I’ve been putting together a box of crafty things to send to a teenager who loves crafts but doesn’t really have many crafting tools or products.  We all know I have more than enough for myself and a few hundred other people (that’s a maybe a slight exaggeration,) but I thought it would be great to set her up with some of the tools to get started making paper crafts at the very least.  It’s hard to know what crafts someone would like to attempt and I have tried so many since I was a kid, that I’m not sure what types she will like.  I thought paper crafting has so many options from cards to 3-d structures like boxes or stationary holders or even covering composition books or making their own books, it’s a wide open field.  I’ve tried to consider all the possibilities in putting together this box of goodies and hope I have covered enough that she’ll find something she enjoys doing.  When I was a kid, I tried crocheting and always dropped a stitch at the end of a row so my afghans always looked crooked.  I didn’t really love crocheting once I realized how much work I put into the afghan only to hate the results.  I’m not one of those people who would undo it and start over.  Once I’m done, I’m done. Then came the “crazy about ceramics” phase in the mid 1970’s.  Geez, this is really showing my age.  But after you make presents for your grandmothers and mother and a few for yourself, what do you do with a bunch of painted ceramics?  In college, I took a pottery course that literally saved my sanity.  It was my last semester before graduating and I was in flux about what I really wanted to do with my life.  I had an accounting degree but didn’t love accounting once I had my internship.  I also had a business degree which ultimately is where I found my home in managing banks.  But I digress.  Pottery gave me an outlet for creativity that I had never had before.  I loved the wheel and the way the clay felt, it was just great.  Of course it’s not like I had the talent to be a professional potter let alone the tools so that was four months of a great craft.  I also took a course in jewelry making and failed miserably at it.  This course had me filing copper and silver by hand to make jewelry designs.  No beads or charms, just hard physical labor.  I hated it.  After that, I discovered needlepoint.  I really enjoyed it but again, once everyone in the family has a piece or two of your needlepoint, well, you know where I’m going.  Same with cross stitching, which I did in the mid to late 1980’s.  After that, I pretty much devoted my time to working until I retired, then I had time to kill and saw some YouTube channels on card making.  Actually, Rich saw a video of Kristina Werner making a card, showed it to me, and I was hooked.  I think the thing I like most about paper crafts is there is a continuous need for them.  There’s always a birthday, thank you, get well, wedding, new baby, or sadly, sympathy cards that need making.  I love that I haven’t been in a greeting card store or aisle in a couple of years.  I’m so excited when someone loves one of my cards and even happier when I find that my cards have affected their lives, which was the case of my girlfriend who had cancer and passed away this summer.  I sent her a card every couple of weeks, and her son and sister both told me how much it meant to her when they would find my card in the mailbox.  I guess I’m saying that giving handmade cards to my friends and family has been a craft that has no end and it’s the reason I focused my gift to this girl around paper crafts.  You can never run out of ideas or uses for them and the receiver of the cards or paper craft are always appreciative, because it’s not only useful but makes them smile.  And isn’t that the greatest gift you can give?

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