How do you stock your arts and crafts cupboard.

So…How do you stock your arts and crafts cupboard..!? or do you actually have one?

As a Mum of one it’s a question I’m asked a lot.  So I decided this would be the perfect time to post a small ‘guide’ to the 15 essential items you should have to hand in your craft supply cupboard to keep the kids (or you) crafting any time of day or night.

If you’ve never considered it was necessary to set up an arts and crafts cupboard I urge you to think again. It is actually  an intimidating and daunting task. 

What supplies do you need? Where is the cheapest place to find those supplies (it’s and expensive business if you don’t go prepared you get sucked in to that impulse buy) and really how much stuff do you really need to carry out the easiest of craft projects?

 Being well-stocked with art supplies in my opinion is essential and has saved me from a few embarrassing situations on more than one occasion. 

 For example when you’ve forgotten to get a birthday card for a party the next day or like me for Valentine’s Day this year I FORGOT!! to get my daughter a rose and ended up making one from construction paper, pipe cleaners and tissue paper at 1am the night before.  Thank goodness for Martha Stewarts idea board.

So in a nutshell being prepared makes it a thousand times easier to get crafty with you kids and to help you in your quest I came up with a list of 'THE' 15 essential art supplies you will need to keep your cupboard so you are ready for pretty much any idea your budding artists come up with.

Introduction to my blog Kids can be crafty …but parents have to be craftier!

 Introduction to my blog Kids can be crafty …but parents have to be craftier!

It’s funny, I just wanted to get myself some respite on a very wet Sunday afternoon from my 5 year old yelling …. “Mum I’m sooooo BORED what can we do today!!??”  It had been said that much already it was now stuck in my head going round and round like a broken record.

 

Until… light bulb moment!! “CRAFTS” I yell back.

 

 

Hmmm I know…It seemed like a great idea at the time.  I mean really! How hard could it be?!  Oh boy I just didn’t have a clue. Not one little clue as to the can of worms I had just opened

Suddenly I’m on the spot as my five year old jumps up and down excitedly saying "Ooooh great what are we going to make Mum?” and wham with those 6 little words the panic!!! set in. 

Oh God!! That's a good question. Never saw that one coming (I’m convinced I’m still suffering from Baby Brain) why didn’t I think of that? Help what do I do now? Where do I turn?  What can we make? What do I need? A thousand questions all at once and no solution to a very immediate problem.  How to please a five year old with crafts?

So I learned a very valuable lesson that day. Be prepared, and if you can’t be prepared, let someone else do it for you!  and that Ladies and Gentelman is what my blog is all about. It will take the S out of that stress by teaching parents how to become craftier than their kids.

I hope you enjoy it. I’m sure it will bring a lot of fun and laughter and not to mention a hughe amount of mess to your home.

Linda  ( or should I say …MUUUUMMMMM!!)

P.S:

My Thought for today:

Being a parent is the hardest job I have ever done (and I’ve had a few) and the most rewarding. There is no job description or instruction manual on the right way to do things.  It is really just about being creative in a digital age while being fuelled by regular top-ups of coffee. So go on go out there and grab life by the obstacles and try something new.  It helps keep us sane in all this rain.