Just over a year ago my nephew Adam was paralyzed in a tragic Rugby accident – he was only 19 years old at the time. You can imagine how something so terrible like that would affect his parents, sister and family not to mention my young nephew. Waiting in the hospital with my distraught sister while a team of doctors inserted a metal rod in my nephew's back was surreal. Words could never convey the feelings of intense grief that flooded the waiting room for several hours. My nephew was in the hospital Spinal Chord unit for a while and then was transferred to the Rehabilitation center for a few months. I was trying to think of doing something for my nephew to buoy his spirits while he was in rehab. I decided to create a line of cards or mini pieces of art which were laminated and called "Inspiration Nation". Every time I visited Adam I would bring him an Inspiration card and tape it to the wall. After a few weeks of this the wall was plastered with these little positive messages. I like to think these cards helped buoy Adam's spirits a bit. They did make him smile. On a completely selfish level I guess creating these cards helped to channel my feelings into something positive and hopeful. Time and time again art has stepped in to “save me” or help morph feelings of helplessness into something concrete and outside of myself. In an odd way I think of feelings as having shape and substance that live in our bodies. If they don't have an outlet, are never spoken about or channeled at all they will sit and fester inside of us. Doing something creative around these feelings whether it be writing a poem, creating a quilt or making a drawing gives these feelings an outlet – a life of their own. Ultimately I feel better and more at peace after creating something when I feel grief, sadness or anger. The next time you encounter strong emotions which have no place to go then try your hand at creation – you get to pick the method as long as you put your heart, soul and emotions into it!
NOTE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS OVER. WE WILL BE ANNOUNCING THE WINNER SHORTLY.
BOOK GIVEAWAY: Post your comments on Violettes entry and we'll draw a winner for her newest book Journal Bliss. Winner then has the option of sending in their original journal page and story about their own healing journey and we'll post it on Craft For Health. Good Luck!
About the Book and author:
Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts to Unleash your Inner Eccentric By Violette Clark
“Be inspired by pages and pages of artistic inspiration and prompts designed to embrace your inner eccentric. In Journal Bliss, join author Violette as she shares her illustrations, fonts, doodles, and soul-searching prompts - freeing you to start your own visual-journal journey. Express yourself openly in a style that is uplifting and fun!”
Violette a Canadian Artist born in Casablanca, Morocco to Spanish parents, Violette is a compulsive painter, who paints with the color and warmth of Mediterranean Sunshine
Continue reading "Giving Birth To a StillBorn Child by Kara L.C. Jones " »
After the birth of my first daughter Emma, I struggled with post-partum depression. For nine months, I kept this secret. Trying to find my own way out of the darkness. My days were full of negative thoughts and hopeless energy. Finally, the fear took over and I sought help. While medical support and love from my family were very instrumental in my healing, the discovery of scrapbooking was an unanticipated anecdote.
By putting my daily events down on paper, creating beauty instead of negativity, through my thoughts, I regained positive focus. Call it, the healing power of creativity. The artistic person I had always been was no longer squandered under those clouds of doom. And, it absolutely regenerated my world through a fresh network of other Moms and fellow scrappers. The sun began to shine in my life again!
This hobby has been an enrichment in my life ever since. For as long as I can recollect, I have yearned to be an author. My ideas are plentiful. And while the subject matter has changed over the years, my desire to write has never waned. Alas, reality has set in. With the advent of two babies, a house and a small business, I realize this ideal is on hold. Or perhaps… has just taken a different path. In launching my own custom album business I have the opportunity to be the “author” of many wonderful, fulfilling stories. My own life has been so blessed by the stories my clients have allowed me to “write” using their photographs and memorabilia. Through their generosity, I can weave a tale that will be embraced for generations; a treasured book among the other novels and literature on their family bookshelves.
In this joy of building legacies, there lies a silver lining. Whenever I feel a disconnect with all that is true in my own world, or the bigger picture we know as the universe, I can sit down and get lost in a wonderful tale or journey that I may never experience myself. I am so privileged, ten years later to still be doing what I love and…finding the therapy I need from the beautiful life stories that envelop me.
