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I have a dilema...I love to craft, make cards and scrapbooks but I'm newly married and want to spend time with the hubby. Any suggests on how to do both at the same time. I thought maybe if I could make it mobile and take it with me into the living room.. Any thoughts would be helpful for this newlywed crafter...
First, kudos to you for realizing that you need to nurture your relationship with your husband! I'm a grandma, and have been with my sweet man for 48 years! (How can that be?)
We have a spare bedroom in our house, and I could easily turn it into a craft room/studio, like so many people have. I decided NOT to do that, although I do keep all my supplies in there. I want to be accessible to my family and my husband.
I have a game-type table in my living room, right in the pathway to the kitchen, lol. I bring out what I need to the table and work on my cards there. My hubby is usually in front of the TV close by, or coming through to get a snack. He always stops and looks at what I am making. (Even though he doesn't really know what it is half the time.) He always tells me how pretty it is, and I smile, pat him, and say thank you.
Then I ask him how the game/golf tournament/etc is going. I'm not into sports, but like a lot of guys, if it has a ball in it, he loves it!
It's a little bit of trouble to bring things back and forth, but well worth it for me.
PS I have a couple of those large, flat cookie sheets with a small rim around the edges. They are great for stacking things on and transporting from one room to another. If my project is not quite finished, it can just stay waiting on the sheet until I get back to it.
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
I have a lap desk I use while sitting on the sofa when everyone else is watching TV. I can't do anything major like die cutting there, but I can prepare in advance and then do my coloring and assembly during movie time.
Thank you Bugga... I really enjoy spending time with him but my crafting is taking a hit. I think I am going to spend a little time in the craft room, stage a bunch of cards and then load up my tote and take into the other room with him. It's going to take awhile to get what I need all together. There will be a period of running back and forth. But I think it will be worth it. Spending time with him and crafting. Two of my favorite things. Thanks for the ideas.
I use a rolling cart, load it up and off I go to sit with the hubby and child while we converse, watch tv, or do homework. (back in college) makes it nice for my teenager - we do homework together too!
I have one with 5 drawers, the lower 2 are deep then the top one is for like small tools or rulers and then the middle 2 are medium size compared to the bottom and top. Fits what I am working on nicely. I think I got it at Target years ago. Just plastic on wheels.
I just purchased a rolling cart from michaels - it has removable drawers that are quite sturdy - they just had them 50% off - will probably have them again as Christmas is approaching. Check them out - I think they would work well for you.
To all of you who responded to this thread - I think it is just adorable that you want to spend quality time with you husbands/families. My craft room is downstairs - I might think of a way to at least color images while hubby is watching TV. I feel like we don't spend enough time together.
This isn't the most idea of situations, but I love to craft alone and without interference and I hate having to picking up my half finished projects from the livingroom floor. I craft either late at night or early in the morning so that I don't lose family time. My daughters are getting interested in crafts and sewing so it's a bit easier to include them now. They still go to bed around 8:30p and I usually do some crafting starting around 9:30 or 10:00p.
__________________ Rachel Schott
As my best friend says, "Stamping....it's cheaper than therapy" to which I add, "Not by much".
My mom was the proud recipient of my first handmade card. Cost $200.
My crafty area is in one corner of our large family room. My boys (hubby and two teenage boys) typically watch guy stuff on tv and I sit at my desk and scrapbook/create. I can still watch shows with them, and chit chat. I have had my craft area in other rooms at times and I hate it. Much prefer being in the middle of everything I like the ideas for rolling carts to take into the same room as the family!
__________________ Terri
Paper Crafty Goals for 2013: 50/135 pages and 185/75 cards.
We have a large enough lounge room that I have taken over one corner of it and have a desk and a little bit of storage in there that I can play with. I do have an office/craft room and just cart stuff back and forth as I want it.
When we retired and moved, we turned the dinning room into a craft room for both of us. I told my husband that I didn't need a dinning room since I was never having 12 people for dinner ever again! I have a large desk/hutch combo and lots of rolling carts; he has a smaller desk that he uses to make models for his model railroad [he has a huge hobby room for his railroad] and we have a sofa in there so we can both sit and chat in between our crafting. He loves to use all my tools and encourages me to buy more - he has his own paper cutter, small Xyron and neutral color cardstock and a few circle and oval punches!
I love to spend time with my hubby too. He's my best friend. My DH & I have an art studio together. It's a spare bedroom that we turned into a beautiful like closet. We go in the room and grab what we need and bring it out to the living room. Our desks are set up in the living room. My most used tools are on my desk. That way I can spend time with my husband while he games.
I don't know if your husband games but I had a friend turn a room into a large gaming and craft room. Her husband has a state of the art game center in the room and she has taken up the rest of the room for her work. She has large sofas in the room, two huge desks for her work. Lots of gorgeous storage.
My hubby is a parttime actor with a theatre company that does old time radio. He needs his time to do his sound efects and rehearse etc.. They do this monthly so the week before the show is very busy for him. He works in his room set aside for him to do it, and I work in my stamp room. We are only married 2 years and we want to spend time together too. I ask his opinion about projects I am working on and I help fold programs for his show etc. He helps me by taking photos of my cards (I am very lousy at that) too. I see most of his shows (it was our first date!) I think as long as you both make efforts to spend quality time together it will be all ok.
My DP and I craft together! It's one of the perks of being in a relationship with someone who is also female :-) She crochets, knits and sews, and we often do craft in front of the TV so we can chat at the same time. I just pick all my papers/embellies etc beforehand and take my craft tote (with most of my tools/glues in it) and a portable table into the family room. If I need to die cut anything I go back to the craft room where my BigShot is.
Thanks for all the good ideas! I'm going to start making card kits and take only what I can work on like assembling out with him. I'm debating on getting a XXL tote but will see....Thanks again!
Our second bedroom is my office, but I also love spending time in the living room with my husband. I'm actually sitting next to him now as he plays Assassin's Creed 3. When I am in my office, I keep the door open so we can chat. Every so often, he'll walk in and give me random hugs, which are the best. He doesn't always understand what I'm doing, but he's made some helpful suggestions.
The rolling cart is a really good idea. I also have a shelf cleared on the bookcase for storing some pretty boxes from Michaels with craft supplies. One box holds my plastic mesh canvas projects, for example. That way I can keep some crafts out there so we can work on stuff in the same room.
Crafting and spending quality time DH
