Okay. So - with an unpaid maternity leave this year - we will be a little tighter at Christmas than we normally are. I’ve been trying to search for some awesome gift ideas that we can make ourselves, me and the kids. I’ve found several good ideas but I thought I’d ask you all if you’ve ever done similar projects. You have to keep in mind the most major restriction I have regarding crafts: I SUCK AT CRAFTS.

There are a few things I’m good with - so I’ll share those with you so you can maybe share ideas with me that will play on my strengths.

Things I Can Do That Might Be Useful When Making Gifts

• Photograph my kids. This would be the best talent to exploit because everyone loves pictures of their grandkids, great-grandkids, nieces or nephews.
• Use a glue stick. SERIOUSLY. I have some mad glue stick talent. Those of you who received my hand-made birth announcements can vouch for how awesomely I wield a glue stick.
• Stamp. I am a natural stamper. Now, stamps are a little pricey, so keep the project ideas minimal in terms of different stamps to use. But I can stamp often! Seriously! I’ve been known to stamp for hours in one sitting! THAT’S A SKILL.
• Typography on the computer. I’m not a graphic artist by any means. BUT - I can make some cool letters in Adobe Photoshop. Like…I can take your name and make it pretty! And then print it up on my crappy printer! That’s useful, right?
• String beads. I even have quite a bit of beads to choose from in a box I’ve been collecting broken jewelry in for years. Now - I’m not that great of picking proper beads or designing a look - but just putting them on a string? I can do that.
• Eat donuts.
• Drink diet coke.

I’m not sure how the last two will come into play, but if you any of your ideas allow me to drink my Diet Coke and eat donuts AT THE SAME TIME? It will mean bonus points.

And if you have any other ideas that you think I could pull off even though I’m lame with the crafts…feel free to share them. I’m always up for discovering hidden talents. Especially if they require the periodic trip to Hobby Lobby. I LOVE HOBBY LOBBY.

Oooh. I should have added that as a talent, right? Loving Hobby Lobby? That’s gotta count for something.

Examples of my recent foray into crafts. Glue and Buttons. I’m mad talented, aren’t I?

Thank you so much for your input here. I’m going to write more about this tomorrow after I ponder a lot of the wise things you all said. You always amaze me to be so spot on in so many ways. I already feel better about it.

To get NikkiZ to tolerate the idea of going to school all day instead of being home with me, I started out promising her that we’d do fun things after school. Art projects, trips to Target, cookies etc. This served two purposes: 1) Give her something to look forward to after school and 2) Force me to do something other than come home and do housework after cooking dinner. She has gotten so used to the idea, that when she wakes up in the morning she now says, “I want to do some-sing sun aster school!” (We don’t do the “f” sound or the “-th” sound yet.)

I promised her a trip to the park today, but we couldn’t do that until after dinner. So, while dinner was cooking, we did art on the driveway! I took the idea from my mother-in-law and we traced NikkiZ on some easel paper and then helped her color the outline in.

The masterpiece is now hanging in her bedroom and it turned out to be a project that she really got into. It also took almost no effort from me, which is my favorite kind of project. If it had somehow involved beer and donuts, I would have considered it the perfect post-school activity.

I’ve mentioned before that the only remotely crafty thing I do is make cards. They’re not always perfect and sometimes they’re lame, but it’s what I do. Especially Thank You cards - I really try to hand-make those since I think it makes for a very sincere Thank You. I’ve just recently, attempted to get NikkiZ to make her own cards. It’s turned out to be quite an effective task. Stamps are easy for her to manage and she can even decorate them with stickers. I’ll usually give her a “Thank You” stamp to put somewhere on front and I’ll sign her name inside.

My only issue is, I haven’t really found any washable ink pads. Does anyone have any suggestions? It’s a great task but it would be much better if she didn’t have to walk around with the word “Thanks!” on her arms and legs for three days afterwards.

Of course - if I gave her a bath once in awhile - maybe that wouldn’t happen. Motherhood is tough.

Yes. Pregnant and Unemployed is pausing for station identification. There’s been some issues with Wordpress and a patch I didn’t do in time and until I dig in and find all the corruption (won’t take long, just not high enough priority) it will not be updated. When it does get fixed, I’m also in the process of rethinking the URL since so many of you have insisted I should not refer to myself as “Unemployed” but “Freelancing.” And you have a point. And I hope not to be pregnant forever. AND - If I’m going to make a change it’s better now than after I have 6 months worth of content. SO - while the site idea is still there - this incarnation needs some repair.

UNTIL THEN…you will have to suffer through my Stay-At-Home Mom posts here. I’m sorry for those of you who find this boring. For those of you who find it awesome, well, it’s my gift for you!

We’ve handmade Valentine’s Day cards this year. This is a new hobby of mine that I picked up soon after NikkiZ was born after another blogger sent me the most gorgeous Christmas Card ever. I still display it, I love it so much. I made her send me detailed instructions about beginning the hobby and two years later, mine still don’t look as good as hers.

BUT - now that I’m unemployed freelancing, I’m determined to work on the skills more. I made the basic cards and NikkiZ colored in all of them. I tried my best to use photos in every one of them. I wanted them to all be like the one on the right, with the heart-shaped framing, but I’m either inept or that’s REALLY HARD. I kept cutting out the wrong size hearts and covering up heads or eyes. So - I did several like the one on the left. It required less cursing.

I can not believe I just wrote a post about a craft I did. I mean - it’s no flawless quilt, but it’s impressive by my own standards!