BB Arts & Crafts Circle

[ecomama]

Hey wonderful people!

I take delight when I read about what other people have made themselves; from art works to sewing to knitting to ANYTHING!

The CREATIVITY in these forums is astounding.

The skill set is pretty mind blowing too.

It warms my heart to know that Arts and Crafts are being enjoyed by so many of our members.

Please feel welcome to SHARE your past, present or future projects with us all.
Or even what you'd like to learn how to do.

Any gift ideas are most welcome too!

Love EM

[Guest_4643]

Hey EM, what a nice thread and a great idea, thank you for this. I don't have any talent let alone artistically, I wish I did. But I've been told I'm a good writer, if that counts?

I don't have any projects but I colour in from time to time.

[Lillylane]

Hi all,

Last year, in the midst of grief and after some pretty horrible panic attacks, I discovered brush pens. These are felt tip pens a bit like a texta but with a flexible tip.

And with that came the discovery of hand-lettering and modern calligraphy tutorials on YouTube.

I found learning and practising individual letters calming. I’d fall asleep listening to those calm tutorial voices (I really should thank them for that).

And it’s a good exercise in persistence. letters start off looking very shaky and wobbly at first, and it’s easy to feel discouraged and ‘give up’.

But one particular ‘modern calligraphy’ tutor said that it takes about 3 months of consistent practice to become ‘good’ at it.

And that was pretty accurate it turns out.

The other good thing about it is that it’s quick to grab a brush pen and paper whenever you find a spare few minutes. No setting up messy inks or clean up required.

[Lillylane]

Hi Mb20lover,

I like to do a bit of colouring-in too.
Do you like to use pencils or marker pens?

Tried some chalk pens the other day which can be used to decorate windows and it easily wipes off.

Lillylane

[Doolhof]

Hello Everyone,

Thank you so much for starting up this thread EM. There are some very talented people here. I have been reading and thinking about all the various craft activities I can try this year! Thanks for sharing and for the encouragement everyone.

Creativity can be used in so many ways to enhance our days and help with our mental health. Some people have shared amazing projects, ideas and a huge variety of activities from colouring, to writing, to sewing to making houses!

Even arranging fruit in a bowl can be creative. How we place plants in the garden can create a design or a pleasing look.

Me, I want to get out my crafts again, make a collage picture, complete a sewing project, start my paint by numbers I received for Christmas, learn a new crochet pattern, create something with items found int he garden...so many opportunities!

I'm excited and inspired!

Cheers all from Dools

[ecomama]

Hey BB Creators lol - I'll fiddle around with names for us ALL, be patient or TELL me a good one please!

OH YES Tay Tay OFCOURSE writing is creative and indeed you DO have a good command of writing! And technology with your beautiful picture, awww.

ANY THING YOU think is creative is creative. GO WILD TAY!

No judgements here JUST support and lots of WOWs too lol!!!

Hey Lilly, hugs, I didn't know you were in the midst of grief last year, I'm sorry for your loss. Panic attacks blerghhh.

BRUSH PENS oh I see your ones are different to the one I have. Calligraphy is SO beautiful. I'm an Historian in so many ways and calligraphy just takes me back to Old Texts, Monks spending their lives doing it etc etc.

My Aunty once gave me a brush pen you fill up with water.
Then you use it anyway you choose. I used watercolour pencils to draw or colour in, I LOVE watercolour pencils and kids do too! Then the brush turns the pencil colours into WATER colours. SO BEAUTIFUL!
You can use a plain paint brush dipped in water instead ofcourse.

My eldest D, Alexa, is a talented artists. I'm in AWE of her talent. When she was only 10 months old she had to paint BEFORE she could eat breakfast every single day. It's her "go to" calming zone. Now her children paint with her too. And sculpt and all else lol.

LOVE chalk pens too! We use them to write & draw on glass or white fridges lol!
Alexa drew a Christmas Tree on her windows when she didn't have any money to buy a Christmas tree. The kids drew decorations on it.

Using markers and magnetic letters on the fridge is how I taught all my toddlers to read.
I introduced the letters in the order they need to be introduced lol. This minimises confusions.

Love EM

[ecomama]

Hey Lilly Pilly lol

I love your posts and the contributions of everyone here, it's pretty exciting reading about everyone's creative pursuits.

