Let's Craft NI Blog

5 benefits of arts and crafts

14/6/2024

Taking part in hobbies during our free time... could help us feel more content and happy! Yes, there are amazing benefits to getting involved in arts and crafts. Whether it's painting, knitting, sculpting, or any other creative activity, the positive impact on our well-being is incredible! Below are a few of the benefits:

Stress Relief: Engaging in creative activities can help reduce stress and anxiety. The process of creating something beautiful allows us to focus our minds and find peace.
Improved Mental Health: Art provides a fantastic outlet for self-expression. It can be especially therapeutic, helping us process emotions and feel more connected to our inner selves.
Enhanced Cognitive Abilities: Crafting sharpens our brains by improving fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and even problem-solving abilities. Plus, learning new techniques keeps our minds agile!

Autumn Workshops 2023

11/8/2023

Autumn is a great time to try a new hobby or craft!
Embrace the beauty of the season with an autumnal door wreath workshop or try something completely new like decoupage or macramé crafting! Research tells us the importance of a little 'me time' and the benefits of arts and crafts i.e. focusing on using our hands to create something enables us to relax our thinking, forget about our worries and to ultimately destress. Taking part in arts and crafts is a great way to learn new skills and harness our inner creativity. We are all creative.... we just need to take a little time to develop and embrace what lies within!

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Macramé - star craft for 2023!

26/7/2023

Macramé is the continuing BIG trend for 2023!

The bo-ho craft of macramé has been around for a very long time. During the 1960s and 1970s it was popular... individuals made hanging plant pot holders, handbags, belts, wall hangings and much more. Then it went out of fashion... however, now it's back, and it's BIG!

Macramé is essentially a 'knotting' craft. Using cords, you learn to make different knots to achieve different looks and effects. Once you learn some of the basic knots, the project possibilities are endless! From table runners to wall art... all your handmade Christmas presents sorted!

It's a craft that's also great for health and wellbeing. Like any acitivity working with your hands, it allows your worries to slip away while you focus on making and creating! Let's Craft NI is delighted to be offering a range of Beginner's Macramé Classes!

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national craft month 2023

1/3/2023

National Craft month is here! March 2023 has been designated as the month to celebrate the benefits of crafting! It's good for us in so many ways and lots of research highlights the benefits....

- Crafting helps us feel better!
- Being creative can help us manage mood and boost wellbeing!
- Creative projects boost confidence and help us connect with others!

Creativity has no age limits... we are all creative... and can become more creative as we age!

Here is some evidence on the benefits of arts and crafts...

Results from over 3000 studies identified a major role for the arts in the prevention of ill health, promotion of health, and management and treatment of illness across the lifespan. (Source: WHO Health Evidence Network Report).

Spring and crafting go together

18/2/2022

The Wintry weather and short days are coming to an end, and Spring is upon us! This is a great time of year to learn a new craft, try something new, and enjoy a little 'me time' which is necessary for our own health and wellbeing and mindfulness!

Let's Craft NI offers a range of seasonal creative courses for all ages. Lovely Spring crafts include fresh flower arranging workshops, felt flower crafting courses, bird box decorating with decoupage, and, of course, making your own Spring wreath.

Creative programmes support positive mental health, whilst encouraging creativity and lifelong learning.

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Flowers and Gardening trigger 'happy' emotions

1/4/2021

When we think of Spring, we think of colourful bulbs like daffodils or tulips, beautiful cherry blossoms and magnolia trees. The lovely colours of Spring, and the promise of Summer, puts us in good spirits, creating 'feel good' emotions - especially on a warm, sunny day!

Flowers and gardening make us happier than we know! Research shows that nature provides us with a simple way to improve emotional health and wellbeing – for example, through gardening and lovely flowers! According to the research, the presence of flowers provides us with greater life satisfaction, triggers our 'happy' emotions and increases our feelings of wellness.

The term 'flower power' may be more important than we might think! The results of this ten-month study show that flowers are a natural and healthy moderator of moods and have an immediate impact on happiness.

Paper Mosaics for Mindfulness

1/2/2021

Let’s Craft NI is delighted to launch a new mindfulness course for 2021 – paper mosaics!

Paper mosaics crafting is trending for adults, particularly as a way to encourage creativity during lockdown. It’s great for all ages and abilities, and requires only a few items to get started, such as PVA glue and small pieces of paper. The mosaic affect can be created using a variety of textured and smooth papers, as well as through recycling, for example, using magazines, and other papers from around the house.

How does paper mosaics encourage mindfulness? Mindfulness is a pretty wonderful thing. It can reduce stress and anxiety, and generally help us to maintain our mental wellness. Research from the British Journal of Occupational Therapy suggests doing crafting activities on a regular basis can improve mood and increase feelings of relaxation.

craft your Stress away

1/11/2020

Having hobbies and taking part in arts and crafts is good for us and helps reduce stress during the holiday period!

Crafting is great for our overall health and well-being. Working with our hands keeps our mind active, helps us learn new skills, and our worries tend to slip away when we're focusing on being creative.

Lots of research and studies provide evidence of the positive health benefits through the medium of arts and crafts.

For example...

The Art of gardening

3/9/2020

Blogger and horticulturalist Kelli Johnston on being creative in her County Antrim garden

Gardening is a great way to enjoy the outdoors, keep fit and be creative. For me, the outdoors provides a sort of open canvas to experiment with colour, shape and texture as I grow plants ranging from edibles to those that attract bees, birds and insects.

I’m not sure how my interest in gardening started, but I recall as a child visiting my grandparent’s house and being fascinated by their vegetable plot. I would help dig up potatoes, and was bemused by a rubber snake they kept in their fruit bushes to deter birds. Best of all was going on slug safari to capture slimy plant-crunching creatures.

Later, as an adult, I loved two things: being outdoors and being creative. That is how my interest in gardening began to sprout.

Why Adults benefit from crafting

1/8/2020

Taking part in arts and crafts is so important, not just for children, but it’s also essential for adults! Crafting is beneficial to our health and wellbeing, from keeping our mind active by learning new skills, to the way it enables us to form social connections, to developing problem solving skills and increasing our feeling of purpose and self-esteem.

There are so many great merits to crafting and working with your hands, with a multitude of studies and research providing evidence of the health benefits, including the positive impact on our mental health.

The benefits of crafting include…

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