One of my first memories of this is having "beautified" some of my toys with nail polish when I was very young...needless to say my mother took away the nail polish for a loooooong time.
Otherwise, I have many fond memories of spending time with aunts and great aunts who loved all things crafty.
I would often spend time with my mom's sister, Diane, who really should have been an artist. From drawing with her fancy colored pencils, to painting ceramics, to decorating terra cotta pots with fun decals, I was always creating something fun when spending time with her. She taught me how to decorate cakes and bake all kinds of fun things. She certainly influenced a part of my love for cooking and good food.
These days she's still crafting and decorating away, this time with my young cousins. I see projects they're working on and it brings back fun memories of spending weekends with her when I was young.
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My great aunt Carol was brave enough to let my cousins and me come stay with her for a week or two at a time during the summer.
Her house has two spare bedrooms, and I always loved getting the middle room because there was a beautiful patchwork quilt that hung on the wall. I wish I had a picture of it! The quilt is made of squares, most likely "recycled" fabric from old clothes. I remember many summer nights looking at the quilt and playing a matching game with the squares, since some were repeats.
Every summer she had a line-up of projects for us girls. One summer, we went to a farm and gathered dried vines to make wreaths. Another time, we made Christmas wreaths from packing peanuts. There are so many more: rag dolls, doll house rugs, salt dough ornaments, bread dough flowers...I wish I could remember them all.
It was at aunt Carol's house that I learned to sew, and where I learned the beauty of quilting.
She prefers to hand quilt, and she does amazing work. Recently, she hand quilted one of my own creations, which I had put off finishing for ages because I don't like to hand quilt.
As you can see, her stitches are steady and small---oh to have the patience to do this! (A full post is n the works to show off the project.)
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Otherwise, most of my inspiration comes from the internet (Pinterest, other blogs, etc.) as well as books.
As CanterCrafts develops, I'll do my best to share what's inspired each project.
Until next time.
~Kristen
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