I am looking for crafts to do...
+17
I am recovering from a stroke and do not have fine motor skills in my left hand, but I will always be a crafter at heart. Please offer more basic, but fun and attractive crafts.
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There are thousands of crafts here on Hometalk ranging from very simple to extremely involved. Do a search for something that you would like to make and you'll get plenty of ideas.
if you can crochet, your left hand would just be holding the string or whatever you are using. you can use plastic bags, fold them with handle to the left, flat on a table, fold them from top to bottom until you have about a 2inch flat piece. Cut handles and bottom off, then cut the piece into stips about 1/2 inch wide. You will now have loops. Loop them together (put one loop over the bottom of a loop then pull bottom of second loop over the first loop). As you put loops together roll them into a ball, like yard. You are going to use the ball of plastic to crochet a blanket for the homeless. It is plastic so it won't get wet, and could be used to lay on or cover with. Just crochet the plastic yard in a single crochet as long as you want it. Just do a single crochet back and forth until you get it wide enough. You can crochet a strap on one end that it could be carried by or hung up with. If you do not understand what I am explaining you can look it up on You Tube and see how to do it. It is simple to do and you would be helping a homeless person. Good luck
Try the site, Create and Celebrate for ideas
Thanks for the great ideas. Looking forward to more ideas. I made the zinnia wreath from pine cones and it is a real winner.
Do you like to color? You could make personalized greeting cards, frame the coloring book pages to give as gifts.
You can also get card stock and paint it with water colors and then turn them into Thank You cards or Greeting Cards. It is always nice to recieve something homemade.
There are so many things you can do with paper crafting. As long as your right hand is not impaired, the sky is the limit. There is: stamping, origami, alcohol inking, working with chalks, dry embossing with a machine or wet embossing with a heat gun, water coloring, etc. Then with other materials besides paper, there is: working with clay in molds, floral design with artificial/silk flowers, cake decorating, etc. Of course all of these things would be easier with two hands, but since you only have one, you work with what you have and make the best of it, right? It's a blessing that you still have that. Crafting is such a joy that after your first project, it won't matter if you have one hand or 8. Good Luck!
We are so sorry to hear that!! Once you become a die heart crafter, it's in your blood! We absolutely love that you are still looking for crafts! Here are some of the ideas we have done:
We hope to see pictures of your crafty projects! Cheers!
Garden Shovel Sign
DIY Painted Cacti Rocks
DIY Coconut Oil & Beeswax Scented Candle
Easy & Inexpensive Fall Decor
Green Spring Twig and Yarn Wreath
I love crafting flowers and origami - soothes the mind too- hope you feel better!
Polymer clay is fantastic - fun to work with, doesn't dry out so you can squish it all together if you want to make something else and it's great for maintaining muscle strength in the hands and forearms. It can start out pretty stiff, so I've been keeping it wrapped in my pocket to warm it up first. It can be as soft as fresh taffy and very easy to roll into coils, pinched, poked, etc. You don't need fancy tools, toothpicks, bamboo skewers, even pencils can be tools! I've pressed vintage/mismatched jewelry into it and found lots of things around the house to use with it. Clay is great at capturing texture - you can take it outside and press an interesting seed pod into it or the impression of the underside of a leaf, etc. It's a fun and valuable material for those times when you have the urge to craft but you're not sure what to do. It keeps your hands and mind busy but there is the permission to play and experiment! There's no pressure to make something perfect and keep it forever - just roll it back into a ball for next time - it can even inspire you for ideas for some other craft materials - the ideas can be mostly transferable. If you DO make something,it's easily baked on a piece of tinfoil in a low temp oven(with ventilation). The clay is available in many colors and even blocks of just plain white. After it's baked, it can be sanded, painted, etc. However, it CAN become drier, though not totally dry, and crumbly out of its wrapper. I don't recommend keeping it in soft plastic bags, like sandwich/ziploc type bags. The plastics in the bag tend to attach themselves/contaminate the clay. The clay comes wrapped in cellophane, a more rigid plastic wrap, but it's really difficult to save that tiny wrapper! Save some cellophane type wrapper (meaning the kind of plastic you CAN'T poke you finger thru or it doesn't stretch in any direction) from a box of cookies or something, wrap the clay, THEN it can go into ziploc bags or plastic craft boxes.
This may sound very daunting, but clay is the way! I have seen some fantastic things come out of it for many people including a friend who recovered from a brain tumor with stroke and she just squeezed it, rolled it out, gathered it back up again and again on a cafeteria type tray in bed or in her lap and it really helped her, with regaining/building strength and keeping herself involved with crafts, a BIG part of her life. It doesn't require a fussy set up or clean up and relieves stress, too! Smack that clay! Most importantly, have fun and enjoy!
Have you ever quilled? If you do basic shapes using wide strips you can produce maxi quilled items for wall art. Wide strips can be rolled by one hand, shaped using one hand and glued together using one hand, if you have never quilled look up some how to videos on YouTube but ignore what doesn't relate to working without using a quilling needle. Experiment and when you like what you have glue it together either with or without a backing. Pinterest shows making similar things with toilet paper tubes but just stiff paper would be easier.
After my friend had her stroke, I got her a wood burner. She said it helped her get her mind onto something and allowed her to be crafty. She started out with simple plaques and now makes signs that she sells.
You could try candle making
You don't need to be dextris for this and it slows you to be creative with colors and shapes and scents
You could start with sand wax layering colors in a jar and add a wick and your done! There are lots of kits at places like Michaels to get you started
Paint faces or flowers on flat stones or the half dollar size glass beads. Glue magnets on the back and you have refrigerator or kids locker magnets. You can also modgelodge pictures face down on the back of the glass beads before glueing on the magnets.
Good for you! You're an impressive person. Wishing you lots of health :)
I paint birdhouses from Michaels. Birds will use them. They're pretty wooden pieces you can glue to the birdhouses. I use E6000 to glue decorations. Also, I glue small stones to my birdhouses, liquid hammer in a tube is what I use. Ace hardward, lowes, .
Easy to do and to give as a gift. cover the whole birdhouse with small stones, sticks. Broken dishes than with grout to fill in edges.
Sorry , to hear of your stroke, crafts will give you a happy spirit. God Bless
Sincere thanks. I just saw some bird houses in Walmart today. I thought it would be cheating, so I did not consider decorating them. However, your suggestions lend a sense of ownership and individuality. I have all the supplies needed to design a house any bird would be proud to call home. Happy thoughts to you.
I am not sure, but beading is perhaps something you could do. It could be less complicated. There are also kits that can be purchased. I myself like to do beading. Earrings are fairly simple to make.
Thanks for your kind response.