For a fidgety kid, art has always been the answer.

My babysitter? A princess coloring book.

My friend who would listen to my rants? My Crayola Markers portrait.

My tantrums? Scribbles on a blank piece of printer paper.

I would occupy myself with crafts of all kinds. Drawing, painting, piano playing, and karaoke singing are just a few hobbies I have started and not continued over the years. All except singing- I am a fantastic amateur singer.

Let me paint the picture of my passion projects over the years.

My earliest form of expression was my creation of a pressed flower book. Though a cute idea, at the prime age of three. The execution consisted of dead flowers, weeds, fingerprint-ridded Scotch tape, and SunChips crumbs. I had time to perfect my craft.

After this era, I was introduced to glitter glue and went absolutely bonkers. I used glitter glue for everything. I glitter-glued in my Magic Tree House books, school projects– anything with a flat surface– you name it, I have glittered it. Somehow, I would end up with specks of glitter in my hair, but it was proof of an artist’s long day at work.

The glitter glue phase added excitement to my juvenescence life, a dash of personality on boring sheets of subtraction homework. Using glitter turned into markers, which started my homemade watercolors with waterproof Crayola markers. The process was simple but very tedious. However, I perfected the formula for my homespun paint over time.

My longest art project was my bracelet-making stage, mainly because it altered over time with similar concepts. My sixth birthday party sparked my love of all things personalization and beaded bracelets. As I got older, the iconic Rainbow Loom took all bracelets by storm with colorful elastic rubber bands. This influence led to my friendship bracelet stage (much different than my beaded bracelet era). The looming aspect of Rainbow Loom branched out into my embroidery phase and, currently, my crochet lifestyle.

These examples just scratch the surface of all of my passion projects. I highly encourage you to find your own creative outlet. Though it may change over the years, finding an escape to keep you sane is beneficial and nostalgic. Every one of my projects holds a different version of myself: a different Sydney with the same artsy fartsy curiosity.