October Crafts

I really, really love being a mom. But if you've read my post This is Really Hard you know that I also find motherhood to have a lot of challenges. One of the challenges mentioned in that post is losing the previous version of myself. One of the things I used to do before I had kids was more craft projects. I really enjoyed scrap booking, making homemade Christmas cards and shower invitations, painting, and I absolutely loved to knit. I'm not the best at crafts, but I enjoyed them.  I rarely, if ever, do those things now. Of course, I do some art projects with the kids and make some crafts but this most often consists of construction paper birthday cards with markers and stickers. But it just so happens that October brought the opportunity to do several crafts. I got to regain a little piece of my old self and my toddler even got to help with most of them.

Now, don't get me wrong. My crafts are not Pinterest worthy by any means. I don't even get on Pinterest unless I need a specific tip for a craft I've decided to make. For example, when I needed to know what the best adhesive was for the tissue paper "stained glass" gifts Autumn made for Christmas last year. My crafts are more like this one:

Autumn is slowly working on coloring this pumpkin. It's just a little kit from the craft store but it will make a cute decoration when it's done and I know Autumn will be proud of it.









A little different October craft:

When my closest girlfriend was pregnant with her 1st baby, I hosted her baby shower. I made the invitations, the thank you cards, and little wrappers to go around chocolate bars for favors. I didn't have any kids then.

I helped throw a baby shower this month and I wanted to do something hand made but knew I wouldn't be able to do all of the above. This time, I just made the chocolate bar wrappers. I just wrapped the candy bar with card stock and dusted off my old Stampin' Up! supplies and finished the bars with a ribbon. Autumn loved helping me stamp and these really didn't take very long. Plus, added bonus - I got to taste test 4 different chocolate bars!

Another cute kid's craft is the paper plate jack-o'-lantern that was originally seen in my post I drove the wrong car to work. All the credit for that craft goes to Autumn's grandma but she left extra supplies so we were able to make a second one for home. It's so simple!

All you need:

2 paper plates

Orange & black paint and brushes

Scissors

Glue stick

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Paint one plate with black paint and the other with orange.  Then cut out a pumpkin shape and face shapes.

Then just glue the pieces onto the pumpkin shape.

Seriously can't get any cuter or simpler than that!               

My next October project was for Autumn's Halloween costume. I easily found a cute baby costume -- a strawberry! After visiting 3 stores and an online search I still couldn't find anything for my toddler. As you may have learned from the above I'm really not all that crafty so I wasn't sure what I was going to do for a costume for her. I told a friend that I thought it would be cute if she was a fruit or veggie since her sister is going to be a strawberry and she gave me the idea for a bunch of grapes. Just stick purple balloons on a purple shirt. Definitely don't need to be crafty for that. I was planning to just buy a purple hat but when I did a Google search for how to get those balloons attached to the shirt I saw adorable headbands for grape costumes. I headed for the craft store to see if I could fine any inspiration. I lucked out with a fall color leaf garland. This particular garland had grapes attached and was also 40% off! I found the head band at Target for $2. Only other things I needed was a pipe cleaner, hot glue gun and about 15 minutes. And I created the grape costume head piece! 

My mother-in-law also helped me with another baby project. I completed one of them but still have more to make so more on that later. I know these are not super amazing projects but that's not really what this post is all about. It's more about regaining a little piece of my old self. This month I got to find a piece of my old self that I had tucked away in a drawer for a little while. I also got to make things either with my daughter or for my daughter or other people. I'm really hoping to do this more in the coming months as well!

Do you have any fun fall crafts that you did this month or plan to do next month? I would love more ideas! Is there anything you miss from your pre-mama self that you wish you had more time for or would like to start doing again? I know my list is a lot longer than just crafts but, hey, it's a good start! Please share!