Maura Madden - Crafternoon: A Guide to Getting Artsy and Crafty with Your Friends All Year Long

This chapter answers all of your questions, reveals all of our resources, and squeezes all the last bits of excitement and inspiration into the final pages of this happy Crafternoon journey.

For crafters who like lists, you can find quick cheat sheets for all of the supplies youll need for each Crafternoon. See? I thought of everything.

the sweet history and philosophy of CRAFTERNOON

T his is the story of Crafternoon. Once upon a time in February 2002, I was living in San Francisco, the beautiful city by the sea. By day, I worked at a nonprofit, and by night, I spent most of my time putting on sketch comedy shows with my friends. We were a creative and dynamic group of folks devoted to making funny performances. That month we were putting up a new show, and in honor of this occasion, my mom was coming for a visit. And whenever my mom came for a visit, we always had a rocking good time.

Since my mom was flying all the way from New York to California to show her love for me, I wanted to show some love in return, so I decided to throw her a party. But my mom is not the sort of mom who does keg-stands. More power to those moms, I suppose, but my moms a chiller. So I had to figure out what type of party my mom would dig the most.

Conveniently enough, my mom and I are both huge fans of the day of St. Valentine. You can call it a Hallmark holiday until the cows come home, but as far as my mom and I are concerned, Valentines Day rules the school. Especially when you show your love with something handmade. Do you see where Im going with this? I was thinking party, then I was thinking valentines, then, boom, I was thinking: Valentine-Making Party.

See, my mom loves to craft. In fact, Shes Crafty by The Beastie Boys is actually dedicated to her. Okay, Im lying about that, but she is an outrageously crafty lady. The lady knits, she crochets, she sews, she embroiders, she smocks, she weaves, she draws, she collages, she etceteras, etceteras, etceteras. She rocks craft! My mom knows how much people value things that are made by hand, and she just so happens to be great at making those things. She has always believed in the importance of a handknit baby sweater or a needlepoint pillow. She made pot holders for our entire comedy group as a token of her love. Yes, pot holdersshe can do anything!

When I was a kid, my mother was always coming up with different crafts for my brother and me to do, whatever the season. And this made my house a popular place to visit. Recently, Ive run into some friends that I havent seen since grade school. Time and again, they wax poetic about a gingerbread house we decorated together or some T-shirts we designed at my house. My mom always came up with interesting projects to keep us stimulated, and decades later, people still remember.