My sisters and I, in the 1980's, Dressed in lovely pink sweat suits that Mama embellished to make into our bunny halloween costumes. What you can't see is our furry cottontails that were cleverly sewn onto our bottoms.

It usually happened throughout the night.  I never really knew that it was going on, because at that age, I was snuggled in my twin bed between my Rainbow Bright sheets without a care in the world other than which pair of Keds I would wear to school the next day.  But I always saw the fruits of her labor the next morning.  Halloween Costumes.  Dresses.  Bunny Cakes.  Hair Bows.  Stockings.  My Mama was crafty.

As the mom of three little girls she certainly had an inspiring canvas.  One Easter, she made the three of us matching dresses with lovely crisp white collars.  We still have the home video on VHS.  As the oldest, it was my job to hold the others little hands so that they would stand still enough to get video footage of her hard work.  The three of us, standing in a row, holding hands as blue morning glories danced about our handmade skirts was a sight to behold.

And the costumes, Lord, there were costumes.  We were mermaids with seashell bodices and stiff skirts that flared out like fins.  We were princesses.  We were indians with cute little fringed dresses, cuffs and anklets.  And we were bunnies with our embellished pink sweat suits.  She was amazing at making sure that we had really cool costumes to wear to the church carnival, or trick-or-treating with our friends.  Now that we’re older, those treasured photos have made their way to Facebook for the world to see.  She thought she was embarrassing us with the silly photos, but really, I was proud.  Proud to have the photos- proof that my Mama was crafty and cared about us deeply.  Because a lot of time and care goes into things that are handmade.

I am a self-proclaimed crafty Mama myself.  I enjoy art and sewing and anything crafty, really.  When my son was born, I took a lot of time photographing him and scrapbooking and drawing and journaling about motherhood.  The typical crafty Mama stuff.  Then when my daughter was born, I discovered that I had my little inspiring canvas, too.  I had always enjoyed sewing.  However, the birth of my daughter became the rebirth of my sewing experience.  My heart yearned to make a quilt for her.  To make her a dress.  To sew little cute things for her nursery.  And so I did.  And I have continued.

My daughter, Ella, in her first handmade dress.

It usually happens during the night.  My children never really see me crafting, as they are snuggled between their organic cotton sheets.  But the results are photographed, shared on the web, blogged about and scrapbooked.  I owe the inspriation to my Mama.  She was crafty before crafty was cool.

-Jessica Chapman

Jessica Chapman is our guest blogger this week at Clever Nesting.  If you missed her intro you can read it here.  You can email her at Sunnynole at gmail dot com, follow her on Twitter, read her blog, or visit her Etsy shop.