I just love to make stuff.  There’s something hugely satisfying about making pretty things.  Made with fabric.  Made with paper.  Made with scissors, zippers, batting, glue and grommets.

Most of the things I make I just can’t bear to give away.  How pitiful is that?  But I love them so much after I make them.  I feel like all my crafties are my children.  I know their story, from conception to completion.  How could I give away my children?  I mean, there have been a few times when I contemplated giving away my actual children, and no court in the land would convict me.  But I digress.

I now find myself making things that I actually WANT to give to someone.  What has come over me?  It’s like I went to sleep one night and had three ghostly visitors or something.  Maybe Clarence the angel came for a visit and did a George Bailey on me.  But I doubt it.  I wish I could believe that it was totally selfless.

Instead I think it’s a new evolution in my craftiness.  I’ve begun to look around outside my usual interests, especially in the sewing world.  There are some amazingly talented and creative people out there opening my eyes.  I mean, the last time I considered sewing any kind of a purse was in junior high. Lop off the legs of an old pair of jeans, cut some straps out of the legs, add some lining, and voila! A (now heinous) groovy ’70s purse.  The memory alone makes me shudder.  Too bad I didn’t keep my patchwork maxi skirt.

Now these brilliant designers are writing patterns so we can make things that are covetable.  Like the Necessary Clutch Wallet from Emmaline Bags.

Aside from the fact that I am madly in love with my pineapple fabric, this wallet is amazing!

I mean, it’s got tons of card pockets, a zipper compartment, phone and lipstick will fit in it too!  And heaven knows my momma taught me well, I never leave the house without my lipstick.  Shout out to Janelle MacKay, she IS Emmaline Bags.

Where was I before I felt compelled to show off?  Oh yeah, selfish crafting.  This was such a fun, one afternoon project.  I showed it to my visiting sisinlaw.  She loved it.  So I made her one.

And I made a simpler wallet for my Girly.  (This one is called the Have It All Wallet, by Straight Stitch Society.)  She loved it.  So I made more.  For one niece, another sisinlaw, another niece.

And you know what?  I’m actually digging giving these away.  One factor has got to be that they are fast and easy to make.  Maybe I don’t have time to fall in love with them.  I’ve decided they are not my children, not at all.  They are like somebody else’s children.  The ones that are cute and I want to play with them.  And at the end of the day, I want them to go home to their own mommies.  After I have basked in their adorableness, spoiled them with cookies and caffeinated and carbonated beverages.  Now go home, you little bastards, and keep your own mommies up all night.

There’s something about these small, colorful projects that makes me want to spread them around.  Could this be the type of project that brings me around, around from being a selfish crafter, to being a generous one?

Naw.

Stay crafty, my friends.