A very good place to start. I was born and raised in North Carolina, grew up near family and was always doing something. I had a passion for arts and crafts that goes back longer than my memory can recollect, back to when I first scribbled black crayon all over the walls of my room in my parents house. My knowledge of arts and crafts stems from my close knit family. I learned so much from family members who taught and inspired and fed my creativity.
My mother has always been-and continues to be-very creative especially with card making. So I learned all of my card making skills and stamping arts from her. She is also the calligrapher, sewer, cross-stitcher, scrap-booker, and homemaker that inspired me to mimic her skills in those areas as well.
My grandmother on my dad's side was a seamstress and I learned much of my sewing from her. She used to let me push the sewing machine peddle as she sewed when I was only eye level with the sewing table! So Meemaw, Mom, and some sewing classes I was able to attend during the summer is where I get my sewing background.
My grandmother on my mom's side is also extremely creative. She sews too, but I mostly remember going over to her house to bake yummy cookies, pancakes, and other goodies and to delve into her craft drawers for acrylic paints and hundreds of wooden figures to paint on. I do wonder how many hours of my childhood were spent at her dining room table surrounded by newspapers spattered with acrylics and wooden figurines. She allowed me to make a complete mess of her house and spend hours upon hours painting, drawing and coloring to my hearts content. Her mother was also a painter. My great grandmother, Nanny, was a wonderful artist and poet. Although my hours at her house were mostly spent running around outdoors, I did admire her paintings greatly.
My aunt Amy taught me to knit under some very amusing circumstances in 6th grade. My aunt and uncle were visiting from out of town and my family had taken them to eat at one of our favorite and often frequented restaurants. Apparently one of the staff had shown signs of some infection, and all who had eaten there during a certain time frame were requested to get shots at the local health department just to be safe. So amidst this random and inconvenient event, my aunt brought along her knitting to wait in the long line at the health department. I was intrigued and watched her closely for a number of minutes before she pulled out an extra needle and thread and asked if I would like to learn. Of course, at the age of twelve, with nothing else to do or be entertained by in the middle of a health department awaiting a dreaded shot I leaped at the chance of distraction and amusement. So I learned to knit right there and then. I really did enjoy it so I kept it up, practicing on potholders and tiny stuffed animal scarfs until I developed better tension and consistency of stitches. And now, thanks to my wonderful Aunt, I have been knitting for over a decade! Since my Aunt that taught me was from out of town, I later had to rely on my older cousin and Meemaw to teach me other stitches and inspire me to a variety of projects. But that meant more time with family crafting and learning and I loved every minute of it!
This same cousin and her family would present me with interesting craft kits nearly every Christmas. Some were the crazy kitchen lab experiments that I'm sure my mom dreaded me to perform in her clean kitchen, but were fun and interesting to do. Others were little pan flutes to put together or a pot holder loom kit or other one time DIY for kids kits. But my favorite became the beading kit she and my aunt picked out one year. This opened the door to another creative outlet, and a very thrifty way for me to create as many earrings as I pleased during my years in middle school and high school when fashion first started to have meaning to me. And so beading was added to my list of crafts.
All of these family members inspired me to be the creative crafter that I am today. And so many memories are wrapped up in each skill I have learned over the years from my family.
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