How it all started....

I made my first pair of earrings when I was about four years old. My parents were going out for a nice dinner, and as they were ready to head out the door, I proudly presented my mother with my creations: earrings made from bright yellow twisted pipe cleaners that I'd "liberated" from my grandmother's craft basket, and wound around bobby pins. I guess I'd thought the bobby pins would clip onto my mom's earlobes? Ouch! My mom was a good sport -- not wanting to hurt my feelings, she proudly put them on and walked out the door that way. And, of course, promptly ditched them as soon as she was out of my sight.

Since then, I've drifted in and out of various crafty pursuits:

• Making greeting cards. Fun, but a little too close to my graphic design day job for me to want to regularly spend my free time doing so. After the year in which I hand-made 112 Christmas cards to send to loved ones and nearly drove myself insane in the process, screaming obscenities at my inkjet printer and getting glue and glitter all over myself, my home, and my cat, I called it quits.

• Making my own bellydance costuming, which mostly involved hot-gluing together flowery hairclips and hand-sewing various sparkly things and metal bits and bobs to bras and belts. I did OK at this, in that everything I made held together during my performances with no "wardrobe malfunctions" or sparkly bits flying off at inopportune times. But, if anyone ever looked at the underside of things I made... yikes! It's a spiderweb-like mess of uneven stitches and poorly knotted threads. At any rate, I took a break from performing due to various life and work commitments, so I don't have need for costuming at the moment anyway.

• Sewing with a machine. FAIL. Nothing more to be said about that. :) My grandmother was an excellent sewer but I never was interested in learning when she was alive. I really regret that now -- clearly, I didn't inherit her natural intuitive talent in this area!

But, I always keep coming back to jewelry. I've gone through several cycles in which I bought tons of beads, then gave them away or sold them at a yard sale, then bought them all back. This time, though, it seems to have stuck and has turned into an obsession! I opened my Etsy shop, Do Bats Eat Cats, on August 26, 2009 and I am having a blast creating gothy, Celtic, Victorian-inspired, and chainmaille jewelry.

If you're crafty, how did you get your start? Do you have an early memory of crafting? And, make me feel better about my sewing deficiency -- which of your crafting endeavors have you tried and discarded due to utter ineptitude? :)