Since writing that goal here, I’ve somehow found the courage to do something I’ve always wanted to do, but been afraid. I’ve signed up for a beginner watercolor painting class for adults!

We met for the first time last week, and I had so much fun. It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut and stop interviewing the teacher and other students! They’re people like me, stepping out to try something new, something scary. Yet even our teacher admitted that she began painting in her adult years, as a way to work through a period of grief in her life.

I remember many years ago, my mom came to visit me while I was teaching in Japan, and we spent a wonderful day hiking on the island of Miyajima, off the coast of Hiroshima. It was a gorgeous April day, and the pink cherry blossoms were in full bloom, looking like puffs of cotton candy dotted throughout the island. As we sat down on a bench near a temple, we noticed a lady dabbing watercolors onto small, postcard-size art paper.

When we remarked on the beauty of her paintings, she smiled and said, “I give them to you.” And she did! She gave us several of her lovely scenes, which I’ve always treasured. The red of the temple, pink of the cherry blossoms, and blue of the sea are now forever etched in my memory.

Lately, I’ve been overwhelmed by the beauty of white church steeples set against the pine trees and sunsets. Our yellow jonquils are blooming like mad all over our front yard. Yesterday, I was driving my kids to school and I almost had to pull off the road when I saw several rows of yellow jonquils set against the backdrop of a bright red barn. The scene was so gorgeous I could hardly breathe!

I’m not really sure what I hope to accomplish in taking this painting class. (Mainly, it’s just an opportunity to give myself a break from housework!) Yet, already I’m finding myself more aware of color, of details and shadows. Maybe this will someday work its way into my writing.

An artist looks for a story to paint with color; a writer looks for a story to paint with words.

I recently reviewed Tasra’s book for Christian Women Online and loved it. It’s one of the most INSPIRING books I’ve read all year. You cannot read her book without feeling rejunvenated!

Tasra Dawson is a mother of two who loves showing women how to use key elements in scrapbooking to create the lives and layouts they’ve always wanted. She’s also the founder of Real Women Scrap TV. An avid reader, runner, and scrapbooker, Tasra lives with her husband and two children in northern California.

Hi Tasra. We’re thrilled to have you share your insights with us here at Mom 2 Mom! Why do you think scrapbooking is a good activity for moms to get involved in?

Scrapbooking is so much more than pasting photos on paper and adding a few stickers to dress it up. It’s more than being crafty; it’s about tapping into our creativity … creativity that is often dormant and undiscovered in many women, wives, and moms.

Too often we spend our days on the mundane tasks of living, the ordinary, rather than the extraordinary. Scrapbooking opens up the door to taking the plain and making it something to talk about and remember.

In a recent blog post, I answered this question with three specific reasons. Here they are:

1. Preserving Memories: I don’t know about you, but my memory isn’t what it used to be. If I’ve scrapbooked the photos and memories, I can go back and relive the moments.

2. Creative Outlet: Having a creative outlet is a source of retreat for many busy moms. They can relax, yet feel productive and have a sense of accomplishment with the pages they complete.

3. Building Relationships: Scrapbooking allows us to reconnect with family members and show them how much we love them. After a tough day with our kids, sometimes scrapbooking is the one thing that reminds us of why we choose to go to work or stay at home. It can boost self-esteem, and they can read and look at their book and realize that things aren’t so bad.

Do you have any suggestions of easy ways for moms to get back into scrapbooking if we’re … um … say, a few years behind?

Of course I do. The first thing you need to do is watch the Real Women Scrap TV episode about organizing your photos. Getting those photos organized is the first step and doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

The Real Women Scrap TV episode walks you through the process and recommends the best and easiest products to use to make it happen. You can view it online for free here.

Once you have your photos organized, you can breathe a sigh of relief and start with a simple project. Maybe it’s a small album or an ABC book that will help you get started and back in the creative groove.

The key is to enjoy the process and the product, and not allow this to be one more area that guilt takes over and robs you of the joy that scrapbooking is meant to be.

What are the long-term benefits of preserving our family’s memories through scrapboooking?

So much of motherhood involves things that are recurring: laundry, dishes, wiping noses, changing diapers. Scrapbooking and finishing a layout or scrapbook provides a sense of accomplishment because it’s something we can finish and know that we are leaving a legacy for future generations.

