Apologies, the whole in & out of lockdown, kids in & out of school, myself in & out of shielding and in & out of working in-store completely scrambled me last year!
I won't mention my body art business much, as after 15 years of that being my main income, my tax return proved that I could hardly have paid a months' groceries from it last year. Most clients for my crafty stuff/ stencils lost their jobs, events I create decor for are cancelled indefinitely, etc. I've only painted my youngest (and myself), mainly for a bunch of educational videos for his school or the body art/ makeup industry all year. But we are well (so far) and warm & fed!
(I did a blog on my bodypaint site about painting my youngest, here).
We have had chaos this year so far, as first my year old MacBook died, then my eldest's new laptop (for schooling online), and then my phone all had to be fixed/ replaced which took weeks of swapping hubby's phone and the iPad I had just invested in (allegedly for designing new stencils etc.) between the boys, trying to get schooling done. At least my phone & MacBook are now back! Ho hum.
I seem to have finally got a bit of order back as well, and am now managing to craft a bit again. This involves me staying up way too late designing on Cricut Design Space (well, it helps having something to do when I can't sleep as much as I used to anyway) to have a project ready for the morning.
I then hopefully am able to set the iPad to cut a project in the background as I homeschool my 5 year old, and run up and down the stairs every 20 minutes, to check my eldest is actually logged in to his school and not just gaming with friends.
Then if the youngest is distracted by Daddy after tea, I can usually assemble something or zoom teach for an hour a few times a week, and edit pics etc late at night again.
I have to say this has really been a huge help for me, and improves my mood massively. I was definitely feeling the pressure, it's been like Groundhog Day the last months. Hubby is OK as he chats nonstop with other adults on his programming team all day, but my conversations is repeatedly arguing with the kids about schoolwork, meals, staying away from daddy as he works, and tidying mess!
So do try and make something, anything, arty, crafty, to relax and create a bit of happiness for yourself. And like me, start to use up the massive craft stash for once, to fill you house with colourful madness.
