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The Importance Of Filling Your Cup

Fill your cup, a term I wasn’t extremely familiar with until about two years ago. So what cup and what are we filling it with?

As a mom as tempting as it is to say - your sink, with coffee, then dunk your head in and “inhale” - that's not the cup I’m talking about though.

The cup I‘m referring to is figurative, it’s within you, your kids, friends, your partner, and family all have one too, even if they aren’t aware of it.

Filling a cup takes more than just a hobby or a craft there are many emotional aspects to it but it can help and it’s a start.

You can’t pour from an empty cup.

My cup typically needs - self-care such as long bubble baths, crafting, writing time, and outdoor time with my family. Being a young mom or dad it’s easy to get very wrapped up in parent-hood. Finding free time sometimes feels impossible, but it doesn’t have to be impossible.

This is why it’s also incredibly important to include minuscule things in your cups as well as the big things , such as help around the home, or other words equal division of household responsibilities.

After all keeping a tiny human or human’s alive is exhausting. Rather you are a working parent or a stay-at-home parent, it can quickly be easy to feel like your only identity is being a mom/dad or all you do is mom/ dad things.

I fed into that thought process for far too long denying myself and my husband's hobbies or neglecting to set aside time for ourselves as well as our kids and other responsibilities of adulthood.

It quickly affected my mood, attitude, and overall happiness.

As a kid, I loved crafts and art in general, as a teen I fed that passion more through volunteer work, though it never felt like work. My local library where we had a teen council that worked with the librarian to come up with summer events for teens and children in our area for summer reading such as bake sales, celebrating Harry Potters birthday, Fourth of July celebrations, fairy parties y, dolly desserts which we hosted for younger kids to bring their dolls, had music, dessert and more. It sparked so much joy and happiness in my soul. When I finally had my oldest at 19 I had already been volunteering a year longer than I was supposed too and it was time to part ways with the library and the teen council and it was significantly harder than I expected. The days there though were by far the most influential in my love for arts, crafts, and all things fantasy.

It took me longer than I care to admit to picking up the crafting of any kind, let alone picking up another pair of scissors.

Now you’d never know.

Cutting Here & Here , for Happiness & Relaxation.

I have scissors everywhere now.

Ironically enough my favorite brand is Fiskar’s. From everyday scissors, outdoor pruning sheers, fabric scissors, kitchen sheers, I have a pair for everything, even in the first aid kit.

Finding my passion for crafting again really ignited something in my soul.

It allowed me to have a creative outlet for myself, but also allowed me to spend even more time with my kids and create beautiful gifts for family members and their dad for holidays.

The happiness in the moment of creating is hard to match but the memories we make while creating are priceless.

Remembering to fill my cup and make time for myself and my hobbies, allowed me to explore so many different crafting outlets.

DIY Home Decor

I love home decor, crafting, and scissors.

Do you know what I don’t love?

$50 home decor pieces - like pillows, eggs, or terrariums. Especially when I could spend far too much money buying things that get rotated often or I lose interest in having out all the time.

Being able to create my home decor from terrariums like the one above that has some baby crab exoskeletons that my husband got me, snowflake hangers, or dragon eggs like the ones I made out of thumbtacks, styrofoam eggs, and nail polish, and more not only make me happy, it gives me an outlet for creation but also lets me put personal touches on my home that don’t cost the equivalent of our internet bill every time the seasons change.

This is a look back on the first-ever decor item I made. It still holds a special place in my heart and I love it even with its flaws. Made with a glass jar from the dollar store, an old ripped book, and a stick with some hot glue it made for a gorgeous piece within our home and now lives with my little sister.

Sewing

I think it’s time I just call myself a dabbler. Maybe a professional dabbler. I love to dip my toes or snip my scissors into a little bit of everything.

I’m not, however, a professional seamstress but I’m always willing to learn and I love to combine it with my passion for reducing, reusing, and recycling to help our planet.

One of my favorite projects was using old crown royal bags to make a quilt. Unfortunately due to our house fire in 2017, I don't have photos of the finished quilt and the quilt didn‘t survive.

My next big sewing project is taking a couple of clothing items from my kids' different age groups and making them a quilt to gift them when they are 18. I don’t intend on using the full piece of clothing but instead cut blocks like a traditional quilt. If you look closely at the video below you’ll get a peek at the old “baby” my husband got me off the Facebook marketplace. I’m not an antique collector but I prefer older machines vs newer and this was an incredibly thoughtful gift from him. It’s a western electric. Around 150 years ago in September. 1846 a patent was granted to Elias Howe Jr for the sewing machine and no invention has so touched the everyday life as sewing machines have, the clothes we wear, the furniture in our homes, even in cars that we drive all in some way have benefitted from this invention. The unique thing about the western electric sewing machines was not made by western electric but by the national sewing machine company who put western electric decals on one of their models. The electric motor however was produced by Western Electric. Production only lasted a few years and the machine disappeared from the market by 1918. While this particular machine has reached its age and finally puttered out I hope to someday be able to replace the motor or the machine with another. Until then I enjoy the happiness it brought me in creation and love seeing it around the house as a memory of things that once were. Most items like this would be in a landfill or museum so I’m thankful to have this little piece of history, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wonder at least once who else had this machine and created what a lot can happen between 1918 and when I received it in 2016.

Gift Wrapping & Creating For Others

Who doesn’t love presents? That's a trick question, plenty of people don’t like themor maybe it is the surprise behind the gift they don’t like. Hopefully, there’s more out there who do than those who don’t though.

What do I love more than presents?

