Guest Post from beep beep designs - Fitting in crafting time with small children

Today I have my first guest post written by my sister Anna, who blogs about crafty goodness and family life at beep beep designs. Anna has two young daughters, and yet still manages an impressive creative output, so I asked her to write a post about how she manages to get everything done. Here is what she has to say:
 

Jen asked me to write this post about how I fit in crafting around my small children (Laura is three and a half; Emily is 18 months) as, and I quote, 'you seem to be very good at it'. I'm not sure I do anything very different from anyone else, I just love to craft so I always make sure I fit it in when I can! I mainly knit and crochet, and I've recently started doing a bit of watercolour painting and doodling.

The first, most important thing, is that I have been blessed with good sleepers, and I know once we pack them into bed we won't hear from them until morning. This gives me two or three hours an evening. I do of course have other things to do, housework to catch up on, blogs to read and write, cloakrooms to paint, but I can usually spend at least some of that time on my own projects. The evenings are when I do things that need concentration, like writing patterns, or casting on a sock and working the first few rows. Some things you do need to know that you won't be interrupted.

But once I've set things up in the evening, then I can pick up my knitting and work on it whenever I have five minutes. At the moment I have sock knitting in the living room, a crochet cushion cover under construction in the kitchen/dining room, and my painting stuff is near the kitchen table. If Laura is at pre-school and Emily is playing happily, I can knit a few rows. If Emily is napping and Laura wants to paint or stick at the kitchen table, then I can get out my painting and we work sitting opposite each other. Usually she gets bored before I do and I have to tear myself away but it works for a little while.

The other advantage of your children seeing you craft is of course that they want to be like you! Laura loves to sit and 'knit', to cut and stick, to draw and paint, to thread beads. Hopefully in the future we will have many happy crafting sessions together. But for now I fit things in when I can.


Some lovely tips, thanks Anna! I think that the answer is that you can always find the time to do the things that you want to, and that multi-tasking is key! You can visit Anna at beep beep designs, or else follow her on Twitter @beepbeepdesigns. You could try asking her how she managed to produce good sleepers, because it certainly isn't genetic!