Crafts
You can do it Standing up or Lying down.
Author: Rosy Lamont
Article: A person needs some activity to keep themselves involved - and something interesting or fun makes it more pleasant too! Crafts promise this. Activities like painting, decoupage, ceramics, clay, sewing, quilting, paper crafts, scrap booking, rubber stamping, and much more are being pursued as crafts.
Just as kids get a lot of pleasure making dolls and dolls' houses out of popsicle sticks and old fashioned clothespins, adults derive relaxation from crafts. To our great-grandparents activities like soap making, fruit drying, or quilting were part of their daily routine a hundred years ago whereas now these make great hobbies! Some people even carve a living out of their crafts.
You don't have to be particularly dexterous to do many types of crafts. Scrap booking and rubber stamping are both activities that people of many skill levels can enjoy, and don't require much in the way of manual mobility. Scrap booking is especially popular, with classes, kits, books, and craft stores full of the materials required.
You can get stickers, albums, and even pages that have already been created. Magazines are dedicated to this craft, and most craft publications include a section on scrap booking. Memory albums make great gifts and a personalized way to remember your favorite moments in life.
The artistically inclined may find painting kits useful to get started. Being easy, inexpensive, and containing everything you need, you can start rightaway in acrylic, oil or watercolor. Or you can opt for a canvas board or a ceramic kit. Whether a child or a skillful painter, kits have skill levels to suit everyone right up to reproducing old masters.
With ceramics, from simple holiday kits through to beautiful figurines or practical every day items, you can either choose to buy plain bisque items and paint as you wish or buy greenware (unfired bisque) from the pottery stores to add your own unique touch!
Needlecraft is another great option for people who enjoy working with their hands. It includes crochet, knitting, dressmaking, tapestry and crossstitch. Some of these also come in kits with everything you would need, so absolutely no hassle to complete the project. You can get quite creative with the patterns.
You also have thousands of pattern books, and a hundred different colors and types of thread and fabric. And don't forget the power of the Internet which has some great free pattern sites to assist in your activity. Framed wall hangings, kitchen and bathroom items are a few examples of crossstitch kits. Floss comes in hundreds of colors, either in single skeins or as collections of related colors.
Craft stores are a favorite haunt for people of all ages. Many people first learn their love of crafts from a parent or grandparent, and pass that on to their children. Whatever types of crafts you enjoy, today's chain craft stores offer materials at discount prices.
Most large craft stores are also on the internet and offer online ordering. People who have tried a craft and decided that they don't like it will often sell their unused materials online or at garage sales at cut-rate prices, making these a great place to look for bargains for experienced crafters or for people checking out a new hobby.
Copyright 2006 Rosy Lamont. All rights reserved. Rosy Lamont owns <a href="http://www.rlcrafts.com">RL Crafts</a>, a leading resource about crafts on line. For more information, and access to her articles, go to http://www.rlcrafts.com/newsletters/
About the author: Rosy Lamont owns <a href="http://www.rlcrafts.com">RL Crafts</a>, a leading resource about crafts on line. For more information, and access to her articles, go to http://www.rlcrafts.com/newsletters/
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