Craft For Health

A Daughter Uses Crafts to Honor and Remember Her Mother by Gail Green

 

 

I used crafts to heal from my mother’s death from cancer and the agonizing months watching her deteriorate from the strong, attractive woman I saw my entire life into a total stranger. It was difficult to have so many memories of her suffering, and these daily visuals haunted me throughout the day and night. 

 

 For example, at one point, she was bleeding internally and looked just like someone in full makeup from a scene from the movie “Beetlejuice”, including lips covered in black from the dried blood. Images like that are very hard to erase.  And when they are happening to someone you love, it also becomes traumatizing.

How I coped

So, while my mom was dying from the end stages of the disease, I colorized black and white photos of her, both as a little girl and as a new bride, bringing her back to her past when she was in her happiest days, free from any illness or pain.  The act of coloring was actually an act of lovingly stroking my mother’s face, hair, etc, as well as a way for me to erase the reality of what I saw each time I visited her in hospice.  

  After she passed, I also created a memory box that included one of those photos plus miniature items I crafted representing the things my mother loved to do.  Unfortunately, that box was lost so I do not have a reference photo of it to share.   

  It was not so much the object, however, as it was the act of creating the components for the memory box that helped me heal from the pain.  It was as if I was making things right, erasing her pain as I stroked on the color that gave back life to the black and white photos. Creating items uniquely representing what she loved the most also brought honor to her life and served as a process of reflection on all that we had shared.

You can learn more about Gail Green at www.gailgreen.net and also at www.Sweetpetatoes.com.

  

Visit me on the blogosphere at www.gailgreen.blogspot.com

Crafting My Way Through Grief, Confusion and Exhaustion by Alice Braga

 

When I became a full-time mother almost seven years ago, my days as a free-spirited musician (with a day job supporting her art) came to a halt. When my daughter was diagnosed with a chronic illness two years later, what was left of my identity as a singer-songwriter was all but buried beneath grief, confusion and exhaustion.

 Once in a while I ventured into the recording studio and also started a home-based coaching business, but the economic downturn of 2008, not to mention a highly competitive hunt for a good kindergarten, put an end to that.

 

During some of the roughest patches, the only thing that cut through a fog of fear and inertia was color. The rich palette of my daughter’s oil pastels. The vibrant images in Anthropologie and Sundance catalogs. The vivid pinks, reds, and yellows of roses in my courtyard and outside markets on Broadway.

Between my husband’s photo trade magazines, the plethora of catalogs I receive almost daily, and my daughter’s art (she provided the heart in the pink hope collage) I’ve become a collaging fiend, filling journals and three-ring binders with playful and wise phrases and poems juxtaposed with gorgeous scenery, jewelry, horses, whatever catches my fancy. I try not to analyze why I’m drawn to a picture or theme, but I do notice clues to my heart’s yearnings.

 For a while, England kept showing up in my collages, and within a few months, my husband was called to London on business for a week, and my daughter and I were able to join him. I can’t say for sure whether my collages manifested an international trip for three, but I can say the images opened my mind to the idea of crossing the Atlantic with a child on a very strict diet. No small feat!

 

 At a friend’s suggestion, I began blogging earlier this year, and I found myself illustrating my mini-essays and musings with collages and snapshots. After 14 years of delegating photography to my husband, I am having a ball reporting on the beauty and whimsy of New York (and my imagination) in both still photos and video. No longer holding on so tightly to my identity as a writer, I’m excited about visual storytelling and what else it will reveal to me. And more importantly, I am at peace with the choices I’ve made to help my daughter thrive.

