Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
These have been all over the web recently,(the former from here), throwbacks to the classic British propaganda posters including references to Harry Potter and more. When I saw a blank template made over at Femmena Mala, I had to give it a go. Plus, mine rhymes which I think gives it an edge over “Keep calm and use a cruciatus curse” or whatever some of the derivatives say…
That said, how the heck does one “Keep Calm and Meri On?”
You craft, of course! So today, in honor of winter doldrums everyone seems to be plowing through (I feel like everyone is dead tired and beaten down after this week), I’ll go through a hierarchy of best to worst crafts for stress relief (for me, at least).
Here goes!
The best of the best: Calming Craft Magic
-Macrame, Meri style- (as in you don’t follow a pattern and you go with the flow). It’s like knitting without the counting and you can’t really screw it up. Bliss!
-Drawing- More on this during another post, but doodling has ALWAYS been a friend of mine- from the days I tattooed my own ink sleeves while working at mall kiosks to the page filling doodles of meetings and trainings…
-papercrafts (paper cutting, collage, papier mache, and more)- My family can probably picture me sitting during a family function with a scissors and an old magazine or newspaper, cutting and layering and whistling to my heart’s content
-Hot glue crafts. Quick, cheap, tacky- what’s not to like?
Pretty good:
-knitting- If I make something easy like a simple scarf, it’s very relaxing. If I screw up, things can go wrong…
-Hand sewn crafts- Make my fingers hurt after awhile, but I still enjoy creating things this way
-Painting- Love it, but due to the prep, cleanup, etc, I can’t put this under my top category.
Crafts that make me CRAZY-
-machine sewing- ARGH as much as I would love to be able to make my own clothes, so that maybe something would actually FIT, I go nutso when I try to reroute the thread and work the machine. Really, it’s all about the machine.
-Origami- More on this another day, but I think this falls into the same category as reading diagrams… my brain just won’t do it.
So there you have it!
I suppose you could follow the general rule of:
Good Crafts: Portable, No rules, tactile
Bad Crafts: Following Patterns, Impractical, “right and wrong way,” directions, cumbersome, too pretty…
What are your favorite ways to relax? Are there crafts that make you bat-s#*@ crazy too?
Have a wonderful, calm, influenza free weekend pals!
Meri
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