How Creativity Entered My Life

I'm not really sure how to start off answering this prompt but here goes.....

      When I was a little girl, my mom and grandmother were always sewing something for me or my brother. Mama smocked things for us as well. I can remember some of the things we had to wear. At the time, I guess I really didn't appreciate all the hard work that went into making clothes, but now that I look back on it and have undertaken several sewing projects, I have come to appreciate all that they did. My mom got into actually painting images onto overlays for my dresses (Christmas, Cinderella, etc.). Everything was so intricate. I have also gotten into painting but not overlays--I paint signs, rocks----yes, you heard me.....rocks. I pick up a rock  from every city I've been to and paint some of the landmarks on it. I'll have to include a picture later :). My great-grandmother painted china, so I guess I sort of have a genetic predisposition to it.

      Scrapbooking and cardmaking are both things that no one in my family has ever done--that I know of. I think that I started scrapbooking as a way to express myself during a difficult time in my life. Throughout high school, I struggled with an eating disorder, and scrapbooking gave me comfort. I was able to think about who I was and what I wanted for myself, not what I thought everyone wanted me to do. Today, I no longer struggle with an eating disorder, and I enjoy scrapbooking and cardmaking for expression and to add a little piece of me to what I am creating.

      I have always received encouragement from my family no matter what type of craft I chose to do---even when I was little. I have become my own person, expressing myself (in appropriate ways) without worrying what someone is going to think about me. Creating has helped me come this far, and I know that it will continue to enrich my life in the years to come.