Making time in your day to create something beautiful with your hands is relaxing and rewarding. I love making things, especially in the moments that are the most stressful. Crafting helps me boost my creativity and organize my thoughts. No need for talent or experience – crafting is for absolutely anyone at any age. These crafts make little to no waste, and won’t break the bank either. They only require one or two things that are likely in your home already.
- Knitting
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Knitting isn’t just for Grandma anymore. Knitting is hard to learn if you’re just beginning but don’t be intimidated! Once you get the hang of it, you can make anything. The best part about it is the visual progress of each row, as you slave away in your rocking chair, yarn scattered across the floor. The simplest project to start on is a scarf, and it will keep you super warm when snow starts falling. Etsy has a great selection of hand spun and natural fibre yarns that will set you on your cozy crafting journey.
- Bracelets
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Friendship bracelets, to be exact. As an avid supporter or friendship bracelets, I believe everyone should know how to make them, or at least have a couple of their own to wear on occasion. Pick your pattern here, choose your colours, and go nuts. These can be as simple or as complicated as you want, and can be done in one sitting. For the most basic bracelet, just keep knotting the same string around a group of 3 or 4 strings to make a downward spiral of knots. The string is super cheap and lasts a lifetime.
- Drawing
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Trust me, I’m no Picasso. When I draw, it usually doesn’t turn out how I imagined it. But that’s okay! Never restrict yourself from creativity simply because you’re afraid the final product won’t look professional. Start with a plan, map it out, or put pencil to paper and see what happens. Whatever image is in your head, draw it out! My most common sketches are faces, and abstract designs. You’ll find them in my sketchbook, school notebooks, taped to my wall, and tucked away in drawers. I highly recommend taking a drawing class or two to learn some cool techniques to amp up your drawing game.
- Tye-Dye
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Okay, this one is a bigger commitment, but sooooo worth it! It’s messy, it’s colourful, and the possibilities are endless. Walmart sells individual rit dyes that are great for customizing your colourful creation. If you’re feeling ambitious, tie up a whole bed sheet into different patterns and tie dye all of it! You can put it up as a mural or chop it up and make bags, shirts, napkins – you name it.
- Journaling
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The key to really good journaling is to write exactly what you are feeling. No one but you ever has to read the secrets. Journaling is bold and sincere self-expression on paper. No journal entry is ever the same. Start off with a journal or notebook you absolutely love that makes you want to write every day. In my journals, I write about my thoughts, feelings, experiences, relationships; but journals are also for poetry, doodles, photographs – anything you can imagine. I’ve been journaling since I was 8 years old, and let me tell you, it is worth your time. Picture yourself 50 years from now, reading a journal that you wrote as a uni student. So cute.
By finding new hobbies and revisiting old ones, you wake your brain up in a way that Netflix and studying can’t. Remember those canvases and the craft store down the street? They miss you like crazy. There’s always time for pretty little handmade things.