Most women are overcommitted and overwhelmed. We’ll never “find” time to do things that are important to us; we have to make choices about living intentionally and planning our lives so that we can do the things that fill us up in order to continue giving to those we love.

Do you know any mothers who scrapbook with their children? How do they help make this happen?

Keep it simple.

I think it’s important for mother and child to each have their own projects and let their own creative energy go to work. One thing I find is that I have to let my daughter be who she is and that means letting the paper be a little crooked or the pages be a little too busy for my taste.

But the point of scrapbooking is that it’s your personal mark or unique fingerprint on an event or person. So, my suggestion for moms is to create the space, time, and opportunity and then create together but separately.

How can we apply the techniques we learn in scrapbooking toward creating a richer, more fuller life? Can you tell us some of your personal story of what led you into writing your book?

There is an uncanny connection between scrapbooking and life, and it surprised me when I discovered it. I never would have recognized the similarity unless I had finally slowed down long enough to hear God’s whispers from the scrapbook page.

The first chapter of Real Women Scrap talks about how my life had spiraled out of control and I finally ended up in the hospital with doctor’s orders to rest for two weeks. It was during that two weeks that I let myself relax and get creative again.

Those moments of rest and silence taught me about boundaries, simplicity, focus, and comparison. As I looked more closely at my scrapbook pages and projects, I realized that the answers had been before me the entire time; I just hadn’t seen them. Each chapter in my book is a different life lesson that we can all learn from the page.

What kinds of things do you have going on over at your blog?

This month is National Photo Month, so I’m going to continue giving tips and ideas for how to improve, organize, and embellish our photos.

I’ll even be talking about the importance of keeping yourself in the picture. We’ve always got contests, challenges, tips, ideas, and inspiration, not to mention the weekly episodes of Real Women Scrap TV.

It’s fun, practical, and full of great resources. We’d love to have you join us!

Thank you so much for stopping in here, Tasra! I’m inspired to start organizing my photos and working on some simple scrapbooks this summer. You’re an encouragement to us all!

You can learn more about Tasra Dawson’s scrapbooking enthusiasm at her website, Real Women Scrap, as well as her blog, Lessons from the Scrapbook Page.

Well, I’ve gotten behind on all things bloggy, so I missed reading about Shannon’s Works-for-Me-Wednesday Birthday Edition, which was … um … last Wednesday. But since she still has her Mr. Linky up, I’ll send my tip in late.

With five children, we host a LOT of birthday parties around here. I really love entertaining kids, yet I’m not a Martha Stewart, and we don’t have a big budget for these things. What I enjoy most is getting to know the mothers of my kids’ friends. And a birthday party is an easy excuse to get people together.

The best kind of party for me is a laid-back affair where the kids run around and play outside and the parents sit around talking. I’ve discovered the easiest time to host a birthday party — for our family, at least — is on a weekday.

When my oldest children were toddlers, I usually liked a weekday party from 11 to 1. Since all of my close friends at the time were fellow SAHMs, it was pretty much like a play group, except I provided PB&J sandwiches and cake. The moms talked, the kids played. Then everybody went home and took naps. Easy.

As my kids have gotten older, we’ve opted for the 4 to 5:30 pm time slot, preferably on a Friday. That way, some of the moms who work can still attend if they can get off early. Moms with school-age kids can pick up their kids at school, swing by Wal-Mart and stuff something into a gift bag (don’t you do that?), then come over.

The reason why I like weekday parties is that there’s so much more hype and expense involved with big weekend bashes. This also leads to more stress for me — because I feel like people expect more on the weekend. Plus, I’m interrupting their Saturday afternoon plans.

Some years, I haven’t felt like hosting at my house, so we’ve had them at parks with a playground. Most of the parks have a covered pavilion, in case of rain.

For my son who has a July birthday, we’ve done a few evening cookouts, when the sun has gone down a bit. I guess our favorite one so far was a pirate party, where my husband led the kids down to the creek to search for “hidden treasure.” (We hid a cooler full of party favors and let them “follow the map” to find it.)

Yesterday, we worked on making invitations for my daughter’s 7th birthday. She asked if she could invite her whole first grade class over, including her teacher. OK. She only has 13 in her class, so I can handle this. We were going to do a tea party, but since the boys are coming too, we’ll just do a “backyard fun” party. Swingset, sandbox, frisbees, nerf footballs … maybe I’ll invest in some bubbles. And that’s it.

