The summer has come and gone and I’ve got my hands full with kids heading back to school, so I totally freaked out when I started seeing ideas for DIY Halloween costumes popping up online! It got me thinking about how it seems like the world has gone crazy for crafts.

Everywhere I look, I’m presented with a great idea for how to concoct a handmade treasure. A Google search for “DIY crafts” returns 219 million results and a quick scan of Pinterest makes me wonder if I’m the only one tossing Popsicle sticks and baby food jars and old newspapers.  There are clearly a lot of serious DIY crafters out there.

Some ideas I’ve seen recently from Pinterest Moms around the web include:

• A quilt for your baby made from her outgrown clothes
• A Dr. Seuss-themed tote bag tutorial
• DIY jewel-encrusted sandals made from rubber flip flops
• 14 craft projects to make from cereal boxes

I even saw a tutorial for a DIY crafts table. So not only do I have to do the crafts, I have to make the crafts table too?

One would hope that not being crafty by nature would get me off the hook, but the whole “tutorial” thing sort of ruins that plan.

Here are three reasons I find this whole movement intimidating:

 I Don’t Have the Time

I have to say, many of these “simple and easy” DIY projects seem to me like they would require a lot of elements, planning and time.   Just looking at some of them makes me exhausted.

I’m Not Martha Stewart (Or My Mom)

I can sew and knit, but I have a long way to go to live up to my mother, who was a true crafter from a different generation. She made things we really needed and used, from Halloween costumes and patchwork Christmas stockings to graduation outfits and hand-embroidered table clothes.

I Don’t Have the Desire

Don’t get me wrong, there are authentic crafters like my mom out there today, but a lot of today’s craft phenomenon feels contrived to me, as if someone came up with these ideas to take a picture. Do I really need a chrysanthemum mirror made from plastic spoons? Don’t get me wrong, I’ll re-pin it because it sure is pretty, but I just won’t take the time to make it.  I love my husband dearly, but I will not be stenciling the lyrics from our wedding song onto a pillowcase as an anniversary gift.  And nothing is more fun than messing around with Play Doh with my kids, but I would prefer to buy it than to make it any day.

So instead of feeling guilty and intimidated by all these crafts, I’ve decided to let it go. The fact that you might not actually “do-it-yourself” doesn’t mean you can’t drool over some of these images on Pinterest, or try out something simple that sounds like fun! If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll happily take part in something basic and simple like making paper swords, or something you really NEED to do, like painting that fence or organizing their artwork from school.

I have a lot of plans for this fall, but joining the crafters and making DIY crafts for kids isn’t one of them. I’ll send my kids to learn a thing or two about handmade costumes from Grandma while I stock up on Candy Corn and sip a pumpkin latte. That’s enough handiwork for me.

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