of self-care, I also realized crafting needs to be part of my self-care routine. I would love to share the importance of embracing your passion with the world, even if the passion isn't crafting. The most important aspect is finding peace within yourself that helps you through all the times, good and bad.