Abby Pecoriello - Crafty Mama: Makes 49 Fast, Fabulous, Foolproof (Baby & Toddler) Projects

CRAFTY MAMA

Makes
49 FAST, FABULOUS, FOOLPROOF (BABY & TODDLER) PROJECTS

by Abby Pecoriello

Lily and Sashas Crafty Mama

WORKMAN PUBLISHING NEW YORK

FOR LILY AND SASHA

Im starting to really empathize with all those people who win an Oscar because its impossible to thank everyone who had a hand in helping you create something special. That said, Ill give it a try! First and foremost, I must thank my daughter, Lily Skye Pecoriello, for being the utter genesis of this book. If you werent born and didnt have such dynamic energy and spirit (even at 2 days old), Id never have turned to crafts! I love every single speck of your exuberant, dramatic, intense little being!

Thanks to my husband, Mike, for schlepping to pretty much every craft store in the entire tri-state area, for trying his hardest to help me decide which rhinestones look best in what places, for dealing with hot glue blobs and tons of other crafty remnants around the apartment, and for supporting me, believing in me, and loving me more than anyone else on the planet.

Thanks to Hindi and baby Natan, my first mommy/baby craft partners. I never would have thought our early morning breastfeeding/tie-dye sessions would have morphed into this. Thank you Ange and baby Cayla, Renee and baby Stephanie, and Amy and babies Max n Hannah for showing up at every CM event and constantly reminding me that I might actually have a good idea (especially when my mommy hormones made me forget!). Thanks to everyone who attended my classes and workshops, Jocelyn and Stacey for helping me teach, and Dana and Elana at the JCC for taking a chance on my idea.

Thanks to my little chub-a-lub Sasha, who was in my belly, pushing on my bladder every 15 minutes as I wrote this book. And thanks to Grandma Susan, Papa D, Grandma Iris, and Oompa for babysitting so I could teach, craft, and write to my hearts content.

Thanks to my not-so-crafty, but oh-so-supportive friends Ciulla, Mander, and Jeweley-Jewels. You guys are awesome. Thanks to my sister-in-law, Sherri, for being such a fan and always offering to help me out.

Stay with me

Thanks to Becky for introducing me to my wonderful agent, Katherine Fausset. And super mondo thanks to Katherine for helping me, selling me, and smiling at me.

Thanks to Raphael and Sylvie Buchler, and Deborah Ory and their respective crews for styling and taking such gorgeous photographs and thanks to all the moms and babies in the photographs for your positivity and gorgeousness! A special thanks to Haley Pelton for being the best and most dedicated editorial intern on the planet. And thanks to Alicia Matusheski, Elaine Pumarejo, and Jos Vegas for helping out with too many things to mention. Thanks to my brilliant and patient production editor, Carol White; the artistically gifted Janet Parker, John Gilman, and Janet Vicario; the photography goddesses, Leora Kahn and Anne Kerman; typesetting and production gurus, Barbara Peragine, Jarrod Dyer, and Doug Wolff; my amazing publicist, Kim Small; Jennifer Griffin, my first friend at Workman; ALL of the folks in sales and marketing, and the big daddy of Workman, Peter Workmanif you didnt start such an amazing company, I wouldnt have a book!

And a big, juicy thanks to my fabulous editor, Megan Nicolay. Without her constant support, patience, words, attitude, and big cookies, this book would be a big messy jumble of hot glue and rhinestones.

Oh no, the music is starting to play and I need to get off the stage! Thanks to everyone I know, ever knew, and will know one day! You all rock!

Every time Ive been incredibly overwhelmed in life, Ive turned to crafts. When all of my friends in seventh grade hated me, I made tons of ribbon barrettes. When I couldnt deal with the stress of the SATs or the college essay, I made beaded rings. And when I worked on the very first season of The Ricki Lake Show and had to find spandex-clad hoochie moms willing to fight with their disapproving kids on national TV, I made charm necklaces and eyeglass chains. My craft binges lasted anywhere from a week to six monthsenough time for me to escape my reality and engage in a simple, pressure-free project that I could admire. After finishing, Id look at my creation, touch it, look in the mirror, try it on again and again, and think, Everythings going to be okay. My stress miraculously faded into the background. I was no longer a seventh-grade loser, a stressed-out senior, or a struggling associate producer; I was a productive, creative, and viable human being. I like to call this phenomenonthe Power of Crafts.

The Power has to do with crafting being incredibly forgiving, uncompetitive, very accessible, and easy. You dont need to be fantastically artistic (Im not!), or exceptionally innovative (Im not!), or even overly patient (Im really not!). Its something you can pick up whenever you have a spare moment, or put down (without feeling guilty about not finishing it) when youre not in the mood. To sum it up: Crafting rocks! And its helped me get through some of the hardest and most stressful periods of my life. So you can imagine how incredibly crafty I became on July 6, 2003, when my first daughter, Lily Skye, was born.

Talk about overwhelming! There you are, big and pregnant one day, and a week later, youre sitting in your houseuterus still swollenwith this very real, very helpless little baby sucking on pretty much everything in sight. Whats more, youre responsible for making it thrive. (The SATs never looked so good!) I couldnt stop Lily from crying; I couldnt get her to wake up during the day and sleep during the night; and I couldnt (quickly) figure out how to fix her like Id fixed every other situation in my life thus far. (Note: Everyone started liking me again in seventh grade, I got into a good college, and, as it turned out, plenty of hoochie moms jumped at the chance to have it out on national TV!)

My work as a freelance producer didnt exactly offer maternity leave or a place to go back to. So, if I wanted to work, I had to find a freelance gig. But was I ready? If so, who would watch Lily? Could I leave her with a nanny? Would she be mad at me? Would I be mad at me? Unfortunately, no answers immediately came. (And my thought process wasnt helped by my lack of downtimefor the first eight months of her life, Lily napped only in a moving stroller.) So I took on the role of stay-at-home mom. I was excited to be with Lily, but I wasnt convinced I was going to be very good at it.

In all of my postpartum confusion, I dug out my hot-glue gun from the bottom of the diaper-crammed linen closet and started to create. I knew my first project had to be something simple and quick, but attractive enough to warrant the oh-my-goodness-I-cant-believe-you-made-that response. The Photo Bragnets () were my solution. I made fifty-six (enough for all of Lilys grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, and uncles). People couldnt believe that I was awake, let alone crafting. But the fact that I could make cute projects starring Lily made me feel good, even when I was feeling so uncertain about, well, everything else.

Still trying to figure out my new role as Mom, I moved on to iron-ons (for her mama-made onesies, barrettes, and burp cloths. Each creation made me feel productive, positive, and, most importantly, successful as a mom. This Crafty Mama was here to stay. And now I wanted to spread the love.

It was time to find a playgroup. I peered into strollers on the street and picked up moms who had babies around the same age as mine. I went to a few mommy lunches, and I signed up for a baby massage class. Many of the moms I met were refreshingly honest about their new reality. Each of us was navigating her way through new motherhood, and there was just so much to talk about and figure out. Thankfully, I connected with a great bunch of women who were interested in trying to figure it out together.