Thursday, November 29, 2007

Procrastinators Anon- Finish those crafts!!

If you're like me, you can meet work deadlines, but try to finish that beaded bracelet or the freezer paper stenciled (FPS) onesie, and suddenly there are fifteen other things that seem more important.

Well, it's that time of year! Time to shake off your mantel of humility (and/or laziness) and boldly share your crafty goodness with the world. Time, that is, to set a deadline and get crafting!

Here are my tips for getting from idea to finished product. I'm thinking of FPS'ing, but these can apply to anything.

1. Find your calendar. Write your crafting deadline in pen. If you can see when you need to have that shirt done and mailed for it to get there before Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa, you're much more likely to get it done on time.

2. Set aside five minutes to gather materials. Just five minutes! If you don't have everything you need, pen a trip to the store in the calendar too. Even if you're doing today, write it in. Then you can cross it off!

3. Here's the fun part if you're FPSing. Tear off sheets of freezer paper and lay them around the house! Put a sheet and a pencil near the computer, in the bathroom, by the bedside, next to the tv. Wherever you're likely to have a minute to doodle.

KEY: Don't worry about the item you're going to FPS-- just get your design down.

4. After you've doodled, gather your designs and cut them out. Collect them in one place and collect your items to be FPSed. Now it will be *much* easier to line everything up and do one big iron-on.

5. If you've gotten this far, painting them will be a breeze. The key here is, don't get bogged down picking out the perfect color! Again, especially when FPSing, (but also when knitting, drawing, ribbon-ing, or whatever) this can be a true drag on your creativity. Take the NaNoWriMo approach and just throw on whatever color your hot little hand comes upon. I promise it will be better than nothing.

And voila!!! You are well on your way to crafting yourself some fine holiday gifts. I'm off!