I’m a crafty girl. And being even a bit crafty is awesome in 2011 because it’s huge right now. The market is absolutely flooded at the moment with tons of books and blogs dedicated to crafting. I should know. My day job involves both books and crafting. And I also know what you’re thinking: That lucky girl gets to hang out all day with crafts AND books?!? Yep, it’s true. And one of the many reasons I have decided to start craft blogging.
Since I spend a large portion of my life perusing craft blogs for job-related and personal reasons, I currently have a ridiculous number of craft blogs, all with clever craft pun names, bookmarked on my computer. I visit them daily. And while I love each and every one of them…and get fantastic ideas from them…and find other amazing craft blogs through them…they quite often leave me feeling a little discouraged about crafting.
Their supposedly simple how-to instructions make me feel practically illiterate. Their posts, which are accompanied by triumphant pictures of their perfectly finished products, rarely to never mention failing miserably nine times before they got it right. And—my personal favorite—they present a cheap project, only for me (the not always prepared crafter) to discover it will cost me more money to make the darn thing than to buy it because I don’t have all the materials on hand like they do.
These people are usually experienced, if not just unbelievably dedicated crafters. They aren’t learning to sew, knit or paint. They’ve been doing these things for years. They know the rules. They have all the equipment. Some even run successful crafty businesses. And then there is me with my non-talent for knitting, a love of Modge Podge and an overwhelming desire to create…anything!
For months now I’ve been on the hunt for a craft blog written by a crafty girl like me. I want to read about craft mistakes, misadventures and disasters. I want to find other crafters who read the directions wrong, cut the fabric too short, or realize something looks homemade cheap rather than handmade chic. But I have yet to find the blog that fits just right. So in true crafty girl fashion and with much urging from those I hold near and dear, I have decided to write my own!
I promise to unabashedly tell my blog readers of my crafting calamities as well as triumphs. I plan to post links to the amazing crafts and crafters I find on the web as well as the stuff that makes me utterly embarrassed to be a crafter. I pledge to deglamourize all the craft websites, blogs, books and shows that make crafting seem often too hard or simply unattainable. (Yes, Martha. I’m talking to you.)
Because as my blog title says…craftin’ ain’t easy.
