Not a Pinterest Mom, Just a Recovering Crafter

Robyn Welling

I’m what you might call a “recovering crafter.”

At one point in my life, I handmade personalized cards for every holiday and occasion. I created elaborate memory books as gifts, whipped up decorations for my kids’ dollhouses, and kept up-to-date scrapbooks full of photos and stories and intricately designed embellishments.

I know, I totally would’ve made fun of myself for being so Pinteresty, too. If Pinterest had been a thing back then.

I wish I could claim I did all that because I’m a particularly thoughtful person (I’m not) or a really fun mom (also not) or really on top of things (definitely not). I did those things because I loved them; I loved wandering the aisles of a craft store and discovering some new material I was excited to try, loved finding inspiration in the pages of a magazine and recreating the look with items I already had, loved getting the spark of an idea and seeing it come to life.

Slowly, gel pens and pompom projects spread, swatches of fabric and felt overtook the dining room table, die cutting machines and a rainbow of embossing powders were tucked into cabinets. It consumed all my free time. I was a crafting monster.

However, life has a way of getting busy and complicated, which isn’t always a bad thing, but also isn’t always conducive to having extremely time-consuming hobbies. So I gave up on trying to keep a scrapbook updated. We mail out store-bought cards now on the rare occasions when we remember to send a card. I don’t actually have any free time anymore.


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I used to get a pang of sadness when I’d pass my crafting nook in our upstairs hallway, the neat rows of ribbon hanging along the wall in stark contrast with the mish-mash of things people have given me that they just knew I could use for something — a bag of antique lace, botanical stamps, colorful paper — but remain untouched.

Beneath it all sits my wedding album, still open to the unfinished page depicting our first kiss as man and wife, the record of our lives frozen in the moment when our real lives were about to become too hectic to record.

Though I wouldn’t change any of it, I do occasionally mourn the Me that identified as a crafter.

But I’m recovering.

Recently, someone asked to see photos of last year’s Halloween costumes. I noticed the costumes from my older kids’ younger years were store-bought and beautifully preserved in my archives of fancy scrapbook layouts. But in recent years, giving up other crafts had opened up a creative outlet at Halloween.

From fairies to pirates, monsters to purple flamingos (yes, she had to be purple), all my former crafty efforts are apparently focused on costumes now. They might seem a little over the top, but it’s not because I’m still that Pinterest mom — believe me, there are no Bento boxes being made in this house — it’s because my increasingly rare moments of inspiration look different than they used to.

Now, not only do I have fun sharing the process of character creation, brainstorming and supply selection with my kids, I’m sure they enjoy it, too — even if it means their trick-or-treating photos will probably never make it out of my computer and onto a scrapbook page.


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This post was written by Robyn Welling exclusively for BonBon Break Media, LLC.

Robyn Welling is a freelance writer, editor, and humorist at Hollow Tree Ventures, where she isn’t afraid to embarrass herself—and frequently does. She’s been named a Must-Follow Humor Blog by BlogHer and co-authored several best-selling humor anthologies, yet her five kids still don’t think she’s funny. Her goals include becoming independently wealthy, followed by world domination and getting her children to clean their rooms. Until then, she’ll just fold laundry and write about the shortcuts she takes on her journey to becoming a somewhat passable wife, mother, and human being; if history is any guide, she’ll miss the mark entirely. You almost always find her avoiding responsibility on social media.