Exploring curiosity

I like do-it-yourself (DIY) projects and I like to make things like cards, gift tags, and Halloween decorations, among other crafty things. To a large extent though, I usually avoid the overly complicated and intimidating projects or consider them a “someday” project. The kinds of projects that get me in trouble are the ones for which I commit “self-overwhelming.” These projects usually involve a series of simple elements for which I already have most of the supplies needed. The self-overwhelming portion stems from a series of personality traits that allow me to deny reality and time constraints for much longer than any normal person would think possible.

When DIY inspiration strikes, my brain becomes a hive of activity as I plot out what I want to do and how to execute it. If creativity is in high gear, I sometimes add elements (i.e. I decided that I needed a logo of our initials despite never having made one before) and kick the self-overwhelming up a notch. Or two.

I committed a self-overwhelming recently when I had the idea to design and assemble our wedding invitations myself. It seemed so simple: three pages of the same height paper but graduated in length forming a tiered booklet with simple graphics and a removable RSVP postcard. When I was done with the design process I would send it to a professional print shop to print, cut, drill holes, and perforate. Easy-peasy, right?

Throughout the process I encountered numerous hurdles. Certain elements took me much longer than I wanted because I had to learn how to do things as I went (that darn logo!) but still didn’t worry when it would have been appropriate to do so. I talked with a professional print shop about what I wanted and they assured me that they could do it all and turn it around in a few days. This was a huge relief and I felt that despite being pressed for time, things were still on track.

A week before I dropped off the invitations at the print shop, I saw a YouTube video about a crafting method that allows you to apply heat activated foils to laser printed documents. There is nothing that anyone could have said or done to me that would have stopped me from testing it out. My tests turned out well so I decided to add the foil to elements of the invitations after they came back from the printer. The self-overwhelming intensified.

Things didn’t go that smoothly with the printer but it wasn’t anything that buying more paper and time couldn’t fix. I was very anxious and frustrated at this point when reality started to enter the picture. That’s when it occurred to me that my DIY project turned into a DIWhy? project. I now fully understood the appeal of buying invitations and began to recognize my self-overwhelming behavior. By the time the printer finished everything, it was two days late but it was exactly what I had asked for. I encountered a few more hiccups in my gitalong with the foiling but overall it went pretty smoothly.

Despite going putting myself through a lot to get this project done, it was very satisfying to have a concept become a tangible thing. I’ve learned a lot and while I would like to say that I know better than to overwhelm myself again, I can definitely say that something like this WILL happen in the future. At heart I am a hopeless dreamer and when I have a dream, I can’t help but think about how to try and make it come true. No matter how insignificant the project and end result may seem to anyone else, my dream exists and I can’t help but want to share it by capturing it somehow. After all, what good are dreams if they don’t inspire our lives and sometimes come true via our own efforts?

The invitations are in the mail as I type this and I’m hoping they reach their intended destinations safe and sound. Just another anxious day or two to go and we shall find out.

~N