Craft For Health

Post-Partum Hope on Paper by Kellie Ideson

 

 

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.

 

The Weight of Sadness Lifted with Paint and Paint Brush by Stephanie Paige Cole

Creating artwork was never my intention.  Not with this exhibit. I went to school for fine art and I love to create sculptures and paintings and photographs, but this was all far from my mind as I stood in my driveway heaving clay pots at the asphalt, cursing and crying. 

My daughter had just died and I was feeling desperate and destroyed, overwhelmed by the intensity of my emotions.  The sound of the clay pot crashing into the driveway and splintering into pieces was satisfying, if only for a moment, and so that became my outlet.  Then one day I picked up a few of the broken shards.  I felt a connection to them, I was as broken and useless as they were, and I decided to give them another chance.  I brought them inside and sculpted them into a mangled heart.  I held this jagged little heart and stared at it and wept.  It was me.  Broken and destroyed but somehow still here. 

Seeing how creation could come from destruction was incredibly inspiring to me, and it opened the floodgates.  I explored the depths of my soul as I sculpted, collaged, sketched, photographed and wrote.  But it was painting that saved me.  I sculpted and sketched when I had an idea I wanted to express, but that's not how it was with painting. 

I painted because I simply felt incapable of doing anything else.  Most of my paintings were created late at night, when my husband was asleep and I was alone with the suffocating silence of my empty house.  I would sneak downstairs and sit on the floor of my living room, painting and crying until the sun came up.  It was such an incredible release to be able to pour myself all over the canvas.  The pain, the anger, the fear, the longing, it was all there in a way I couldn't have expressed in words.  Sometimes tiny glimpses of hope and gratitude would appear, which always surprised me. 

I could feel the weight of my sadness lifting as I transferred it onto the canvas, and by the time the piece was finished I was able to climb the stairs to bed and actually drift off to sleep.  I credit my creativity as the tool that allowed me to navigate my way through the darkness of that first year after Madeline's death, and I still cling to it today- three and a half years later- as I continue to struggle to adjust to life without my daughter.   

Stephanie Paige Cole is the author of  Still: A Collection of Honest Artwork and Writings From the Heart of a Grieving Mother.  She is also the founder of the Sweet Pea Projectand the artist behind the Beauty In The Breakdown exhibition.  Her firstborn child, Madeline Jonna Cole, was stillborn one week after her due date in January 2007.  

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 Helped me Overcome Rejection and Criticism by Iris

I have been always attracted to art and art supplies even at a young age. But I have always been afraid to try creating art because I was afraid that I was not going to be able to make something that is acceptable. I just kept ignoring that need to create. Until, I had my first baby. I had so many memories that I wanted to document them and it was at that time that scrapbooking was introduced to me.

Through this craft I was able to paint, stamp, stitch, hand-cut, emboss... the list is endless. What I am trying to say is that I found an outlet for my desire to create through this craft - without any fear of being rejected or criticized. Sure, people will have good and bad things to say about my work, but the important thing is that I created my pages out of love for my family. It makes me and my family happy and that is what is most important to me. If in the sharing of my pages I am able to inspire other people then that makes the craft even more worth it.

My name is Iris Babao Uy and I am currently designing for Prima Marketing, Webster's Pages, and October Afternoon. I have also recently joined Creative Therapy and I was among the Memory Makers Masters of 2008. I am thankful for all the opportunities I have been blessed with through this craft. You can find out more about me and my pages at : My Blog

 

 

Healing Loss & Grief through Collage Art by Corey and Lynn

(Corey) Carly was a twenty four-year-old wife and mother of two girls, a six-year-old and a two-year-old girl. She and her husband, Mark, had endured the devastating preterm stillbirth of a son – a pregnancy that had occurred after two early-term miscarriages, in between the births of their daughters. Although she had sought short-term psychological support just after her son’s death, Carly came in to see me because of lingering feelings of depression and anxiety. She and Mark were also hoping to conceive again soon, although they hadn’t had any “luck.”

Early on, it became apparent that Carly hadn’t had the opportunity to say “goodbye” to the babies she had lost (although, at the time of each Carly and Mark had been urged by their families to do some kind of grief work). She and Mark felt that the best way to heal would be to look forward, rather than back, and while this seemed to help in the short term, she wondered if avoiding her grief meant that it could never truly leave her.