 

Links:

http://www.AliceBraga.com

http://www.YouTube.com/RabbitHoleReport (“A Barrage of Collage” gives you a peek inside one of my collage binders, including one of the British collages)

http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/AliceMarie

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/alice-marie/id4067062

I Found Myself in Arts and Crafts by Reija Eng

I was recently talking to some old friends that I hadn't met since me and my family moved from Sweden to UK nearly two years ago. During this time I have carried our now 13-month-old twins full-term, given birth to them via a painful cesarean section, looked after our eldest four-year-old daughter alongside two babies and tried to keep everyone happy while never getting a whole night's sleep. In addition, I have been bound to my neighbourhood surroundings; I don't drive and I wouldn't fit in to the bus with the twin buggy and buggy board - a combination that people, more or less accurately, refer to as a minivan.
 
I was telling my friends how hard life was in the grey suburbs of London with endless rows of shabby houses and only a few trees, and how difficult it has been for us to adjust, being used to the lush green nature and fresh air of Sweden. In this moment one of my friends commented, with some amusement in his voice, that at least I had my scrapbooking.

 
Yes, at least I have my scrapbooking! My days are filled with routines involving my children and their wellbeing. It's a five to nine job without any major breaks. I take huge pride in what I do for my children, but without realising it I have slowly given up my social life and my freedom. There really isn't much one can do after the kids have gone to sleep, and although my husband contributes a lot to childcare and housework, I'm always too tired in the evenings. All this has led me to question who I am. Am I just a mother, an all-in-one diaper changing-washing-cooking-soothing-smoothing-mother-machine, alone in a foreign country? Or am I still me and if so, who exactly am I?

 
Everybody with children knows that part of being a parent is giving up on your own time and making way for a new identity. It's about thinking what's best for the children and doing your utmost for their growth and happiness in life. All parents know that in this lifechanging process it's easy to forget about yourself, but I think it's extremely important to find a balance between being a parent and being you, and giving yourself time without children.
 
In the midst of all these domestic demands, I can honestly say that scrapbooking has saved my life. It might sound strange but when I finally get some time for myself, after being up and running for 15 hours, being by myself and being creative means everything to me. Scrapbooking is my therapy. I love the evenings when I get to sit by myself and indulge in the pretty materials. It's a creative process, a complete opposite to my daily routines. It's my way of developing my identity and holding on to it. Going back to the moments captured on the photos helps me reflect on life and decide what memories I want to preserve for the future. To create something with photos of me and my family also makes me realise how great life is, despite the sleepless nights and the heavy workload. Ultimately, scrapbooking has made me realise that yes, I am a mum of three but I'm still me and a huge part of me is to use my hands creatively. I found myself in arts and crafts and being creative and expressing myself has helped me in finding my identity. And in the end, exploring and developing my identity has made me both happier and healthier. 
 
If you are interested in scrapbooking, have any questions or want to see what else I've made, you are more than welcome to visit my blog: http://reijapysslar.blogspot.com/

 

Crafting Life into Something to Cherish - by Cherish Flieder

I love working with my hands whether it is pouring a candle, sculpting a figure, designing blooms in a garden, cutting paper collages for a card, or painting a children’s book illustration. For me, crafting is my way of escaping from our fast paced, digital world, to relax and to make something new. The creative process can be as energizing as it can be demanding, but I think it is a great way to reset your mind and see things in a different light. There is such a wonderful world out there to engage when you are not tied down to your computer! The process of crafting allows that exploratory adventure while looking for new possibilities.

My Story

While I was growing up, my parents adopted 2 babies in addition to us 4 biological kids. Their big hearts led them to also take care of about 7 more special needs foster children for several years at a time. These precious children suffered from all types of medical challenges including autism, cardiac and pulmonary conditions, cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol syndrome, and a liver transplant. Since I was the eldest, I took on a lot of responsibility to help out. From a young age creating art and crafting was my way to share creativity as well as express my individuality within our large fun-loving family. 

I loved being a big sister to so many unique siblings and fondly remember spending time teaching my little sisters and brothers how to use their hands to make things. All forms of crafting were a joyful part of my childhood passed on to me from my great-grandmother, grandmother and mother. I even had a little store out of my bedroom called "Bluebird’s Hideout" where I sold for a penny or two my prized creations to supportive family members. I was a creative entrepreneur even back then!

