A Confession

Do you ever find yourself pulled in so many directions that you find it hard to concentrate and do any one of those things well?  Yep, I thought you would identify with that - you’re probably thinking to yourself “What a DUMB question!”  Well, I have no intention of addressing that problem as a whole here, after all, I am writing a blog, not a self help book.  Anyway, if I told you I had found the solution I’d be lying like a dog.  And since my little beagle happens to have a terrible affinity for a particular field where ticks thrive, I really don’t want anything to do with being a dog.

Instead, I’m going to focus on one particular area where I just can’t seem to seem to make heads or tails of myself and really make a COMMITMENT.  In order to do that, I must make a confession…  This is hard to admit & it’s going to surprise even the closest of friends who read this.  Well, not really.  Anyone who has ever been to my house has seen the warning signs of this particular problem.

Here goes…

It stinks to have to admit this…

I have Crafting ADHD.

There, I said it.  My attention span for working on most any craft never lasts for more than one day out of a month.  Don’t get me wrong, I really love to craft.  I really enjoy most of the forms of crafting that I have ever tried.  Except maybe knitting – that doesn’t do so much for me.  My hands tense up and start to hurt.  Then my stitches get really tight and my projects get all wonky and out of shape.  But I digress.  I will usually get hyper excited about a new type of crafting and can’t wait to try it.  I plan out exactly what I want to do and then go to Joanne’s, Michaels or Hobby Lobby on one weekend to stock up on all the supplies I’ll need to give the new obsession a go.  Then the next weekend I get to try it.  I’m not sure, but I think I get more of a thrill out of the waiting, planning and buying than I do from the actual crafting.  I have all these visions in my head of how wonderful it’s going to turn out, but then somehow (big surprise here, prepare yourself) it ends up looking like a first attempt!  All my creativity and passion have let me down in the finished product.  Oh, I’ll eventually come back and try it again – might as well, 'cause now I have all the supplies – and I know that every attempt will make me better at it, but it’s just such a let down when it doesn’t look like what I had envisioned.

Just to give you an idea of how bad I have this dread disease, here is a small sample of the items you will find in my craft room.  I wouldn’t dare try to name everything I’ve gathered over the years - you would start by feeling overwhelming pity for my condition and then undoubtedly get bored and wander off to a new blog.

-Yarn – bought it for knitting, but as I said before that is not my thing so I got all kinds of crochet hooks and books & am slowly progressing with that

-Ribbons – to make bows for hair, wreaths & presents

-Embroidery Floss (a huge selection of colors), aida cloth, needles & a couple of cross stitch projects started back in the 90’s

-Sewing Machine & Serger

-Fabric & LOTS of it

-Scrapbook & Card Making supplies

-Stamps, Ink Pads, Embossing Powders

-Paint, Paint Brushes, Canvases, etc

-Polymer Clay in every color & every possible tool needed to work with it

-Beads in every possible rainbow color, jewelry wire, clasps, etc.

-Scissors of every description and size

-Pliers, those specific to jewelry & several more pairs with different tips

-Buttons, doodads & tidbits galore - basically, if it could ever possibly be used to decorate something, I can’t bear to part with it.

-And, the holy grail of crafting, my new Cricut machine

Well, I’m not sure that I have actually learned anything about myself or my condition by posting this confession, but I think I feel a little better about it all.  It’s like airing out your dirty laundry.  It’s not really any cleaner, but maybe it doesn’t stink quite so bad.