Twiggie Makes by Candace Grahl

One of the things I am immensely thankful for in my life is the abundance of women that are in it. And not just women, but wives, mothers, close-as-sisters type relationships. This has only been something recent for me in the last five years of my life, but man is it nice! A little part of my heart always aches when I hear of women who are lacking in their female relationships.

On another note, a few months ago I felt the Lord calling me to live more simply. I did another house-purge, got rid of anything I didn’t need, didn’t want, didn’t want to hang on to, and began to look at other aspects of my life that needed simplifying. One place that I realized I was being so stingy with was my studio. I mean, you guys, I have a bonkers amount of crafts. And that’s just my studio, not counting what is in our attic. I can justify it with the thoughts of this is who I am, creating is such a big part of “me” that it make sense that my craft space reflect that, right? But when I stepped back and really took a hard look at everything I had I decided that the time had come. I was going to put my studio on a diet.

One of her trouble-spots? Paper crafts. The paper, oh the paper. The smooth, the patterned, the shimmery, the coordinating bundles of papery goodness. But not just the paper but everything that can be lumped in with the paper-crafting category: stamps, inks, embossing powders, ribbons, brads, fabric flowers, etc. etc. So I sent out an email to a few of my girlfriends who had expressed an interest in paper-crafting and told them to come over & let’s make some cards!

I totally nerded-out too. I precut lots of paper so all they had to do was assemble. Each person got their own little package of perfectly cut, scored and measured cardstock and embellishments. I will be honest that while I can share just about anything with these women (and I mean anything), the thought of leading them in the ways of the card-making made me nervous! Mainly because I wanted them to love it as much as I do. And at the end of the night when they asked to do it again, I think that spoke for it self: it was a success!

All the pretty ladies, working away.

More nerding-out with the party favors.

We had so much fun and I can’t wait to do it again. I’m already planning next months project-list and will start prepping as soon as it’s all finalized. I love my kids and I love being a stay-at-home-wife and mom but man alive is it good to have a hobby and one you can share with your girls!

*If you’re local and interested in joining me for a workshop, please email me at candacegrahl@gmail.com or leave a comment here