Growing up, one of my favorite hobbies was building model cars. You know, those ones in the little cardboard box with the plastic pieces that you had to twist out, carefully sand down the remaining plastic that had attached it to the frame and then painstakingly paint and glue together and hope that it all fits at the end. And pray that you never missed a piece or worse: lost to the depths of the carpet. I loved these as it was something creative that I could do especially during the frigid Alaskan winters. I couldn’t draw or paint anything other than stick figures to save my life. I could crochet a little bit and cross stitch here and there and I adored jigsaw puzzles but I really enjoyed building these little cars. My grandmother indulged my interest whenever she could. I had a collection of them at one point that was close to 10 or 15 that I had put together over the years.
When I moved out on my own, I slowed down on this hobby. As it turns out, being a college student on a budget came with sacrifices and there were far more other activities that I enjoyed as well now that I had gained the freedom of adult-hood. My hobby slowed to a complete stop but I always eyed these cars whenever I saw them in the stores. I would pick one up here and there when I had some spare change but I never really went back to them. On top of my budget constraints, I also felt the stigma of being a grown woman, just beginning her adventure in adult-hood, interested in building model cars. I had a hard enough time fitting in with my peers that I felt the need to keep my hobbies a secret. To this day, I don’t think most of my friends knew that I had spent countless hours building model cars growing up.
Fast forward a handful of years and I slowly started getting back into my childhood obsessions. I started working on puzzles as, in my mind, while this was definitely a nerdy activity, I felt it was a safe one to re-explore. I slowly started to collect puzzles that I enjoyed and started to spend my free-time away from school and work completing puzzle after puzzle. Later I also reignited my love for crochet and thanks to Pinterest, my crafting horizons expanded by the day. I was constantly seeing inspiration for new and exciting projects I could start.
And then one day: I discovered a new passion: Miniature Houses or Models. My daughter had become enthralled with ANYTHING miniature for a while and I had always brushed it off as a silly phase that would pass in time. But, as I was scrolling through Pinterest one day, I came across an ad for something that I had never seen before and had instantly hooked all of my attention: it was a bookshelf nook that looked like a miniature bookstore. It was meant to sit on your bookshelf and intrigue your mind with wonder and… it worked. This new magic seemed to mesh all of my favorite things together as it resembled a sort of 3D puzzle to my brain. Within minutes, I was browsing Amazon for these same types of kits and found that they came in all shapes, sizes, themes, you name it. That weekend, I was at Hobby Lobby and found a small one that I would consider a beginner kit on sale and brought it home with me.
It took my daughter and I a while to work our way through it. We learned a lot of techniques and tricks to handling such small pieces and enjoyed the process so much that we kept browsing for more. Currently I have close to 10 miniatures that are waiting to be built and at least 10 more in my wish list on Amazon. And that doesn’t include the other ones that Hobby Lobby has. I envision a day when they will all be completed and I will have them set up as a village that can be decorated for the seasons.
Join me while I craft my way thru these kits. I’ll be live streaming my crafting time on YouTube, progress photos on Instagram and blogging about my progress, successes and failures here so don’t forget to subscribe and follow for future updates.
Also, leave me a comment with how did your crafting hobby start?