Muldoon - Lazing on a Sunday Crafternoon: Little Projects for People with Just a Little Time and a Little Skill

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First published in 203

Copyright Eliza Muldoon 203

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ISBN: 978742695624 (ebook)

Internal design by Liz Seymour

Set in 0.5/6 pt Scala by Midland Typesetters

For our wonderfully inspiring Lotte May

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

As a youngster I found myself compulsively crafting. I didnt call it crafting then, I just called it making stuff. Making stuff was an incredibly important part of my childhoodfrom watching my mum hand make things to decorate my bedroom, to doing arts activities during an extended hospital stay, attending youth club holiday arts programs, and just sitting around with my friends and making the hair decorations du jour (it was the 80s, forgive me). Despite my love of making stuff I found that the older I got the less I made. At uni I did some dodgy decorating, but that was about it. Eventually, I virtually stopped making things.

Relatively recently two things made me realise that I needed to start making stuff again. The first was having a gorgeous child, Lotte, and wanting her to have the same creative memories and basic skills as I did. I wanted her to feel the joy of making stuff (especially together) and the satisfaction of creating something herself rather than buying it. The second was lecturing on the extensive benefits of art-making for our wellbeing and realising that this was an important part of my wellbeing that I had neglected.

All of this led to the development of Sunday crafternoons. I realised that I needed to make time in our week for craft or it wouldnt happen, so we set aside Sunday afternoons to make something simple and sweet. The projects needed to be short enough to keep a toddlers attention (usually about 30 minutes) and simple enough so the day remained a joy rather than became a chore. The crafternoons became an escape from my hectic week and certainly made our life a little better (and my stress levels lower). They also made our home lovelier!

There are so many things about our crafternoons that I love, but the thing that keeps me inspired (perhaps more than anything else) is when Lotte walks through the house or gets dressed in the morning or plays with her toys and says, You made this for me! and then recounts the story of that day. I just love it.

SUPPLIES

Gathering craft supplies has become almost as much fun as crafting!

We regularly visit garage sales and second-hand shops looking for possible materials. Sometimes we have an idea of what we want to make, other times we just wander and see what we find.

When we started our Sunday crafternoons I was buying everything that I thought might be useful one day. It wasnt a great idea and I ended up with a massive oversupply of bits and pieces that I didnt really need. I am much more discerning now.

Re-use organisations

These are such a brilliant idea. They are essentially initiatives that collect or distribute items that might otherwise be landfill and make them available to creative people at friendly pricessometimes free. We get so many of our crafternoon supplies through these organisations: timber offcuts, reams of paper, ribbons, buttons, corks, fabric, cotton and even our jars for storage. Our favourites are Reverse Garbage, The Bower Coop and Freecycle. Not every town has one, but every town should!

Garage sales

I suspect I started attending garage sales with my parents soon after I was born. There is so much I love about our garage sale ritual. Friday nights well go through the listings and choose what garage sales well go to and what our route will be. When were there we will see people that we have been seeing at garage sales for the last 35 years and chat while wandering around or flicking through table contents. I often have a list of things that I would like and continue to be surprised that I typically find them. On a recent visit home to see my mum, my garage sale list included small doilies, curtain fabric, glass preserving jars, a retro clock, a blender and a pushbike. I found them all! Amazing. Without exception we always find something unexpected and inspiring too.

Op shops

I feel rather fortunate to live within easy walking distance of five op shops. At least twice a month the little one and I will go op-shopping, looking for things we need and discovering things we dont really need. Old things appeal to me aesthetically, sustainably, financially and creatively. I also like the wandering. To keep the little one involved she has a budget of $ to spend each time we go on our op-shop tour, on the understanding that she has to donate toys back when her baskets are fullwhich she always does without any fuss. My favourite op shops continue to be those in country towns, and on road trips we will often stop at any we see along the way.

Council collections

These are called different things in cities all over the world, such as kerbside collection, hard garbage day, and so on. I hadnt experienced them until I moved to Sydney and I couldnt believe how much stuff was just sitting on the streets for freea delightful treasure hunt. When I saw the trucks in action I realised they didnt take it to a wonderful re-use centre, as I had assumedthey just crushed it. Arghhhh! Destroyed forever! So now I think of it not only as a treasure hunt but also as a way to save things from the beastly crusher. Note: check that it is legal to gather goods this way where you live.