Joy Balls

I did a lot of crafting over the last few months that I've yet to blog about, and hope to share them over the next few weeks. For 2014, I'm concentrating on finishing up some PILLs - Project In Long Lines. These are projects that have been waiting for years for my attention. I have all the supplies. I need to add the time and inclination.

Soon after the holidays, I processed our 2013 Christmas cards. I usually turn them into gift tags for next year's presents. But I've also been known to cut the designs into circles to make Joy Balls. This was a craft I learned to do as a child. Then I taught my daughters to make them when the girls were in elementary school.

We've decorated with five joy balls for most of their growing up years. The PILLs that caught my attention were the stacks of 20 Christmas card circles. There were enough already cut for thirteen more balls in four different sizes!

I admit that crafting these by myself with a hot glue gun went much more quickly than crafting with kid hands, white glue and paper clips.

But then, the joy of crafting doesn't necessarily come from how quickly a project is completed, does it?

And I welcome those not-quite-so-little hands back into my studio to craft with me any chance I get!