Crafting with my youngest son, and showing off the talent of my oldest son.

He's 13 and he made this!

When I was a child, crafting was my most favorite activity and I recall fondly many projects I did with my grandmother. I remember one time when she looked outside all day for the perfect size sticks and had my grandpa cut them to size, then we made a log cabin with hot glue. She taught me how to sew and how to crochet. We did pastel paintings and oil paintings. She always made sure I had enough art supplies and paper for drawing and painting. She also made sure I learned to read by the time I was 4 by reading to me every night. She is the model for mother for me as she raised me. She was the only person who was actively trying to nurture me and I love her dearly for that.

So when I saw

Ellen Estes

substack about making art with our children, I had to subscribe. One of her latest post “What Happened to My Boring Summer” I immediately felt inspired to craft with my youngest.

I went around the house and pulled out a few random things and let it flow. I have been struggling with just getting him to draw lately, so we did a little of that on the promise we would glue things to the paper plates we drew on. We kind of swapped plates a couple times so it was a collaborative work the entire time.

It is so fun stringing beads. And gluing sequins.

He chose the Halloween ones because his older siblings both like putting together their own Halloween costumes and they’ve already started this year.

Which brings me to sharing something I’m very proud of. I have always encouraged my children to do their own crafting and to do it often. My oldest son has really taken this to the next level. He loves Five Nights at Freddy’s, so he has been making his own cosplay costumes for years. I have made it a secret promise to my children to always buy them whatever crafting supplies they need (as long as they do their chores) because I truly believe in the power of investing in their creativity. He is thirteen and I am just so proud of his talents. Here is his mask he made for this Halloween.

He doesn’t think he’s that good because he compares himself to the youtubers he gets the ideas from, but I think it’s amazing. I am just so proud of him for never giving up on his dreams. I just know one day he will go far. I think it would make his day if some of y’all commented on this and told him how good he is. I told him I would share this one, but I’m actually just now starting to see how this might be really great for his self esteem. Maybe if more than just his mom sees his talent, he will glow a little brighter and keep at it more encouraged.