Today, I am a classically trained illustrator and designer, but I am always looking outside of the box to find something that is unique, fun and meets a need. As I was developing my most recent style, I made a conscious decision to incorporate hand crafting into my art to embrace the texture and colors of the mixed materials. Currently, I create my illustrations with watercolor and with hand embroidered accents. I call this style or technique "Something To Cherish".

 I am capable of making many of these my images 100% digitally. However, it is important to the quality of the work and for my health, to implement the maximum amount of hand crafting possible. I am far too aware of health risks and how working at a computer for extended periods could cause irreparable damage to my back, wrists and eyes. I designed this style of art purposefully to get me away from the computer to use my hands and eyes in a different way.

Now, that I have my own art and design studio, Cherished Solutions LLC , crafting is a great stress relief for me. Crafting allows me to do something on my own which is very therapeutic and centering. It also helps me feel emotionally connected with and honor the memory of my great-grandmother and grandmother who were avid crafters in their day. 

I often use crafting to decompress during a break in a stressful day or to unwind at night. The skills I have developed by crafting over the years have given me the ability to create almost anything visually that I can imagine for myself, my family, my friends and my clients. I am hoping that continuing to celebrate crafting in my business and art will bring joy and health into my life and the lives of others.

Cherish Flieder  is a visionary artist that works with publishers, manufacturers and other niche businesses, assisting them to achieve their goals by creating designs and illustrations in sight of thoughtful marketing objectives. Projects often include the creation and production of conceptual and cohesive licensing collections, product development, books (especially children’s books), packaging, and other marketing materials.

Beading and Needlework Amidst Many Moments of Sadness

Mom had reached the stage of dying where she couldn't really converse anymore, her speech was difficult to understand, she was bed bound and she hadn't had anything to eat or drink for about two weeks except water. We knew we were getting close to the end.

So, this day, it was a shock when Mom was adamant about wanting to sit up in the recliner -- we hadn't done that in weeks either. So we moved her to the chair and she was trying to say something and I was struggling to understand. "Water?" She shook her head no. "Pillow?" No. And then, I couldn't believe what I thought she had said...

"I'm sorry Mom, I'm trying to understand. I think you just said that you wanted a cup of tea?"  And she nodded yes.

It was an awakening of sorts. Imagine having had a couple of weeks of minimal communication from Mom and all of the sudden...this! She wanted a cup of tea! It was a moment of joy amidst many moments of sadness.

Well, she couldn't manage sipping from the cup very well. She sputtered and coughed as some of the liquid went into her lungs and the tea dribbled down her chin. But she smiled. She smiled and croaked out, clear as day, "It's good..." which made us all smile together.

Her shoulders relaxed a little more and we sat there for quite a while helping her to hold her cup and to take little sips of her final cup of tea. She died about another week or so after that and never requested another thing.

And on the morning that she died, after we had made the important phone calls and we had that intermittent silence, waiting for the world to show up...realizing that we were in transition to another ritual that would carry us through our grief, waiting for it to start. Because we, the care team, had nothing left to do. She was gone. This woman whom we had loved and cared for to the best of our ability no longer needed us.

The silence was tangible; it felt threatening. Every sound, every tick of the clock was amplified and deafening.

Tea is powerful. It's an Elixir of Life. It is the cheapest therapy I know and it is a universal language of love.

And so, when I have reached the end of my journey, and I can no longer express it for myself --

I hope someone will remember how I like my tea.

My name is Susan Elliot and I used a needle and beads to help me heal through my grief and loss of my mother.  I  hope someone else will think to make their own art, their own design from their heart...it really does help a great deal.

