Some of you know this about me already, but some may not
know that when God made me, he put the crafting/artsy gene in my DNA
makeup. I have always loved art ever
since I can remember.
I think the
earliest memory I have is art class in 3rd grade (age 6/7). We made all sorts of different art projects
and I remember many of them from that particular year. This art teacher was very innovative and I
think her creativity and style of teaching was what grew the seed (of creating
and love for art/crafts) already planted inside of me. Our class project would be regularly displayed
near the lunch room and the art teacher would pick one student’s project to be
the main display for the whole class with everyone else’s project surrounding
the selected display. One of the
projects we did was making a winter postage stamp on a large size piece of
construction paper. Most of the kids –
including myself – copied the teacher’s example and created a snowman on a
hilly winter backdrop. Well, I was super
excited when I passed by our class’s display to find my snowman as the chosen piece for our class display!
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| One view of the craft closet |
Fast forward 30 or so years, and I realize how out of
control this lover of creating/art has become!
I had a recent awakening to a not-so-serious but potentially
“hazardous” silent problem – maybe even addiction. This recent awakening/revelation came when I
had a couple of open evenings on my schedule and decided that I was going to
tidy up my craft closet. Yes – I have a closet full of crafting supplies.
A closet. Did I mention that it
is FULL of crafting/art supplies?
Yikes! Maybe my sister was right
about me. I just couldn’t help myself
when I saw someone getting rid of craft supplies – I’d ask for them so they
wouldn’t be thrown out. Or how about the
dollar/clearance bins at Michael’s and AC Moore stores? I’d only get a couple of items here and there…
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| What was I thinking? |
Well, “here and there” ended up becoming a closet full of
supplies! I looked at all of the
supplies and wondered, “What was I thinking?”
A recent co-worker who found out I like to scrapbook, sent
me a youtube video that really made me laugh out loud. I felt like she found me on youtube without
even knowing it! (Click here for ScrapbookHoarders Youtube video.)
After
watching this video and the awakening after my closet clean up, I decided to
modify the original 12 step program to fit my situation with crafting supplies:
- I admit I am powerless over
free or dollar deal crafting purchases - that my crafting/art supply
closet has become unmanageable.
- I have come to believe that
a power greater than myself could restore me
to sanity. [Gravity! I had items
fall over and on top of me when I went into my craft closet!]
- Made a decision to turn my
crafting purchasing/collecting portion of my life over to the care
of Bonnie, My Sister, fellow crafter and Sponsor.
- Make a searching and fearless
honest inventory of my craft closet.
- Admitted to Bonnie (my crafting
Sponsor), to myself, and to another human beings (all of my blog post readers) the exact nature of my crafting
purchase/collecting habit wrongs.
- Be entirely ready to delete all
coupon emails from AC Moore, Michaels, JoAnn’s and ARCHIVERS in order to
remove all possible temptations of being lured into the store(s).
- Humbly ask my Sponsor to do
random craft check ins to help me remove my craft purchasing shortcomings.
- Make a list of all persons I
have harmed (with my craft creations), and become willing to make amends to
them all.
- Made direct amends to such people
wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continue to take personal craft
supply inventory, and when I have purchased craft items and not actually
made a craft, promptly admit it.
- Sought through my Sponsor,
make sure she validates that a craft purchase truly is needed before I
make a purchase.
- Having had an awakening as the result of these steps, I will try to carry this message to craft/art collecting addicts, and to practice these principles in all my crafting affairs.
I’ve also posted another crafter’s 12 steps here: http://www.craftsayings.com/projects/gag_gifts/craftaholic/index.shtml
In all seriousness, I do love to create/craft/scrapbook/make
cards, etc. It is therapeutic for
me. What I need to do is make sure I set
aside time to create/craft more often.
So, if anyone of you out there can relate, I'd love to hear from you! Better yet, let's plan a time to craft/create!
See you at Michael's/AC Moore! ;-)
~Joyce
Love the 12 steps!
ReplyDeleteI too have craft addiction... it's just morphed into other areas of my life. My house is still being transformed.... and my pantry & fridg is full of craft supplies.... for creating an interesting meal. (From glue-the-noodles-on-a-paper to mixing the noodles with cool stuff... Olive tapenade for example.)
As long as I get a "fix" every once in a while, I'm good, and it energizes the rest of the more boring schedule! :)