Back in the day when we lived the conventional life, I had some pretty conventional hobbies. Sewing, baking, scrapbooking, you name it.

Out of all the stuff we’ve put in storage, about the only things I miss are ny scrapbooking and stamp stuff, my gardening tools, and my cookware, like my bread machine.

I wish our RV was bigger so I could’ve brought some of these things along. Even if I could, where would I draw the line? You bring one stamp, you bring ’em all!

To satisfy my urge creative urges, I’ve managed to find ways to do some of these things in our RV.

Gardening

On the farm, Jim and I were introduced to sprouting. I always knew they were easy to grow, but until then, I had no idea just how easy. The farmers showed us how to sprout using just a mason jar. Ever since I learned, I can’t believe that I used to pay so much money for those crunchy salad sprouts that were nowhere near as fresh as the ones I can grow myself.

Seeing them grow in just a few days on our kitchen counter is almost as satisfying as watching tiny plants sprout up in the dirt. Only bean sprouts grow faster, and are a whole lot cleaner!

Cooking & Baking:

We had so many issues with our Magic Chef oven when we started Rving. I could never light it, so I hated using it. When Jim finally diagnosed the problem this year, I was thrilled. I’ve been experimenting with different handmade bread recipes. Although the final bread loaf quality and taste varies according to the climate where we are located at the time, it’s still so satisfying to get flour all over the place andbake my own bread. Plus, when it’s really cold out, the oven heats up the rig in no time!

Scrapbooking

I used to be a scrap-a-holic. I made handmade cards, photo boxes, albums, all sorts of memory books. When we had the business, Jim and I used to do a lot of work trades for my friend’s scrapbook store in Eureka, which allowed me to build up an impressive collection of papers, stamps, inks and tools. Isn’t my husband nice? He would print banners for my hobby!

When I had to put this collection in storage, I was so bummed. I tried to pack a kit of “basic” scrapbooking stuff along, but as any scrapbooker knows, there’s really no such thing as “basic.” So I packed it all away, and repressed my urge to stamp and scrap. Then, when we were in Flagstaff, I met a Creative Memories consultant, and she rocked my world. She told me about Digital Scrapbooking, and showed me how I could not only keep on making cool cards and photo albums using all of the same nifty papers, stamps and embelishments that Creative Memories offers — only in a digital format.

Now, I can make books, and this hobby doesn’t take up any space at all (except on my hard drive). Plus, I can sell Creative Memories online, and even make a few bucks (as long as I meet their quota of $500 in sales each quarter). And, if I sign someone up to be a consultant, we both make money. With that in mind, visit my Creative Memories website to help me stay on as a consultant, and see what kind of cool things you too can make with their digital products!

As you can see, just because you live in a smaller RV, doesn’t mean that you can’t take along your favorite hobbies. You just might have to approach them a little differently, that’s all.