Accelerated Race from Crisis to Crisis by Gail Green

I'm amazed how time can actually stand still while simultaneously disappearing during an accelerated race from crisis to crisis. The last thing I remember clearly was the day before Father's Day 2009...and now, like a time traveler, I'm catapulted forward to right before Memorial Day weekend 2010.  This past year has been filled with one disaster and emergency after another as my elderly father's failing health continues to advance.  Life threatening cardiac events, serious infections out of nowhere, bi-monthly trips to the ER, hospital stays, surgeries, sudden moves from one level of assisted living to another…it’s been endless.  Add in multiple irons in the fire with a new licensing agent and promising contacts, deadlines, projects, collections to create,trade show follow-ups and submissions....and it’s obvious why things like my blog or socializing with friends have been so sadly neglected.  I also stopped phoning or emailing friends, tweeting, checking facebook or even reading Linked-In updates for months as my "free" time dwindled to nothing.  When the phone rang, I’d cringe, expecting it to be yet another emergency that would devour my week and leave me working into the night and all weekend (again) to meet a deadline.  In reality, each day's "surprises" and steep learning curve navigating our very flawed medical system came too frequently & too fast to document, much less process.  All stress, all the time.  

My husband & I managed to leave town for a few days to escape the never-ending winter and visit our son & daughter-in-law in Miami.  Miraculously, nothing bad happened with my dad that week.  I returned 5 days later totally relaxed, able to concentrate and feeling recharged.  And ready to embrace an opportunity to propose, coordinate and teach workshops at the upcoming CHA (Craft Hobby Association) Consumer SuperShow in Chicago (Rosemont Convention Center) the end of July. 

Following directly after the Craft & Hobby industry’s mid-year trade show, this consumer show was first introduced last year in Orlando....and was a smashing success!  Now that the trade show is back in the Midwest, people will be traveling here from everywhere by the busload to attend this 2 day consumer event.  Instead of feeling stressed with my dad’s continuing saga, I’m really looking forward to teaching 2 Workshops at the Consumer SuperShow, as well as working with younger crafters in the KidsZone. 

I absolutely love inspiring people to discover their creative selves and explore crafty possibilities! Developing these workshops has also given me a fantastic opportunity to focus on something wonderful—crafts!  “Playing” with craft materials is a great way to de-stress.  Plus, I have something really, really fun to look forward to when the trade and consumer shows roll into town--reconnecting with long-time friends and business associates, demoing my new line of Sweet PETatoes rubber stamps with Impression Obsession and escaping for just a little while.

Don’t worry about my dad…he won’t be neglected. My brother promised he’d be available for anything that may occur during that time…

 

And here is the link to the CHA Consumer SuperShow….. www.craftsupershow.com  and link to my blog….  www.gailgreen.blogspot.com I also have a banner and a flyer that include info plus a discount coupon for the show.  Let me know if I can email it to you as an attachment and you can post that on your blog as well.  My workshops are going to be SO incredibly fun….one is Rubber Stamping Techniques and Beyond with my new line of Sweet PETatoes stamps (kittens and puppies….all the pet lovers will go wild…) and the second is From Trash to Treasure....reusing, recycling, repurposing everyday “throw-away” items into amazing usable treasures by adding environmentally safe and sustainable craft materials … (including EarthSafe paints, Glue Dots, Strathmore’s bamboo and hemp sustainable cardstock…and more!) 

 

The Caretaker by Cory & Who I am inside and out by Lynn

 

Corey:   Many of us have different sides to ourselves. The person we are with our closest friend is different than the person we are with our kids, our mail carrier, or our co-workers. But we’re also often different on the inside from who we are (or appear to be) on the outside.

In therapy, I sometimes suggest that my clients explore this internal/external side of themselves with a directive using a box and additional supplies of their choice.

Beth was an uber responsible, twenty-seven year old administrative assistant at an auto dealership. The eldest of four girls, Beth had been married for two years and had no children of her own, although she frequently cared for a college age sister with a severe eating disorder. She also spent a great deal of time and energy doing “what she could” for her father (depressed for as long as she could remember), and mother (overwhelmed with the burden of her father). Clearly, Beth’s role in her family of origin and now in her adult life, was that of “The Caretaker.”

