Arty-crafty

I have, in recent weeks, purchased various craft books including one about knitting fairytale characters, one about fabric painting in various guises (batik, silk screen, marbling...oh, do you remember marbling? One of those magical primary school experiences where you get to blob oil paints in water, add a dash of washing up liquid and then, after a gentle swirl, swoop a sheet of blotting paper across the surface and get all excited, turning the paper over to see what pattern you've ended up with), one about tea cosies and one about quilting. And now, because the Year 11's have left school, and I'm back in the swing of teaching (just in time to leave, oh the irony!), I've got a bit of evening time back again to indulge in doing some arty-crafty stuff.

The thing is, where to start? And what to do with my arty-crafty creations? I thought, I could make Christmas presents. There's a lovely idea for padded silk photo frames in one of the books. But do people like, nay appreciate, home-crafted Christmas pressies? My friend, Sarah, always pitches up at Christmas time with some sort of cakey creation. Always well-received. And we made our own Christmas cards last year which were also well-received; either that, or we've got some very polite friends and family who know how sensitive Andy and I are, and that rejection of our hand-crafted stationery would cause huge emotional distress. (And just in case anyone who received one of our chicken Chrsitmas cards feels like now would be a good time to complain about the shoddy workmanship, be warned - Andy is already drafting out Much Malarkey Manor Christmas 2010 cards, this time with a bee theme - 'Stingle Bells' and 'Ding Dong Merrily on Hive' amongst the current favourites.)

I could book up a stall at a Christmas Craft Fayre. When my sister was in remission from her cancer, just a few months before she died, we had a craft stall at a fayre where we sold toys and other arty-crafty stuff we had made (she was a talented artist with a gift for ceramics) to raise money for the hospital unit in London where she was being treated. We had a great time! We also sold out. And raised a nice bit of cash, too.

And given that I am going to be officially unemployed (again!) at the end of August, utilising my craft talent mightn't be a bad idea.

You see, I've come to the conclusion that teaching, for all its aggravations and annoyances, and stressiness and angst, is relatively easy money. From a personal point of view, because it hasn't been my vocation since I left school, it's made me lazy and complacent and because of the current state of the education system in Kent where I am no longer a teacher but a 'learning facilitator', it has stopped me from caring about the art of teaching because you are no longer allowed to be creative. It's knocked the instinct for survival from me, too. The instinct for survival I had to employ when I became a single parent, and EVERY single penny DID count, and I gained a certain pride for being able to budget, and make do and mend and be creative with what I had to make it go further.

There's nothing like sailing close to the wind financially to make you more alive to living.

So, knitting needles out, sewing machine at the ready. I can feel a craft surge coming on!