Hand crafted intentions

When I created this blog last year, I had every intention of keeping it up and posting as much as possible. As with most intentions, life got the better of me and I have totally slacked. But for good reasons. Many involve opposites: injury and healing, working and not working, craftiness and laziness, old home uprooting and new home planting, family hardships and celebrations, elevated and depressed moods, functioning and non-functioning technology, and really just a lot of yin and yang going on, as is normal.

With a slow-down in life's big changes and a time for reflection before things start growing in spring, I hope to create some hand crafted intentions for the upcoming months.

First of all, making space for crafting is just as important as the craft itself. I am inspired by Craft Magazine's Make Space for Crafting photos on face book, featuring rockin' craft rooms by amazing crafters. It really makes me want a craft room that inspires and makes me feel good about crafting. The whole point for me when creating something is to get fully involved in it and make it from the heart. I cannot do that when I feel like I am in the midst of chaos. My craft room is coming along after the big move, so now all it needs is organization and some personal flair.

I also want to use time management and organization in my favor, getting things done, rather than let it all slip through my fingers. This sort of thing is not easy for me, since I have a tendency to create lists then lose them or throw them out or just plain ignore them. Ideas come and go like waves. Projects hardly ever have solidity on that list, so they remain ephemeral until I really get them into a form I can work with. I think that is why knitting has become such a friend to me. For smaller projects, it is easy to pick up some yarn and just start knitting. Sure, I usually come up with a plan first, but once it is in motion, things flow and you begin to see the final product rapidly. With sewing, on the other hand, there is a lot of planning and things that have to be set in motion before you can even begin a project. I have made lists of things I wanted to sew, only to find the list months later with hardly one item even started. This has got to change.

In an effort to make this a solid plan, I do believe wording everything in present tense will help.

This is my crafty self:

I have a neat and tidy workspace to allow creative juices to flow.

I clean up after every project and put all the supplies away in an orderly fashion.

I make short, easy to manage lists.

I begin projects with a solid plan in place.

I work on projects as soon as they are fresh in my mind, to remain inspired.

I spend more time in the craft room than on the computer.

I have obtained an awesome camera and take good pictures of my stuff (or pay someone).

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Well, that seems like good, hand crafted intentions for now. I know things will happen and this may not be set in stone as much as I would like. But it is so helpful to add this to my mental hot tub and let it soak in a bit.