MAKING MEMORIES AND MASTERPIECES

Two moms craft creative environments for hands-on learning

by AMY SULLIVAN

THE COVID-19 QUARANTINE HAS CAUSED countless creative and crafty projects for those cooped up indoors. The gift of time has led people to initiate new endeavors or complete already-begun undertakings. For many parents, keeping kids entertained after online learning was quite a challenge. Two local mothers were fortunate to have the space and supplies to engage, inspire, and entertain their little ones, making memories and masterpieces along the way.

The Hutto Haven

Amanda Hutto has always been a crafty person, inheriting her artistic interests and drawing talent from her mother, who always painted when she and her sister were little. Her mom also cross-stitched and sewed, additional skills she passed down to Amanda, who now enjoys doing the same with her own three girls, eight-year-old Lorelai, seven-year-old Penelope, and five-year-old Eleanor, and hopes to eventually enjoy with her two-year-old son, Forrest. “We are always making something, always painting or making bracelets, and always wanting to learn to do something new,” Amanda declared.

A warm, window-filled, luxuriously lit craft room, an addition built off the back of the house into the backyard, has become an important part of their home. Evolved from a previous playroom when the kids were little, it’s now the perfect place for Amanda and her children to get their creative juices flowing.

When coming from the kitchen, you discover the big open studio space, painted in a bright light yellow, stocked with Amanda’s supplies and a full section of children’s crafting materials. Her kids’ artwork lines the walls, as do pieces from small art shops found on Instagram and original watercolors painted by Amanda. Cube-shaped shelving stretches across the bottom of the entire room, which contains felt, fabric, bins full of ribbon, beads, and buttons, topped off with an entire unit full of kids’ crafts and games.

Art kits, each child’s own choice of beads and glitter, and special school baskets brimming with scissors, pencils, and crayons line the kids’ shelves. There is also a spot for library books because they all love to read. One of the walls even contains a chalkboard, with a big basket of chalk underneath one of the windows, for creating chalk art masterpieces.

Amanda has worked hard to convert the craft room into a place where the kids can join her, now that they are old enough. Amanda’s husband Brandon custom-built a dual-purpose table, for both drawing and sewing, just the way Amanda wanted it, with space for chairs to be placed all around the table. This provides the potential for all three girls to be at the table with her simultaneously as they get older and want to sit down and create something together.

“Everyone can grow into it – it doesn’t have to grow around them anymore,” Amanda says, relieved.

All of Amanda’s children like to do something different when it comes to art. She declares her oldest daughter, Lorelai, the artist; she loves to draw and sketch, and to take art classes at Paducah’s MAKE studio. “Most one-year-olds try to eat crayons, but she would hold a crayon and color correctly, at a young age. She always wanted to sit and color.

Lorelai, Forrest, Penelope, Amanda and Eleanor Hutto

"Now she has a sketchbook and loves to draw and color. She enjoys learning from someone (Kija Housman) who her mom has taken classes from,” Amanda described.

Amanda’s seven-year-old daughter Penelope is the builder in the family. She excels with anything structural. Whether it’s melting beads, Legos, any kind of blocks, or wooden stick projects, she’s very good at working with her hands and building.

Her five-year-old daughter Eleanor is really impressive at hand stitching and has a lot of patience for such a repetitive process, especially for her age.

When the school-aged girls began non-traditional instruction (NTI) in March when the novel coronavirus forced schools to switch to remote learning, Amanda began working with her two-year-old son, Forrest, who loves to color, on sitting still and coloring while the girls worked. This helped his attention span tremendously. While he may not yet be involved with the more advanced artwork like the girls, he loved making beaded bracelets on pipe cleaners outside during quarantine together with the family. “He told us that he was making them for DeeDee, his grandmother,” Amanda smiled.

As a substitute nurse for McCracken County schools, Amanda is fortunate to be able to work the same hours as school schedules. She is also the owner of an online Etsy shop, JustAFeltDream – Amanda’s Felt Mobiles and Creations, a business of creating customized baby mobiles. “Art is good for your mental health, especially with how crazy things are right now,” Amanda reminds us. “It gives you a break and an escape from it all.”

The Importance of Artistry at the Orr House

“When everything is uncertain, everything that is important becomes clear.” Mary Beth Orr, marketing director at Milner & Orr Funeral Home of Paducah and mother of three children under age 12, made this, at first, her March 2020 motto. As COVID-19 continues, the floral-designed painting inscribed with this saying still hangs as a daily reminder in what has become a safe haven in her home—the craft room.

Mary Beth had an “art corner” in the upstairs office in her former home where she lived with her husband Brandon, daughter, Harper; son, Banks; and daughter, Elliott. Before her children were born, (now 11, 8, and 5) and when they were little, she enjoyed sewing, embroidery, and making their Halloween costumes, and wanted a space to be able to do crafts together. When they moved to their current house, Mary Beth was excited to have an extra room in the basement to be able to continue the crafting tradition.

Admittedly a Type A personality, Mary Beth loves not having to worry about getting paint on the kitchen table or counter upstairs, being with her kids, channeling her “inner preschool teacher,” letting them use glitter, and not feeling guilty about making a mess.

Mary Beth loves that the wooden table in the craft room has paint splatters on it. She described the area as “kind of an organized mess—and I love it!” A large white square in the wall hides a unique foldout desk that can be folded up and latched when not in use.

The closet in the room conveniently serves as a place most moms would covet. In addition to housing extra craft supplies, it’s also where the wrapping paper, ribbon, gift bags, and birthday party supplies reside, easy to grab when needed, yet out of the way when not.

Ribbons, buttons, material, and more—the project Orr craft room possibilities are limitless. The kids’ ages, personalities, and genders really affect what they want to do. Eleven-year-old Harper wants to follow instructions and do a neat job on something modern, while being more responsible and more structured, which Mary Beth attributes a lot to being the first child. Her son Banks, age eight, likes to build and is currently utilizing recyclable materials like Gatorade bottles, boxes, and paper towel rolls for artistic automobile assembly, creating a two-passenger, intricate vehicle. Banks also enjoyed connecting and painting tiny Titanic pieces from a kit of the famous ship, a very meticulous kind of work, recently. Five-year-old, free-spirited, third child Elliott, splatters paint and glitter, loves coloring, and unplanned, whimsical projects.

One of her memorable crafty activities during quarantine came from a simple box of Froot Loops cereal, cotton balls, paint, and canvases. She and her kids made rainbows and flowers, thinking of brighter days ahead. The Froot Loops on pipe cleaners made colorful and tasty bird and squirrel springtime feeders, too.

Mary Beth loves to see their minds working artistically. “We are so blessed to be able to have this right here at home. I always wanted it. It really is a dream come true.”

Mary Beth Orr and daughter Elliott

Harper Orr

Mary Beth and Banks Orr