Who I Am.....

I am not much of a fan of the pre-formed profiles that you have to create, so I decided I would give you a little info about me in freestyle.

I'm 48 years old and currently live in Northern Maine. I grew up in Somerville Massachusetts, which is 3 miles from Boston. Yes, I have the accent to prove it and I wouldn't dare try and change it. :)

I am a happily divorced Mother of none. However I do have a dog named Zoey, and she is my child. I am one of those people who thinks of their pets as family. I am a big fan of dogs! I have always loved them, they just seem to find their way into my heart and stay. Zoey came into my life in April of 2012 when she was just three months old. I forgot how hard it is to deal with a puppy, but I wouldn't trade her for the world. (At least most days). My previous dog was named Molly. I had her for 12 years and lost her in March of 2011. I swore I would never get another dog, but I just couldn't resist.

I think I have always loved crafting. I learned how to Crochet at the age of 13. My Mother was an avid crocheter. She wouldn't even have to look at her hands as she went along row after row. She was constantly making afghans and blankets. My Father even took up crocheting for awhile and made one or two blankets. I still have them all these years later. But me, I just never completed a single blanket. Not even a Baby Blanket. I may have made a potholder or two, I don't really remember, but I just couldn't stick with it long enough to make anything complete.

In my younger years I took a stab at other crafts as well. I did latch hook rugs. paint by numbers, bubble gum chains etc. None of which ever got finished.

in my early 30's I discovered Computer Graphics and making web pages. I used a program called Paint Shop Pro 3.0. I loved it! It combined my two loves, crafting and computers. I got into making signature tags which were just fancy digital images you could use for your emails etc, instead of plain text. The Signature Tag community boomed and people just wanted tags with their names on them. I was very much into it, and I was constantly doing online tutorials to learn new tricks. There will always be better out there, but I was pretty good at manipulating images and designing tags. I loved it, and I still do to this day. This is one form of crafting that I do complete. I have used my skills to make Christmas Cards for friends, Wedding invitations, Birthday Invitations, Thank You Cards and more. I have also edited photos, touch ups, removing unwanted people from a picture etc. Like I said, not the best, but I am pretty proud of my skills in that area, and I get called on a lot to help people with those kinds of things. Paint Shop Pro is a much less expensive version of Photo Shop. They update it with new features every year. The newest version is X5 I believe, but I stopped updating at version 9.0. I stick to what I know. :)

In my early 40's I decided to try new things. Winters up here in Northern Maine can be pretty harsh, so it makes sense to come up with hobbies to get you through being stuck in the house. It was also around this time that I became disabled. I will spare you all the boring details, but I had developed some spinal cord issues and very bad back problems. Being disabled left me pretty near broke.

I loved sewing, and I had a great sewing machine. I did complete quite a few projects using my machine. I made tote bags, curtains, pot holders... anything that required a straight line and not a lot of fancy stuff. I was just happy to complete something! I still love to sew, and I still can only do things that require straight lines, but I have made other things.

I think I got into Donna Dewberry soon after I stopped sewing. I bought canvas, and lots of paints and had the instructional videos and templates, and I am not kidding when I tell you I never once put a thing on canvas. I played around with the templates, but since I couldn't get it exactly right, I gave up on it and shoved it all in a closet.

Then I discovered Clay! Blocks of clay were inexpensive and you could make a slew of things with it. I made some Christmas ornaments, small little gifts, magnets etc. But... I could never get anything right in my eyes. I never liked the end result. Well... I did on one or two of the many items I made. So I kind of gave that up.

Next came Jewelry Making. Some friends of mine got into it and I thought it would be a lot of fun to do it myself. So I ebayed up a bunch of supplies, and went off to make some bracelets and keychains. They weren't bad and some of my end results made me proud, but the work was very tedious! You need sharp eyes and good hands and focus, and I just didn't have that anymore. Off to the closet went all of my Jewelry Making Supplies.

I tried Crocheting again... bought a ton of yarn and different size needles, but after a few days I was already done with the attempt. Off to the basement went those supplies.

I thought I would be smart... I bough some latch hook rug kits, but I bought pillow sized, my thought was, how could I not complete a simple 9 x 9 latch hook. Guess what? One box remains unopened and the other remains 1/4 done  and now resides in the back of my closet.

You can probably see a pattern here right? You would think I have A.D.D... but I don't. 

So I discovered Pinterest, and have found some amazing crafting ideas. I think maybe if I have different projects to choose from, that are quick and simple, how could I not complete them? Then I decided I should do a blog to track my progress. No... I don't expect to get a lot of followers, and I am really ok with that. My main objective is to have a place for me to come and look at what I HAVE done, and not a closet full of started projects that never got finished. Maybe this will be the way to get me on track.

I'd like to find something I can be proud of, and maybe sell in the future and make some extra money. Why not? Who knows!

So here we are. I am a Crafter... I am just not a very good one. I am hoping for change.

That's about it for me for now!

Kelly

Saturday
9/15/2012 
1:56 PM