About

Idle Hands Awake is a DIY blog for people who don’t DIY.

Because if you’ve ever suffered from Pinterest paralysis (we heart you Pinterest, but your boundless inspiration can be terrifying), I want to let you in on the secret behind every DIY blogger: creativity is not some mystical gift from “the Muse” that we have and you don’t.

Creativity is a skill that takes practice, like any other.

Which means you, too, are creative.

For those of you that need convincing, I’ve got your back with:

+ clear DIY tutorials for makers of all experience levels

+ resources to unstick your creative stickiness

+ loads of inspiration to get you to stop Pinning and start doing

Plus the occasional cat photo. My inner crazy cat lady would have it no other way.

Some faves:

Creativity doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Show me what you’re making—or what’s got you stuck—on Instagram with the hashtag

#idlehandscreate

I’ll share my favorite projects (or problems!) on the blog every now and then because everyone needs a little cheerleading.

A little bit about Marlene…

Tools, camera gear, and vegan food are the fastest ways to my heart.

In case you couldn’t already tell, I make dad jokes and I mean them. It’s embarrassing.

In 2018 I got divorced and started a crazy new adventure of being single in Boston.

I’m named after the German bombshell actress Marlene Dietrich. Which makes it mar-LAY-nuh, not mar-LEEN. Yes, I just wrote out my name phonetically on my about page.

Wanna know more about why I started this blog? There’s a post for that.

Let’s chat.

Questions? Collaborations? Cat pictures? Email me: { hello at idlehandsawake dot com}. Or use this fancy form that took me two hours to set up.

Still reading?

You are a champ. Here is a picture of my cat Champ for you:

P.S. That gorgeous logo was designed by the incredibly talented Bre of Brepurposed.