Between the recent gloomy, blustery weather of Winter Quarter and the lock-in for finals in the library, I’ve found myself hard pressed for time to do my favorite thing: craft! Still, the hours I’ve been able to squeeze in to make something with my hands to decorate my room, schoolbag, and person always make me feel more creative and fulfilled. There’s no better feeling than being able to say, “Thanks, I made it!” As spring break approaches and the days start to get longer, color and fun have been on the brain. Here’s some inspiration for your next brain-break – get crafty!
Bedazzling
This one has been a particular recent obsession of mine. After a sisterhood event for my sorority where we bedazzled claw clips, my friends and I ordered a kit and went to town. Thus far, I’ve bedazzled multiple claw clips, a hairbrush, cosmetic products, multiple lighters, and a pair of headphones. I recommend putting on a show (Criminal Minds is always my favorite) and letting the mindlessness of the work consume you.
To get started, all you need is a multicolored rhinestone set, a pair of long tweezers for easy grabbing and placing, and some good quality 37000 glue — I have a kit linked!
I’ve learned to squeeze out a line of glue, wait a few seconds for the glue to get tacky, then use the slightly-sticky tip of the tweezers to place each stone in a honeycomb pattern.
Crochet
I’ve been crocheting since I first went to summer camp at a ranch in third grade. Between trail rides and practicing gaits around the corral, we would have craft time and mess around with yarn. At the end of the week, I made my parents get me the yarn and hooks required to start crocheting. The fixation stuck around, even a decade later.
It’s similar to bedazzling in the sense it is repetitive work with your hands, but I enjoy how with crochet the pieces I make are usable, and largely wearable. Last year for Deltopia I made a pair of crochet shorts, and I just wore another pair I made last weekend. It’s super gratifying to show up to a dayge in a homemade outfit!
In terms of materials, it depends on your project. I get all my crochet hooks and yarn at Michaels. I typically look on YouTube for different patterns — here’s one for crochet micro shorts, a tri-slide bikini top, and a simple backless top. I find it pretty easy to pick up, and there’s some great simple tutorials online for when I get stuck on how to do a specific stitch, how to increase or decrease on a row, or add a new color. As always, check out Pinterest for some ideas!
Watercolor
Watercolor is my favorite way to spice up a birthday card, journal page, or envelope! I love adding some color and decoration, and even if I’m still learning how to layer and mix colors properly, I love the process of making an image liven up a page. When I have a free morning, I enjoy taking my supplies to the beach, listening to music, and watercoloring with ocean water.
For my birthday, one of my best friends got me a gorgeous new watercolor set complete with pearlescent and glittery shades, which I’ve had a great time incorporating onto flower petals, highlights of light, and to make water appear more realistically. Here’s a similar palette! She also got me a fun watercolor book, where there’s different flower designs with instructions on how to shade them properly — I’ve found books like these to be great when I have the itch to paint, but not the inspiration.
I’ve been using the same raggedy brushes since I was in middle school to paint, but I find all you really need is a wide flat brush, a medium-density bristle brush, and a narrow one for details. I highly suggest investing in actual watercolor paper, it helps your paper not to pill when you saturate a page, and I find it helps the pigment not pool in weird places.
Embroidery
My next project I’m going to get into is embroidery. In high school I had a bracelet making and friendship bracelet phase respectively, and I’ve always been into needlework, so it seems the natural next step is embroidery and beadwork. I love embellishing my clothes and making them my own, which appears in many of the crafts I make. In high school my best friends and I had a “sisterhood of the traveling pants”-esque pair of jeans I embroidered on the back yoke. For Big-Little reveal this year for my sorority I made my little a makeup bag with the Greek letters Alpha Phi and a hoodie spelling it out. I think it’s a fun way to add personalization to an outfit, be it patchwork or designs.
Next, I would love to try embroidering some designs with seed beads, which I think would be the perfect pop of color, texture, and luminosity I’m looking for my upcoming spring break trip. As always, I get my ideas from Pinterest and TikTok.
In effect, I find crafting an incredible way to unleash my creativity, make something for myself, and limit my screen time. I enjoy how intentional and effectual it is, and I highly recommend checking out some of these ideas to make your spring inventive and unique. Stay tuned, I’ll keep you all posted on my creations!