Thank you Kathy for the gracious invitation to your blog. Crafting can be the finest therapy, I am grateful you found me through the words that I used to hesitate to share…
Kellie is a scrapbooker who creates custom keepsake memory albums.
I had an idea for a photograph in which a girl stood on a knit patch of garden in the midst of a desolate landscape, for this photo I took up knitting, in the photo I used the knitting to represent a safe place, but while knitting for the photograph I realized the activity itself was a very effective form of occupational therapy. I developed several characters, compulsive knitters, and ended up becoming one myself.
This whole series of photographs and knit objects was made during a deep depression, when the one thing I could do was knit. One day, looking down at the long pink strips I had been knitting all week, I realized I was making me a new brain. A soft pink cushy brain, much better than the one i was using at the moment.
Now that the depression is over and I can see beyond my own brain, knitting and crocheting have become a medium where a single strand of yarn can be turned into anything, the absurd can be palpable, portable and extremely real. www.danielaedburg.net
Most of my life I've been nicknamed "Sunshine". I'm naturally a happy, encouraging and energetic soul. I am a pastry chef. I'm creative by nature but also mathematical. Baking became my life's work early on. I graduated from Culinary School in Scottsdale, Arizona just after my twenty-first birthday and continued to pursue pastry. It was my heart. However, I had a life long dream to be a mother as well. Magically, I found myself married to a sweet husband and we desired children. None came. It took several years. Finally, when the opportunity arrived to be a full time mom, I jumped at it. Little did I know that after my second pregnancy I would face the awful and dark reality of post partum depression. My normally bright disposition was shaded.
As a young mother it was very hard for me to find time for myself, yet I knew that in order to give my children all the emotional strength they needed, I would have to take care of my soul. In that pit of depression and despair, it became ever so difficult to face even the basic needs of myself and children. Often the only light of joy I saw in a day was the brief time that my children napped and I could pull out my bread books and make a new creation. Over time, I discovered a renewed passion for decorative bread. That feeling I had missed for so long was returning. I had something of my old baking life back and it felt good to remember how much I loved to create. As my children grew, I included them in my baking experiences. Often we'd mold homemade play dough for hours on end in our humble kitchen. More times than I can remember, I was sculpting life-like flowers next to my son's "dough-cars" and squiggle-haired silly-faced characters. I found myself encouraging his heart creatively and in so doing, found a common interest that has continued. Creating bread pulled me out of the darkness, along with the loving support of dear friends and family who finally saw a glimpse of "Sunshine" coming back.
I never imagined that I would ever see my children grow up. Yet they have passed those toddler years and are now in school during the day. The depression is all but gone and I have that passion for life and creating that I knew before. I've taken that love of creating to many others through teaching as a private instructor. A few years back a dear friend who I had attended culinary school with, encouraged me to write a food and baking blog to share my bread and cooking skills with the world. Needless to say, yet another creative outlet has been discovered. I love to create amazing artistic breads, foods, and share those creations with the my blog friends. The bread painting I do has been featured in Australian Baking Business Magazine, as well as Food Network's blog. A local TV station producer saw my bread and asked me to come visit the station. That has grown into a part time passion as a regular featured chef on the NBC and Fox local TV stations here in Phoenix. In so doing, I have seen countless souls discover their own baking creative-genius. It has been so fulfilling and exciting to play even a small role in helping others face any challenge in life. It is my passion to help others find their creative spirit. In that spirit of love, I have found light and peace. I thank God everyday that I was able to come out of that darkness and I know that anyone facing those challenges in life, need only begin to hope that there may be a spark of light left in their soul. Let that hope grow. Create something. It may seem small, but it may be just what your heart needs to see the sunshine of day once again.
http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/search/label/Decorative%20loaves
http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/search/label/Decorative%20loaves
http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/search?q=sculpted+flowers
Kathy Peterson is a design and lifestyle expert, best selling author, TV personality and product developer who licenses her artwork with manufacturers. www.KathyPeterson.com
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