Carly began to create collage images (using torn pieces of magazine pages, glued to large sheets of paper). Through this relatively “safe” media, she brought to the surface the deep and complicated feelings surrounding her multiple losses. As she created she talked. “Oh,” she said, one day. “I see that I’m drawn to all these pictures of dry and barren deserts. I think this must be because I am afraid I won’t be able to have another child. I’m worried that my body can’t nurture another life.”

Three weeks later, Carly announced that she was pregnant and nine months later she delivered a healthy baby girl. She later told me that she needed a “healthy goodbye to make room for new life” and felt that her collage work was a crucial element to this healing process.

The Stress Connection and the Craft Solution by Nancy Monson

Who isn’t stressed these days? Be it our finances, our jobs, our families, our weight, our health, there’s a lot to get worked up about.

Of course we know that too much stress is bad for us, but how do we lighten the load? Sure, there are the standard stress-reducing techniques: exercise, meditation, yoga and tai chi. But we crafters have a secret weapon—our hobbies. Yes, they’re not just self-indulgences, they’re actually therapeutic!

 

I’ve been researching and writing about crafts and healing for several years now (I’m a health writer by profession, a quilter/multimedia crafter by passion). I even found a study published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association that showed sewing is more relaxing than playing a card or videogame or reading a newspaper.

 

Other studies show that engaging in creative activities can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as medication use and doctors’ visits. Writing about stressful experiences in a diary can reduce symptoms in people with asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.

 

Journaling about bad or traumatic events can also help improve memory and concentration. Most telling of all, it appears that rhythmic and repetitive activities—like knitting, sewing, quilting and ceramics—can actually reverse the stress response in the body and induce a feeling of calmness in the mind and body. This is known as the relaxation response, and Dr. Herbert Benson (www.mbmi.org) has proven that regularly bringing on the relaxation response can reduce the risk of anxiety disorders, depression, and even heart disease.

 

Why are crafts healing? Largely because they distract you from your worries and anxieties. They make you focus on the here and now. They’re fun.

So craft on—it’s good for you!

 

Nancy Monson is the authof of Craft To Heal.  For more information please visit her blog.

 

Nancy is also conducting a study and asking : Are you feeling stressed out by your finances, your job, your relationships, or just life in general?  Do you want to stay home(!) to participate in a crafts and wellness study---and earn $25? The study requires a 1-hour commitment per day for 1 week.  You must be 18 or older to participate.    Contact Study Leader Nancy Monson for Information and to apply at  NancyMonson @ earthlink (dot) net 

 

Crafting & Creativity helps with healing

When I worked in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, caring for critically ill children and their families, the stress was overwhelming at times.  I found myself gravitating toward a few crafting activities that helped me recharge and refocus so that I could go back to work each day with a renewed sense of calm, ready to face the life and death situations again.  

Like many nurses, I turned to crocheting blankets for any and all occasions.  Having a baby?  Great, I'll make a blanket.  Getting married?  Great, I'll make a blanket.  Are you cold?  No problem, I'll make a blanket. Don't need a blanket?  Not to worry, a cross stitched masterpiece or other hand made treasure was in the works.

I always knew that crafting helped my patients with a sense of accomplishment, of mastery, recovering memories, dealing with chronic pain  and just having fun.  I forgot that I too was a crafter, until my friend, Kathy Peterson, helped me remember how crafting played an important part in my life too.

Come along with us on our journey as we meet people who are using crafts to help improve their health and their enjoyment in life.

Be well,

Barb Dehn

How Mod Podge, Acrylic Paint, and Glitter Helped Mend one Woman's Heart By Beth Engelman PLUS GIVEAWAY

Labor’s Lost Love

I called around 2 AM.  He was sleeping.

“I’m in labor.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“How do you know?”

“Trust me.  I know.  I’ve even called the doctor.”

 “I’ll fly out this morning,” he said, before abruptly hanging up the phone. I was pretty sure he was on his way out the door.  Later, I would find out that his girlfriend was at the house too.

“This isn’t fair,” his girlfriend cried, running out in the street, wearing little except a long t-shirt and imitation Uggs.  He was making his way to the taxi. “I never asked for this kind of drama!” Her face was red and she was crying. “This is entirely not my…” He turned around, kissed her, and whispered something in her ear that made her smile. Then he got in the cab and drove off. 

Of course, I heard this story, months later from my neighbor Sally, who lived one floor below us and was the first one we told we were pregnant.  She was also our realtor and was in the process of helping us close on our new house, which makes it all the more confounding that he would think it was okay to move his girlfriend in three days after I walked out.