Wrapping them, making them, and gifting them of course!

There's nothing like the sound of scissors gliding effortlessly through wrapping paper, the snip of a ribbon, Or the curling of it.

Instant happiness and relaxation. I feel less weird about this love of sounds after discovering there are entire YouTube channels and videos dedicated to these “ASMR ” sounds, though I still prefer doing over listening.

One of my favorite crafts/gifts is in this video. You can also see gifts I’ve wrapped for people that normally contain handmade items, how crazy I get wrapping Christmas gifts and the faux presents I made for our porch last year, any excuse to cut, tape, and wrap, I take it.

The “Thumbody loves you” craft is easy and I included it below. This was a Mother’s Day gift for myself and all the grandmas in the family last year!

All you need is oven bake clay in your choice color, an oven, scissors, and some patience. Make some small hearts then let your littles thumbprints make the heart flatter by pressing their fingers into the heart. Then bake and attach to a cute card with the poem attached.

Of course, moms aren’t the only ones that get gifts and, my love for cutting and snipping isn’t satiated with one holiday, I even make thank you baskets from scratch! Everything from the basket stuffing, to the cut, fitted tissue paper, and cellophane, is put together and crafted by me With some add-ins of course. This was my most recent thank you basket for an apartment manager.

This was made for a coffee lover and his wife. It had two mugs, Starbucks coffee, chocolate-covered espresso beans and you can’t see it but a bag of popcorn with a free Redbox rental promo attached to it. I had so much fun creating this basket though the thank you gifts for teachers pre covid were equal fun to put together. I have to admit though just as there’s nothing like the sound of scissors gliding through paper there’s also nothing like hand cramps from cutting out 12+ gift tags.

I have created many similar baskets and gifts in the past for other thank you gifts and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

Crafting An Income

Picking up the scissors again years ago has also allowed me to create not only memories ,happiness and fun. It enabled me to manage two home businesses at different times in my life. Both are now in my past but I am so thankful for when they were my present.

The first, Coastal Treats which was opened and operated when I still lived on the Oregon coast. As a home baker and owner, I was fully licensed and truly enjoyed my work especially because I had the luxury of being home with my kids. Also allowing me to combine two of my favorite passions - crafting and baking.

My business was open for about 5 years but sadly due to the area we lived in wasn’t large enough to provide steady and reliable orders.

I still love to cook, bake and decorate cakes though, and the sound of my kitchen scissors snipping through a piping bag still brings me indescribable happiness.

I know many, people wonder or even underestimate how much cutting you might need to do to bake or decorate a cake but from packaging, decor placement, and design sketches scissors are an important tool in the kitchen.

Without them, I would never have been able to create masterpieces such as these.

Nor would have scored the temporary job at a dairy queen before moving from the coast to create these beauties.

Scissors were essential to my creations especially the anti-gravity cakes I was able to create at work.

I don’t believe I will ever get over how giddy it makes me hear scissors snip through a frosting bag or cutting open a fresh box of sprinkles.

Saying goodbye both to my business and my temp job at dairy queen wasn’t easy. Like I said I enjoyed what I do and was creating but sometimes when life closes one chapter another opens.

My second business was short-lived however I am still proud of it and still enjoy crafting as a hobby and not as a job.

Beginning of 2021 I decided to go out and risk it all. Bought supplies and filed for a business license in an industry I’ve never worked in but always enjoyed creating in.

Jewelry.

From designing the tissue paper and cutting tissue to fit in jewelry boxes and earring back cards I have to say this was one of the fun-filled and spontaneous things I have done through crafting.

I was able to break even with my investment and make a profit within 4 months. That is a huge accomplishment and I am so very proud of myself for that. Sadly as before mentioned this was a short-lived victory. I am now suffering from shaking hands and arm complications due to my birth control implant nexplanon breaking in my arm. This fueled my decision to sell the company name and close the shop.

Don’t get caught up in sadness though because I can still use scissors, bake, craft, and regardless of what bodily issues I may face down the road in life. I am incredibly thankful for the moments of happiness, joy, and relaxation. Cutting, snipping, curling and, chopping have given me. However, the gentle nature of wire wrapping tiny beads or connecting beads and wires is just too much for me at the time being.

Cutting Forward

Even without a business, those cut here marks will forever call my name and I plan to continue to cut and craft forward with myself, and my kids.

There is so much joy in crafting and creating even if it doesn’t turn out as planned. I intend to keep that happiness in my life in all ways that I can.

Nature journals, blow painting, bookmark creating, and beaded animals. They all need a little help to come to life and the best way to do so is to surround yourself with scissors, a little patience, and a creative mind.

Crafting is a wonderful outlet for creativity and happiness. There’s an endless amount of possibilities of the things you can create and many things, that surprisingly enough require you to - cut here ————

While many may think it’s just a hobby or our jobs, there is more to it.

Crafting is an outlet for,

Self expression

Creativity

Relaxation

Generosity

& so much more.

Research actually has shown that crafting can help reduce anxiety, improve mood, and increase happiness which can all help fight depression.

In conclusion because of that and my own experiences through crafting for both pleasure and work.

I am more than satisfied in my thinking and belief that while I am crafting. I am also creating happiness for myself and other‘s to enjoy & filling my cup each time I complete a craft, gift or work of art.

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If you have read this far thank you and if you enjoyed following my creating happiness through crafting journey please heart this article! Shares are always appreciated but never expected. You can check my author page for recent writing or older works too. I write a variety of things from fiction to environmental awareness, food& health and occasionally dip my toes into other things as well.