And GREAT getting everyone's tips too!

I love that we "met" in the Gardening thread... gardening is very creative.

Potting that little cutting from someone else and over the years dividing it and sharing it as it grows SO BIG... I love gardening lol.

Love EM

[ecomama]

J* HEY!

I do have to keep doing a double take to check if it's me or you writing lol!!!
It's so funny!

Craft Circles are what we've done for SO many generations throughout History!
Both men and women!

During 1 Stage my mother's family all got into Quilting and I couldn't do it to save my life lol.

So I found a cross stitch OF women sitting around a table quilting!
I did that and framed it for my mother for her birthday.

Now my hands are so used to holding a shovel, rake and wheelbarrow that they aren't so used to holding a needle. Still I hope to take up stitching again. I have enough projects to sink a battleship!

And loads of my Grandmother's & Great Grandmother's threads.
I mean LOADS. SOME are in 1ft high and thick spools.
I knitted cute bloomer pants from these for my daughters that my sons loved wearing too!
They looked so cute over their cloth nappies lol!

My other Nana passed away at almost 100 and I received ALL her sewing things!
WOW!! I was still going through them last year!
They're finally all sorted now and it is SO LOVELY seeing her handwriting on little containers.
They're so precious.
ALL of my children knew her well, so they have something to hang on to.

The OLD OLD timber measuring equipment is to die for! lol.

Love EM

[ecomama]

Hey Dools!

I'm so glad you joined this thread!

It's a calming and a WOWing experience reading every post.

Funny you mention "fruit bowls" lol! I puzzled over how to arrange the fruit in an antique silver bowl I got down for Christmas. I fussed and fiddled over it and Yvette chuckled at me trying to arrange it all.

It's in the centre of the dining room table now with clean LAUNDRY all around it! LOL!

I think even if no one else sees what we do, WE DO.

Creating a lovely space for our eyes only is what can make us sparkle inside.

Alexa says "it's the journey of creativity" she gets the most benefit out of.
She's nursing her MH and trying all ways to heal it. Darling girl.

So are WE and we shall triumph with all the resources available.

Even our threads, needles, timber, saws, paints etc are our resources to use.

Sharing encouragement and inspiration is the purpose of this thread.

Thankyou for doing this Dools and we can't wait to hear all about your creative endeavours.

Love EM

[Guest_4643]

Hey everyone.

Lillylane, I like to use Pencils & sometimes Gel Pens & Fineliners. Mostly Pencils though

[Jstar49]

Hey all,

Wow so much inspo here!

Lillylane I love the pens and calligraphy-I used to love doing calligraphy as a kid, you know, before everything was printed out on a computer lol! And I love those brush pens! I really have to limit myself a little bit tho or else I would just collect everything....

Lillylane that's really interesting that you found it so soothing. I wonder if others have found that sort of thing with grief? I'm really sorry that you've experienced that. Is it any easier now?

Tayla writing is such a good creative outlet. Do you do it much at the moment?

I once was told by a group work leader to practice stream of consciousness writing for 3 pages everyday. It was very freeing becos you just write whatever comes into your head. Ocasionally there is some wisdom or nugget of truth which unlocks a puzzle or reveals something you needed to know. all the rest was rubbish, but I was better for tumbling it all out on the page where I could see it. No self criticism needed or allowed!

I finsihed the screenprinting I was doing, and gave my friend a pair of printed leggings, which she loves. I made enough fabric for a pair for me too, so have got that to look forward to.

Em thats so lovely what you shared about your eldest D. She sounds amazing. Very resilient and creative. Funny that you get that feeling about my posts tho-I have def picked up some of your expressive ways here. I always use lots of EXCLAMATION marks and usually lots of emojis so I've picked up other ways of being expressive from you lol 🙂 (cos its so slow looking up emojis on my laptop). It sounds like we share a lot of the same values. I often feel like i was born in the wrong era. Love old sewing paraphernalia. I have an old singer on a table. My d asked me recently why do we have it.I told her it's a part of a collection. But it's just beautiful! Now I shall be able to collect more in a similar theme without raising any eyebrows!

Dools I had to laugh a little about the fruitbowl analogy. An artist friend once made a comment like that to me. I suddenly could not get the pears to sit right in my fruitbowl! I'd never cared before! LOL!

Hugs

J*