Crafty Childhood Memories

The Etsybloggers posed this question for the current Blog Carnival: "What Is Something You Did When A Child That You Will Always Remember?" Well, there are lots of things that I remember from childhood - like family vacations to the beach, the local roller rink, walking my dog around the block over and over and over again because I wasn't allowed to cross the street yet.... But, I figured I would keep this loosely related to the general theme of my blog, which is making things. So, here it is....

Every year, as soon as school let out and summer began, my mother would take my sister and I to the closest craft store which happened to be the Rag Shop in Bergenfield (may you rest in peace) where we would stock up on craft supplies for the summer. Then we would haul them all to the town pool every day where we would sit with our friends and craft during the adult swims or on days when we just didn't feel like swimming (I know, I know, hard to believe, but sometimes we did get tired of swimming all day long every day for three months). Each summer it was something different and as we got older our crafts got more and more sophisticated and sometimes, the craft of the summer would be picked up during the following school year once homework was completed.

Here I will list for you the evolution of Made By Melissa - it all started with embroidery floss friendship bracelets. First they were just braids, then I learned how to knot them and I got some pretty fancy bracelets. Then we ran out of room on our wrists and they became anklets and keychains. Even my dad had an anklet!!

A couple of summers later I discovered beads!! I mostly made bracelets and anklets and soon I learned how to weave seed beads into flowers. Too bad I forgot how, I must try to jog the old memory!



Then we picked up crocheting! Now, sitting in the sun under an umbrella by the side of the pool crocheting blankets wasn't exactly the smartest thing in the world. So, my friend's mom taught us how to make granny squares. What a fabulous invention!!



And there you have it!

Happy Crafting!!
~Melissa~