Having spent many years in the newspaper industry in a small town, I guess you could say I picked up a fair bit about design. Mostly newspaper stuff of course, but definitely some transferable skills in the area of graphic design.

 

As a child, I wouldn't say I was overly confident. Children want to be good at something. Some kids are good at everything. But each kid wants to be good at one thing. And being good at something leads to confidence. Not too much, just enough. Having confidence leads the way to trying new things.

There were some things I was good at. I'd say I could hold my own in art class. But my forte, the creme de la creme for me, was storytelling. I could spin a yarn like nobody's business. And make people laugh? Now you're talking. That was my strength. At least I thought it was. And that's all that mattered. I knew I was going to be alright, because there were some things I could do well. I was confident in that. And whenever I was off a bit, I knew that I could always return to those things to get back on track.

Fast forward a few years, and now my kids are in school. Recently our youngest daughter developed some challenges, some fears, that made it extremely difficult to go to school. It was exhausting to do just about anything. Almost paralyzing.

As we worked through the next several months, I began to notice what areas we made progress in and where our setbacks would be. Her favorite subject was art - anything from play clay to painting, to drawing and scrapbooking and basically any type of paper crafts.

We would spend time on the computer, reading online, and what have you. Looking at kids sites, something to pass the time, and hopefully catch her interest. Then it was Christmas time.

Fooling around a bit making some gifts tags on the computer and some crafts, and boom, I knew we were on to something. It seemed as though if I was able to create something and take it to a certain level, print it out, she could take it from there on her own. Like doing a craft half way, and she was able to finish it and put her own style on it. Being able to start with something good - great colors, playful design - and then print, cut, glue, bedazzle, you name it. It made it that much easier.

I began to see the value in growing a kid's confidence, where there once was, and now could be again. We sort of stumbled on it really. I remember clearly the little victories at the beginning, and how powerful they were. One day she said with a smile, "look at this, look at me, I can do it, I did it, like magic, I'm magic. Magical Me."

Now we're making some of these crafts available to other kids. And of course, designing some new ones as we go along. We hope you like them as much as we do!

 

Enjoy!