Beth created a box which looked, not surprisingly, neat on the outside, with each side of the box representing (with various materials) a part of her life that she felt responsible for: her husband, her job, her sisters, her mom, her dad and her friends.

The inside of the box was a different story. A tangled, disordered mix of string, photos, playing cards, and other symbolic objects gave a glimpse of what Beth was feeling inside. “As I was making the box, I really saw that I place so much effort on taking care of everyone else that I don’t really know who I am. On the inside, I am a jumble of memories and guilt and dreams, but I don’t have any energy left to sort it all out. I thought it was best to focus on helping everyone who needs me, but I can see now that the inside part of me has been neglected.”

Beth later created a new box, signifying the person she wanted to be, on the inside and out. After making the box, Beth began to take the steps necessary to bridge these aspects of herself, with a sense of purpose, hope and greater awareness.

Lynn: I went into my studio with the idea of doing something that represented “who I am inside/who I am outside.” I didn’t have a conscious thought about what I would create, but grabbed a large sheet of paper and a thick, black pen and started “doodling.” (Anyone who knows me well, realizes that I’m an inveterate doodler. I once doodled on my son’s shoe as we sat talking!)

After awhile, the doodles morphed into roots. The flower emerged (looking somewhat human), and I tore paper green and blue papers for the petals and an off-white for the center. The same doodles, enlarged became the shoots and also appear in the center of the circle. 

It’s interesting for me to note that none of this was a conscious move to “make something” that represented what I thought about who I am inside/who I am outside. The collage “made itself.”

What fascinates me about this is how I think it actually does represent how I see myself, that is, the same on the inside (underground) as on the outside (the flower’s “arms” and circles inside the petals). Overall, the picture looks happy, optimistic, maybe a bit quirky, just as I (most often) see myself inside and out.

Quilting as the Art of Healing by Jeannie Bush

It is early Friday in La Crosse WI. My sister, in Fargo, ND, calls to say there has been a change in Dad’s breathing. You will want to come home, but know that you will not make it “in time.”

 

Five days later, Dad is still alive; his pacemaker keeps on pacing.  The five of us kids and Mom try to pace ourselves. In life and in death, Dad had a hard time giving up.

 

Each of us handles the stress of a death of a parent or loved one differently. For me, sitting at my sister’s home and hand sewing on the binding of a quilt gave me peace. 

 

My sister and I had shared the making of this quilt to give to our nephew and his bride . . . the wedding just over a week away.  Calm comes over me as I thread the needle, feel the fabric with my fingers, and rhythmically stitch the binding. . . but I see in my mind,  my Dad dying the wasting-away- kind-of- death he feared, just like when he was a Prisoner of War under the Japanese in WWII. Tears fall on the wedding quilt.

 

In the past eight years, my husband lost his job of 23 years, gained and lost four more jobs, is unemployed presently, and had a massive heart attack at age 46; we became empty nest; my father died; my mother has slipped into vascular dementia; my sister has colon cancer; my mother-in-law has breast cancer, chronic lymphatic leukemia and had a hemorrhagic stroke. I come from a family of medicine, and understand it well, but, is this enough stress yet?

 

When my world is falling down around me, I head to my sewing area. Smell the unique scent of fabric. Feel the soft, rough, smooth textures. Put some fabrics together on the design wall. Hear the whir of sewing machine. Calmness comes over me. Now I can sort the feelings, deal with some, put some away for later. Some would call it therapy. I call it quilting, the art of healing.

 

Written by Jeannie M. Bush

Founded in 1999, Quilting From My Heart created quilted treasures with personalized story labels that will touch your heart.

www.QuiltingFromMyHeart.com

http://quiltingfrommyheart.com/blog/

Caregivers and Coping

This is another beautiful post by Gail Green.  You can read her last installment here.

 
 

So many of us "boomers" are going through a period in our lives where we are having to watch our aging parents deteriorate or go through catastrophic illness....all while we still have our own children who are unable to move out because of the current economy, full time jobs at the height of our careers, and the beginning of our own aging/medical issues.  

