Jen's a Little Loopy

Putting the cray in CRAftY since the 80s

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Big Dream Alchemy - art journaling with intent

Big Dream Alchemy – art journaling with intent

“…it’s absolutely possible to reinvent yourself.” – Patty Eskridge, Art Journaling Magazine (Oct/Nov/Dec 2018)

When I read Patty’s words a couple weeks ago I got goosebumps. I’d been feeling discouraged about blogging and designing crochet patterns. Maybe discouraged isn’t the right word, because by all accounts my business has been growing and to most people everything looked just fine.

My mission with this blog has always been to empower women to have crafty misadventures by encouraging them to make time for creativity; try new products and techniques; and have fun while making lots of mistakes.

No matter how I tried, I could never get the things I’m passionate about – creating, writing, and lifting others up – to mesh within the confines of this space. Every time I clicked publish, I felt like I failed. There were a couple of moments – Hugamonster, specifically – where I felt like I *got there* but yeah. I was pretty much ready to give up.

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Crochet plastic water bottle upcycle project - quick, easy, and cheap! #crochet #upcycle #crochetpattern #freecrochetpattern #crochetvase #waterbottlecover

Crochet Water Bottle Upcycled Vase

I’ve just got done cleaning out my craft room (more on that in a few days) and was overwhelmed by how many crafting materials I’ve accumulated over the years. I said to my husband when I was done, “If I can’t make something with what I have in here, I don’t need to make it…

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The intersection of creating and mental health

Confession: I’m a mess. Most of the time I look like I have things pretty much together. But it’s a trick of light and careful editing. Creating is one of the things that supports my emotional well-being. Maybe it can help you too!

Sunday Share 20180520

Bad alpaca joke. Gut Shots. Retro camper playhouse plans. Why does Etsy hate makers? Kelly Diels smashing the patricarchy. Here’s what’s been bouncing through my mind the past two weeks.

Sunday Share

Happy Sunday! Trying something new here on the blog and we’ll see how it goes. Every other Sunday I’m going to be chatting about all the random things going on in life, the universe, and everything. Hopefully it’s interesting to someone other than just me. 😉 Here’s what’s tickling my fancy this week.

poured painting featured image

Poured painting: awesome, and not as hard as you think!

Did you ever see a craft on Pinterest like poured painting, run out to the craft store to buy all the supplies, and then get home only to be distracted by cleaning and dishes and laundry for two whole months? Yeeeeaaaaah. I see you raising your hands. No worries, we’ve all done it. That’s exactly…

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elentless-Kindness-I-gave-up-Facebook-to-prepare-for-baptism.-Here's-what-happened.

I gave up Facebook to prepare for baptism. Here’s what happened.

I thought being away from Facebook for a month would be a nice way to “create” more time to read and journal. It would give my thoughts some space to breathe and hopefully I’d hear them better. I had no idea it would change the way I see and relate to the world.