About Us

Introduction
Crafty Catastrophe was founded by me, Rachel Reilly, as a space dedicated to trying a variety of arts and crafts with family and friends, with a goal of making projects accessible to folks of various abilities. I love the arts, specifically I love painting and I have a minor in art from Tufts University (along with a BS in Computer Science).

The idea for this site came about when my friend found an old craft book on my bookshelf, it was so much fun to look through and, succeed or fail, it made me want to try everything in it (well, almost everything… okay parts of most things, but it was kind of a crazy book. You’ll have to wait to hear more, because this feels like a rather lengthy digression). Picasso, my faithful old pup, agreed trying different things was an excellent idea, especially if those things were treats.

So, happy with our idea, Picasso and I took an eye-rest on the couch to think about what we could do… We came up with lots of ideas over the years, but getting started was really hard (mainly because I also have a job and between jobs and friends and family - finding time for a side project can be daunting, to say the least). The kick in the tuchus, to prioritize this project, instead of just letting it be a fleeting fancy, came from my Mom.

Mom is having serious health issues and while she was living with me we would do a variety of arts and crafts together. We arranged flowers (badly), decorated the house for various holidays (no matter how minor), tried to paint along with Bob Ross, colored, drew, made cards, collages, stamped, used stickers, sculpted with Play-Doh, took pictures, etc. Working on art with Mom are some of my best memories of that very tough time. It gave us a way to communicate when communication became very difficult. I’m thankful for every one of the moments we spent creating art together.

This experience with Mom made me realize the importance of art in our everyday lives - it doesn’t need to be a masterpiece or even good - it just needs to be. Art is us, and it allows us to both discover ourselves and communicate with others.  Also, it’s fun, if we can stop worrying about messing up. My Mom, who used to call me Rachey-Dachey-Doodle-All-Day, knew that I loved art, and saw how stressful and chaotic my job can be. In the midst of her fight with health issues, she made sure to get one message to me, her hope that I would do something I love: And here we are.

I knew I wanted to create a site dedicated to bringing people together, no matter their ability level, to learn and try new and different forms of arts and crafts.  You may have noticed that this plan requires people and with COVID upon us it’s a bit hard to get out or to get folks in. So, currently I have recruited Dad and Jeff to help me out (along with Picasso, of course). I’ll see who else I can con into helping as I go along.

In a world full of chaos, I want to find ways to work together - and everyone and anyone is welcome to join us! So, come on over to the crafting table, where we make clever plans that will allow us to achieve Crafty Mastery - or revel in Catastrophe!

Our Logo
Our logo is the Crafty Catastrophe C-Monster! She’ll definitely help us find our way when the going gets tough.  Currently, she is in charge of the email. She’s adept at traversing the inter-webs and she loves to read, so it seemed like a perfect fit.  Also, it’s nice to know she’s swimming around at the top of each page.

Dedication
Crafty Catastrophe is dedicated to Mom. You told me to do what I love, and that brought me here. Your brilliance, kindness, creativity and strength are an inspiration to all who are lucky enough to have you as a part of their lives.