My name is Jessica Skye and I am a dear friend of Ellana. I was invited to do a guest blog post and so here it is. My topic of choice is crafting.
Crafting is a very useful skill and the best bit about crafting is you can literally make ANYTHING using things lying around the house. There is limitless possibility...unless of course, you run out of glue.
Do you craft? Whether you do it as a hobby, or if you are lucky enough to do it as a job.
Crafting can be anything from soap making to embroidery. Even making things with the kids out of boxes. There are crafts made with duct tape, there exists a book about crafting with CAT HAIR.
I started crafting at a young age, from a line of female crafters. My mum knits and sews, in fact, one of my youngest memories is my mum making a little tote bag from offcuts she bought, for school, she also hand sewed a pair of winnie the pooh curtains, it took her ages but they still look great now.
My maternal great-grandmother knitted, my great aunts sewed their own clothes.
I sew and cross stitch among many other things such as card making, scrapbooking.
It is essential to me, as personally, I do it as a hobby and a relaxation exercise. It allows me to be creative and it helps soothe my racing thoughts.I have mental health problems and it really is useful, there are no complex tasks involved in the crafts I do and I find it allows me to be creative without limits. I find doing cross stitch and sewing very relaxing, I would go as far to say it is therapeutic.
For example, cut the back panel off a pair of old tattered jeans, hot glue onto a plain notebook that cost maybe a pound from a discount shop, then you have a notebook with a pocket that would cost 4.99 from the dearer shops.
Then take a section of the leg, sew the bottom, add buttons/a zip to the top and you have a pencil case/make up bag. These are just two examples.
There is a trend called “upcycling” which is what crafters have been doing for decades, taking old stuff and reinventing it, adding pieces or recyling into new things.
So, if you craft. What do you do? Whether you knit or sew, leave a comment below to let us know :)
Ciao,
Jess