Hello Friends of First Fridays! It’s TJ from Studio Mailbox here to deliver your monthly dose of sewing humor. I’m happy to report that I’ve been faithfully wearing the apron I created last month. It’s transformed my life and turned me into some kind of whirlwind producer of handcraft. Oh who am I kidding? That’s not entirely true but it is helping me transition into holiday project mode.
One look around here and the first thing I think of is how am I ever going to make everything I need to get done?
Anybody else? It’s a tough season for those of us in the handmade scene. Not only do many of us have to step up production for art and craft shows but then we double down since we create for our loved ones too. And how on earth is it possible that just when we need to work more hours in a day that the days get shorter? Hmm? Here in Minnesota if you want to get anything done you can start wearing a headlamp at 5pm. No joke.
Let us not forget all the extra eating and cooking. Don’t get me wrong. I love to eat and cook with the best of them but us crafty gals have the added pressure of creating centerpieces and place settings. I can imagine more than one of my lovely hostess friends finally snapping this year, “don’t touch anything until I Instagram this!” There we’ll all sit obediently with frozen smiles as our delicious meal turns cold. It makes me think that the real kind of sewing projects needed are things like a mobile phone cozy that fits around a poinsettia plant. Just imagine! Everybody has to hand over their phone as they sit down to eat and the last person to take back their phone at the end of the meal wins the poinsettia!
Holidays are the time where you can take something and make it as complicated as you wish. For instance you can make the gift, make the gift wrap, make the ribbon, make a gift topper, and even make the card. Then as the recipient unwraps in a mere 42 seconds what took you 12 hours to package you take it all in with a slight shrug of the shoulders. After all it’s the gift of giving! Heck you can even salvage the wrap and ribbon when nobody’s looking because reusing is the craft that never ends. It goes on and on my friends.
Or we can take a page from Heather’s book and try Keep Things Super Simple. Look at my picture down there of a German Christmas market. What do you see? I don’t know about you but I see live trees and garland, red bows and warm yellow lights. Eagle eyes may spy a heart cookie ornament or some small gift boxes hanging from the branches. Now think about a holiday scene in the United States; plastic greenery, lights of every color often blinking and blaring music at you, trees sprayed every color, explosive layers of ornaments and tinsel. Maybe just maybe we can dial it down a notch. Think about it.
Wherever your creative paths lead you in the coming weeks, keep those crafty chins held high! March right into this season like you are going to own it’s ass. You have got this. And if for some reason you are in a creative funk feel free to peek at my Cant Look Away Board on Pinterest. This is my collection of truly weird stuff thrown in with inspirational quotes. Of course I also have a Christmas Board that isn’t quite as humorous but is equally cool in it’s own holiday way. If you’re all tapped out of creative juices and want to do a project without a lot of thinking, check out my Color-Your-Own Self Deprecating Gift Tags! This is my first ever downloadable project available on Craftsy so I’d love to hear what you think of it. Nothing says you care as much as an insulting tag you colored all by yourself and attached to your present. So glad I could be here for you. Maybe together we got this.
TJ Goerlitz is a mixed media artist who pretends to be a seamstress whenever possible. Come connect with her on her site, Studio Mailbox, her Facebook page, or in Pinterest. Join her on the first Friday of every month where she shares her latest sewing tales with the readers of The Sewing Loft.
