Welcome

Glad to have you in my little corner of the internet!  I created this corner for three reasons:

  1. It gives me a reason and an opportunity to practice creativity
  2. It allows me to share my projects easily with family and friends
  3. It holds me accountable – no more saying “I’d like to do that some day!”
  4. It’s totally fun!!!!!

About this Page

How Does it Work?

I’ve created a Challenge Bucket which I’ve filled with over 50 different types of creative activities (you can view my master list here).  Yes, I physically printed, cut, fold, and dropped them in a bucket!  At the beginning of each week I draw one activity out and the fun begins.  My goal is to complete my chosen project relating to the activity, then write and post pictures about it here on my blog by the end of the week.  It’s as simple as that!

Why I Started This Journey

What prompted this journey was a strong desire to practice creativity.  However, having no specific projects  to complete, I found myself squandering any free time I had with mindless internet scrolling or tv shows I wasn’t even really interested in.  And do you know what?  That didn’t feel good. 

I realized I needed a reason to practice creativity.   I began to search the internet for “creativity challenges”.  I wanted some sort of incentive that would stretch my arts and crafts skills in new and various ways.  You know what I found?  Absolutely nothing.  Maybe I typed the wrong words in my search engine, but out of millions of pages out there I couldn’t find a single one that held what I was looking for.  So I decided to create my own!

Why I Share My Projects

There are two big reasons for this.  One, it holds me accountable.  It is too easy for me to say “it’s going to be hard, I’ll do it later”, or amidst throngs of indecision, to just opt to not do it at all.   By publicly giving myself a deadline, it encourages me to push past the discomfort of hard decisions and to find the joy of overcoming on the other side.

The second reason is that it’s exciting to complete a project.  Especially one I’m happy with.  I want to share the good news and show what I accomplished! 

What Happens When a Project Doesn’t Turn Out?

I’m still going to share it.  Something I realized this year is the incredible value of the journey.  Skills and life experience aren’t found in the momentary glory of crossing a finish line.  Rather, they’re found in the experience gained along the way.  If I keep myself from doing projects because they won’t be perfect, not only am I limiting the possibility of a successful project, I’m also limiting my opportunity to gain skills and life experience – which is of far greater value than a lovely wall hanging!  I’ve decided to not deny myself this opportunity any more.

So you are invited to join me on this adventure.  Whether things turn out good or bad, come enjoy, laugh, cry, or be appalled by it all!  No matter which way it goes, I’m doing SOMEthing and that counts for EVERYthing!

About Me

My name is Kara and I live in a small city in Alberta, Canada.  I am wife to a wonderful man named John, and mother of 3 amazing boys ages 13, 11 and 9.  Aside from running the house, I have a small job at my church where I head up our Sunday morning kids ministry.  It’s far from perfect but, to be honest, I love my life.  I love my family and friends, I love my church community, and I love Jesus.  I also love to be creative!  I grew up on an acreage out in the country where I frequently immersed myself in various art and craft projects. 

 A very fond memory for me was our small-town fair which held arts, craft, and baking contests.  At the beginning of every summer mom would bring home the list of all the categories we could enter, and then us kids would set to task, making as many things as we could!  Beadwork, mixed media art, Lego building, drawing, sewing… it was so fun to come up with ideas for as many as possible!   Fair day would be the icing on the cake!  I’d run around all the tables, hoping to spy red, blue, or white ribbons attached to my projects.  I was elated to see the reward for my work – and the money that came with it didn’t hurt either!  It was so sad when the fair stopped running, and maybe part of me is grasping for the joy of it all again.

In the past 13 years, the majority of my time has been tending to the needs of my little boys.  However, now that they are at a more independent age, I find myself with larger pockets of time to do something other than cooking or cleaning.   A long time at a loss for what to fill those larger pockets with, I finally decided to reclaim the joy of creativity.  This time it didn’t start with a list from the local fair, it started with my Challenge Bucket and this website right here!

Thanks for being here,

Kara