Be creative for happiness

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Today we have a lovely guest post on how being creative brings happiness from the lovely 

Melissa from One Crafty Mumma! So love her blog and ideas.

Take it away Melissa.

When I start to think of the words creating + happiness together, they make me smile! 

I’m very passionate about making nice things and encouraging my children to create - whether it be sewing, cooking, drawing or making models in the shed. Both of my children were painting, drawing and playing with different mediums when they were toddlers and around the age of four years of age, they progressed into embroidery and sewing.

{first embroidery by James}

I’ve always encouraged (never pushed) their creativity and even though my 15 year old boy doesn’t pick up a needle, paint or often draw anymore - it makes me happy to know that he knows how to sew on a button and stitch up a seam if needed. He’s progressed into intricate tank/army miniature models and now spends hours sanding, building and learning all sorts of new techniques to benefit his building process. He’s still creating - just using a different medium. On saying that though, James glued and sewed his little sister the most beautiful Christmas present last year - a monster in a box. After a discussion with me about how he really wanted to make Bella something extra special for Christmas - we talked about options, I showed him some ideas and he spent several hours working on the project in his bedroom. The monster house takes pride of place on Bella’s chest of drawers in her bedroom, which makes me smile. I love how he created a heartfelt gift for his sister - that’s definitely happiness on a stick!

{Monster house + monster}

My daughter Bella (she’s 10) spends copious amounts of time creating new projects. She has lists inside her notebooks that include gift ideas for friends/family, bookmarked projects in craft books and usually several projects on the go at once. Lately she has been designing her own stitching projects - a couple of softies and some clothes for her beloved Blythe dolls. I can see that she's definitely following in her Mama's footsteps with her love of creating.

{First softie pattern - designed & stitched by Bella}

For me personally, creating is part of my life. It's my down time at the end of a day, something to keep my mind and hands active. Sometimes I crochet, sew, scrapbook or try out new crafts. In 2009 I had the opportunity to put together a special edition 'Australian Homesewn' magazine and that was an amazing experience for me - there were so many ideas running around in my head and it was a lot of fun to be able to transform them from pen to project. Last month I launched an online creative newsletter - Teapot - with a very dear friend of mine. It's a free fortnightly edition and full of tutorials, tips and snippets of our crafty lives, just like an extension of our blogs I guess.

A friend asked me the other day how we could be bothered starting a free newsletter and I realised that it boils down to our combined love of crafting. We both spend many hours creating different projects, so why not share them with the world, spread the happiness and encourage other people to craft. One of the loveliest emails I've ever received was from a lady that was going through a very dark time of her life. She wanted to thank me for encouraging her to take time out and create, describing it as her little piece of sunshine in a very black room. For me (& that sweet, lovely owner of the email), creating = happiness.

{My sewing space}

Thank you so much for having me along today, it was lovely to be able to spread the 'crafting' word. xox

** Thanks Melissa. That was inspiring! Today ladies I would love you to share:

What do you love to create and...

 in what way does it help you to feel happy?