I really love birthday parties. Some parents have the budgets to go all out and invite entertainment and do the whole nine yards, but we keep things simple. I also prefer to invite the whole family; that way I get to know the siblings, and I can see who has kids the same age as mine. (Older siblings are great help for organizing games!)

There is really only a small window of time when your kids will want to do these kinds of parties. I remember growing up, that as I got older, I wanted to invite only a couple of friends and maybe go out to eat instead of having a party.

When we homeschooled, we often squeezed in a lunchtime birthday party, then the moms could go back home and finish the schoolday. Now I try to work around traditional school hours.

My kids get so excited about making the invitations and stuffing goody bags (though at times, we’ve just handed out bubbles or balls for party favors). This summer, we’re hoping it will work out to host a rocket-themed party, and we’ll let the kids make rockets and shoot them off in our backyard.

I’ve also learned it’s best to go ahead and buy thank-you notes along with the invitations — and get them done AS SOON AS POSSIBLE after the party. I confess, some years are just crazier than others, and we haven’t always gotten thank-you notes written, but we do try.

This works for us!

Honestly, I don’t like it at all. There are so many people in the world who would love to read a book — and seeing people cut up books as “art” bothers me.

Plus — what do you DO with these weird papery creations? They’ll just gather dust. I know what FlyLady would say!

What do you think? I’m curious — do these people cut up books as a hobby, or is this a job? Who has time to do things like this? I’d rather read a book than cut one up as art — but that’s just me.

So I’ve discovered a “knitting mentor,” Jennifer Keene! She is so talented and full of ideas — and she manages to find time to work on her knitting projects while being a mom of two boys. Jennifer has a home-based business called The Knitting Queen2, where you can see all the wonderful items she has for sale online.

Aren’t these little rabbit booties adorable?

Hi, Jennifer. How did you get interested in knitting?

I’m not really sure! It started about 12 years ago. I had been working in a job I really didn’t like and decided to quit and take a little time off before finding another one. I told my husband that one of the things I really wanted to do during my break was learn to knit.

It was just a whim. I found a cute little knitting shop nearby and took a class — it was a series of four evenings. By the end of the first evening I was hooked.

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with my new “talent” (I have a couple of very ugly sweaters to show for that!) and I really found my passion when I was pregnant with my first son, about seven years ago. I started making baby hats for him and for my best friend’s son.

Baby hats are adorable and make such great gifts! Is it hard for beginners to pick up knitting?

I don’t think so. It’s pretty straight forward. Knitting is made up of two stitches — knit and purl. There are many variations on this, but it all boils down to these two stitches.

Knitting patterns can look pretty daunting — they’re often written in paragraph form and use a lot of abbreviations. For a beginner, I think it can look overwhelming. But it’s really not. If you have the right person teach you in the beginning, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to pick up.

What’s the best way for beginners to get started?

I think taking a class is the best thing. All knitting stores have classes for the beginner, taught by people who love to knit. People who work in knitting stores are there because they love it so much and they get great joy in seeing someone else “see the light.”

I wouldn’t recommend trying to teach yourself to knit using a book. That being said, I also think a beginner can learn a LOT about knitting in just a few sessions. For an investment of just a few evenings or Saturday afternoons, the beginning knitter will walk away with a ton of basic knowledge.

Do you have any favorite books you’d recommend?

Two books that I bought early on have been invaluable to me. One is Vogue Knitting. It has excellent pictures and drawings and you can look up almost anything.

The other is The Knitter’s Companion by Vicki Square. This is a small spiral-bound book that fits easily into your knitting bag. Again, great descriptions and covers a lot of basics. When I was first learning to knit, The Knitter’s Companion was my bible.

A spiral-bound book sounds handy so you can leave the page open while you’re working.

Yes — and keep in mind that most knitting stores welcome the chance to help you if you need to pop in for a quick question. If the help you need is extensive, they may ask you to schedule a time and charge a nominal tutoring fee. But if there is a step in your pattern that you just can’t get, ask the experts at the store to show you. That’s what I do!

You make this sound do-able! What was your first knitting project?

My first project was from the class I took. It was a sweater. I chose very thick yarn, in a color I don’t particularly care for, and it ended up being something I knew I would NEVER wear (no one ever needs sweaters that thick in Seattle).

