Quarantine comes with a whole bunch of bad vibes and bad habits. To combat the cycle of just waking up late and staying up all night on Netflix and social media reading scary articles about coronavirus, I turned to activities such as doing crafts. I found that doing crafts improved my mental health by keeping my focus off of all the bad things going on and gave my mind a break to really center myself and put all my stress into a mini-project (even if it is just for a little while). Here are those crafts and some creative tips I figured out along the way.
Paint Night in Quarantine with the trusted Bob Ross.
This one was super fun. Bob Ross is just so great. He is calming and really allows you to focus for a good thirty minutes or so (depending on if you mess up and have to pause his video like I would do). All I needed for this project was a canvas, some brushes, and paint (I used acrylic but you can use oil as well, just a little bit more expensive).
Macrame Hanging
Let me tell you right now, I am in love with making these. I went to the craft store and bought thick yarn that is super soft. It was on sale at the time (always check for coupons on any craft store’s website) and made it even better! All I did was literally take a cute stick from my yard and started cutting the yarn into varying lengths which I then tied to the stick very close together. It came out so cute and is literally hanging in my room right now. Obsessed!!
Flower Petals In Frames
Honestly, I was in need of more decor in my room and I had these three floating glass frames. I decided to use these flowers I bought, but you can use fake ones or even go outside and find some. All I did was place them on one side of the glass frame and then placed the other glass piece on top so they were stuck and called it a day. They look amazing and can really level up your space.
More Painting Please!
Painting is too therapeutic to only discuss once. This time, I did wine glasses (as I am 21). But anyone can just pick up some glasses at the dollar store and paint those. I found acrylic paint to work perfectly on glass. This project also makes for a great personalized gift. I painted some flowers on mine, but any design is fun. It’s all about how you’re feeling. Get creative and let loose!
Collages ARE still in!
This one might be my favorite. I do this one all the time and may or may not think about doing it at least once a week. I bought a magazine and just started cutting out the images I thought were super cool and trendy. Sooner or later I had enough to put into a frame I had laying around. I glued the images using mod podge — you can use this on the inside or the outside of the picture. To make things interesting, I then used some paint to make little designs everywhere and then sprinkled some glitter here and there (because glitter makes everything better).
Crafts were one mechanism I found that helped me through the very hard months of quarantine and still do help when I am feeling anxious or like I need a break. If you ever feel like you need a little project to take your mind off things, I highly recommend any listed from above. Happy crafting!