Beyond the sewing machine and the kitchen, this is where my other making lives. Beading, paper crafts, and whatever hobby has most recently pulled me down a Pinterest hole at midnight. Some of it connects back to the sewing, some of it is a complete detour, and all of it is made by someone who likes to understand how a thing works before she trusts herself to do it. Expect beginner-friendly guides, honest accounts of what went wrong first, and the odd free printable to get you started.
I bought myself a Cricut Joy 2 for my birthday this year. Cricut happened to be running a 20th anniversary offer at the time, and I ended up with a free heat press thrown in, which felt like exactly the kind of sign I needed to finally stop putting this off. Here’s the slightly embarrassing…
I found the macaw by accident. I was deep in the artwork for Venezuela para Colorear, our colouring book, surrounded by tabs of parrots and tricolour flags and mango trees, when a pair of beaded macaw earrings drifted past on Pinterest. Bright red, that unmistakable yellow face, a tail like a tiny rainbow. I stopped….