While doing crafts are very healing, there are also other things that can help one deal with caretaker burnout and stress....pets, nature, writing/reading inspirational pieces....so many things, including inspiring and helping others in a non-caregiving capacity.  

 

 
I am currently in the midst of my 85 year old father's constant and unpredictable medical issues that have been going on now for about 2 solid years.  Over the past 2 months alone, he has been hospitalized twice with serious infection and heart attacks, and undergone angiograms and angioplasty. And he has advancing Parkinson's. He's currently in rehab and will be released soon to (hopefully) return to his apartment in an independent living facility.  But we are still waiting for an evaluation to determine if he can even return to the independent side, need 24 hour care-giving (and what type) or need to move into a nursing facility with round the clock medical care.  

Life has been way too stressful and I'm starting to feel very burned out from the unpredictability of each intense event, as well as the learning curve to know what is to be done for each step.

In the midst of this, I was contacted a few days ago to teach weekly drawing lessons to a 13 year old with small motor skill problems.  Today was our first lesson and, like everyone else who has ever taken private drawing lessons from me, he began the hour feeling unsuccessful and ended it with an enthusiastic "I really think I can do this!"  He positively beamed. 

Experiencing the change in this young person today and knowing that each subsequent week will have this bright spot, has given me hope and brought me back to the joy of creativity.  Helping this youngster learn how to see the world through different eyes so he can draw has also helped me see things in a different perspective (pardon the pun!).  His joy has become my own and has helped remind me that creativity can stir the soul even in the midst of a storm.

You can learn more about Gail Green at www.GailGreen.net and www.SweetPetatoes.com

Caring for Caregivers, Part 2

 

A pine cone holder that was created from found objects by folks in Mary's class

 Last week, you may have read the first part in this series.  Here’s part 2 by Mary Lyon.

And that's the whole point!

I've found the most fun arises from having everyone create a face. It can be their own self-portrait or caricature of a friend or coworker. First, they choose a large flat plastic lid from a supply of them that I provide. Next, they pick through  several boxes of recycled stuff I've collected and sorted for them - bottle tops, pull-tabs, beads, wine corks, twist-ties, pipe cleaners, and other stuff to glue onto their "face." GREAT way to recycle and save a landfill! Plus, the cost is almost nothing besides a small amount of art supplies like scissors, the pipe cleaners, glue guns and glue sticks that you may already have anyway. All the other components are free. 

Here are some doll house creations

 

Fridge

 

 

Sink

Table with Pipe cleaner person relaxing

Stove  
 

I love the use of found objects! 

Participants are invited, and reminded, to let loose and go a little crazy, and have fun with this! Go as wild as you dare! Nothing is too strange or odd-looking, and the funnier the better. As we all work together, I assist with their efforts, and go around admiring each participant's work, holding it up so everyone else can admire it and maybe get some ideas, and they can all share some chuckles. Of course I provide lots of samples of pieces I've made or that other students or kids have made for me. 

And to add to the hilarity, I always try to wear one of the funnier oddities I've madeNo one expects this. They really let their guard down. It helps them "go to another place" where everything is more fun, light-hearted and, as the Little Prince would say, a welcome departure from all those "matters of great consequence" that grownups have to bear in all seriousness. With the schedules they keep and the responsibilities they face, and the endless demands they have to meet, I think these wonderful souls deserve to take a break that's a real departure, just to have fun and even be a little silly.

 And of course we take pictures!!! The twinkles that return to their eyes, the roses that begin to appear in their cheeks, and the smiles that take over their faces as they model their delightful creations, and marvel at the unconventional creativity they've unleashed within themselves, are a huge tonic for all! 

We share ideas, anecdotes, and many many laughs while we're "working". I've even had some participants tell me they might want to hold some classes like this where they do their care-giving work. They leave the class with smiles on their faces, a lilt in their steps, and a fun story to share - complete with ingenious hand-made props! And so help me, I think some of them actually look a little younger...