Craft Happens

Today was a crappy craft day. I know those two words – crappy and craft, seem like they can’t possibly go together in the same sentence but today they did. Today was like a bad hair, stepped in gum, house pet with intestinal trouble kind of day – but in a crafting sense. I’m sure you’re all thinking, “then just walk away.” Crafting is not like breathing (did I really just say that?!) It’s not like you HAVE to do it . . . unless you happen to write a craft blog and the weekly deadline is only a few waking hours away.

Most of you lovelies would tell me, “Jo, skip the week and start fresh next week. No one will mind.” And there is soooo much truth to that statement. BUT, I made a commitment to myself that, unless I was really sick, had a family emergency or was traveling, I would publish a new post every week. Making exceptions to that commitment seems like a very slippery slope so I tried, with all my creative heart, to do something . . . anything, post-worthy today.

What Today Was SUPPOSED To Be

My original plan for this week was a Rock Painting with Crayola post. Sounds fun . . . yeah? Except that NOTHING I did today worked.

The printer ran out of ink while I was re-sizing pictures from the Crayola Sloth & Llama Color book (which actually has some decent images for kids’ rocks). I took care of that, gathered all my supplies, put on some music and . . . nothing. I just wasn’t feeling it. So, I got up and made myself a Collagen-Boosting Smoothie; delicious by the way (kiwi, cucumber, spinach, mango). NADA. ZIP. ZERO. I ate some honey mustard potato chips, also delicious, and some grilled chicken. Hmmmmm. Fed the turtles – again. Watered plants, called the landscaper about a missing irrigation line and played with kitty (who just wanted to sleep).

“Seriously JoElle! Get with it!!” I talk to myself when I work and before the end of the day I would use my full name . . . first, middle and last. That’s when you know it’s serious. I painted my first rock. It took an hour and looked like poop. The nib on the Crayola Paint Markers was too wide and my writing looked like a five-year old’s . . .crap! Next, I painted a llama unicorn with glittered wings (hey, that’s a thing). I wanted to lightly glitter the wings buy it looked more like a fairy barfed up a glitter ball on the rock. Finally, I tried to write in a pretty, swirly script. This required four re-dos which means I repainted that part of the rock and re-wrote the saying, “Magic Happens” four times. Apparently magic doesn’t always happen; this rock also looked like poop. “JoElle Maxine!”

At this point, it’s 4:00 pm. I nervously eat another handful of potato chips. WHAT the flippity floo! I pull out a picture of a fish and trace it onto a primed rock feeling like this will work great with the Pearlescent Crayola Markers. Nope. More craft caca!

“JoElle Maxine Butcher!”

Tomorrow is a New Day

So ladies and gents, I’m sorry. I have nothing of any crafting significance to share with you today. What I will share is this. Occasionally, I just can’t create. I’m like the equivalent of grumpy but in a crafting sense – I’m crumpy. Nothing I do feels right, looks right or sounds right and because it’s my job to craft and to make it look easy, I get really frustrated with myself. It’s not always easy. Things don’t always work as planned and sometimes, neither does Craft Plan B or C. If nothing else, I hope you will think of this post the next time one of your projects (crafty or otherwise) doesn’t go as you hoped. It happens to all of us and you just have to know it’s okay. It’s temporary and tomorrow is a new day.

I saw this quote yesterday and I think it’s perfect. This will be my mantra for tomorrow morning.

Don’t start your day with the broken pieces of yesterday. Every morning you wake up is the first day of the rest of your life.

@peacefulMindPeacefulLife

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Sunday, June 16th is Father’s Day

To all you Dad’s (not sure how many dads read my blog but . . . ) Happy Father’s Day! To all the men (and women) who step in when a dad is no where to be found – you rock. To all the sons and daughters – remember to call/hug/love your dad. And to all you missing your dad, know he is with you, helping you take each day in stride.

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