Submitted by: Rosy Lamont

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, 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.

If you’re still at a loss for what to try, how about scrap booking or rubber stamping? You don’t require manual dexterity nor mobility and can start at any level. There are even dedicated magazines to inspire you further. Scrap booking is especially popular, with classes, kits and books, Getting raw material isn’t a problem as craft stores are full of all you require, with stickers, albums, and even samples to copy. Memory albums make great gifts besides giving that personal touch to your favorite moments in life!

If your creative side longs to escape, painting kits offer an easy and inexpensive way to experiment in ceramics, silk or on canvas. Difficulty ranges from childlike to old masters reproductions! Full instructions and all materials are included in the kits whether acrylics, oils or watercolors. Ceramics come in bisque form to color as you like, or in greenware (unfired bisque) for that extra challenge.

Needlecraft will hold your interest for hours. And if you enjoy working with your hands, it’s certainly for you. As with the others, kits are available here too. Select from crochet, knitting, crossstich and many more. Lots of ideas can be found in pattern books, free pattern sites on the internet, or magazines, using hundreds of different colors and types of threads and yarns. Framed wall hangings, keyrings, paperweights, hand towels for the kitchen or bathroom, all can include needlecraft. Fabric and floss are available a multitude of colors, by the skein 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.

About the Author: Copyright 2006 Rosy Lamont. All rights reserved. Rosy Lamont owns RL Crafts, a leading resource about crafts on line. For more information, and access to her articles, go to

rlcrafts.com/newsletters/

Source:

isnare.com

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