Somehow, my mom ended up with it and I saw her wearing it once. I was horrified!

What project would you recommend for a first-time knitter?

A sweater is actually not a bad first project — if you choose a fairly simple pattern. A sweater teaches you many skills a knitter needs to know — increases, decreases, binding off, picking up stitches, and finishing (sewing your pieces together).

I wouldn’t recommend a sweater, however, if you’re on a deadline. Even for an experienced knitter, a sweater is not a task to be taken lightly.

Scarves are obviously a good choice — that can be about as basic as you can get. Also, many hat patterns are quite easy and you can finish up a hat pretty quickly.

I love to knit socks. They are a great portable project, there are gorgeous sock yarns out there, it’s fairly inexpensive, and you’re guaranteed to wear them.

Why do you think knitting has become so popular lately?

Honestly, I don’t know. I do think the books and patterns that are available now are WONDERFUL, compared to what they were ten years ago. Designers are coming up with much more wearable, usable items and I think that intrigues people.

Also, writers like Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (The Yarn Harlot, Knitting Rules) are writing bestsellers about knitting. Her books are hilarious, very true to life, and I found myself loving knitting even more after reading her books.

It’s kind of a chicken-and-egg thing, though. Did people finally start seeing how fun knitting can be after seeing the great yarns and patterns, or are the new yarns and patterns the result of knitting’s rise in popularity?

For me, it is a relaxing hobby that I can do around my family. I really love to read as well, but reading is very anti-social. I can knit and talk to my kids or my husband at the same time. Many projects are easily portable and it’s a great way to kill time.

How do you find time to knit?

I quit cleaning my house! Seriously, that’s only partially true (part of the reason I quit cleaning my house is that I find it to be a losing battle. I have two small boys and a messy husband … enough said).

I often will schedule in knitting time — I do my errands, housework, etc. in the mornings. Then I usually knit during my four-year-old’s nap, and I often knit in the evenings after the house is picked up and the kids are in bed. I admit, I’m a TV watcher, and I find I can knit easily while relaxing and watching TV.

Also, my kids are getting old enough (four and seven) that they can play together and don’t need constant supervision. They would LIKE my constant attention, but I think it’s important that they rely on each other more for entertainment.

So in the afternoons I will often sit in the living room and knit while they play. I’m still very much available for them, but I am teaching them that Mommy has things she likes to do too. My family knows that knitting is important to me and I think they’ve learned to accept it (either that, or they’ve completely given up all hope…).

I’m in a Bible study once a week, and after our discussion there is an hour-long video we watch — I always knit during the video. I know some people who will actually knit during church services. I can’t do that. I honestly think I would still stay focused on the sermon, but I think others would find it disrespectful, so I don’t feel right about it.

Can you tell us about your business, The Knitting Queen2?

About a year ago I started selling my baby hats on ebay. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for seven years now and I really wanted to find something that I could call my own.

I’m not ready to go back to work, but I want to try to contribute a bit to the household income (or at least make enough to support my habit!). Knitting is something I am truly passionate about and it just seemed like the next logical step, to try and sell my creations.

I had been knitting for friends and had been getting a lot of great feedback, so I’m trusting that the general public will also feel the same!

I agree. Your knitting creations are so adorable!

I knew ebay wasn’t quite the right venue, but, well, you have to start somewhere.

The name Knitting Queen was already taken, so I became Knitting Queen2. I carried it over to my Etsy store just so I wouldn’t get confused with my different IDs.

I was so excited when I found Etsy! It’s a website to sell hand-crafted items! It’s easier and less expensive than ebay and I feel it’s a much better fit for me. So now I am exclusively on Etsy, trying to make a go of this.

I’m selling hand knit baby and toddler hats, baby slippers, coffee sleeves (I’m from Seattle, remember?!), and hand knit plush cupcakes. I have a list a mile long of upcoming projects, so the more people buy, the more I can afford to come up with new creations!

How can we get in touch with you?

My shop on Etsy can be found here. I also have a blog at The Knitting Queen or people can email me directly at jen_keene@hotmail.com.

Thanks, Jennifer. You’ve inspired me to learn more about knitting!

Thanks so much for inviting me, Heather!

You can see Jennifer Keene’s knitting creations at her website, The Knitting Queen2.