Something for the soul!

[pensnest]

Hello everyone! What a lot of interesting ideas have come up for conversation here so far! And today, it's my turn to start.

So. It is my firm belief that doing something creative is good for the soul. I realise that doesn't work for everyone—my very own Beast plays World of Warcraft instead, apparently it's possible to achieve a zen state—but it certainly works for me. Even though I'm not entirely sure that I have a soul, something about sitting down for the afternoon to paint, or sew, or… whatever, is refreshing and calming and makes me happy.

My own long-term outlets are knitting and glass-painting, or perhaps I should say, making greeting cards. I'll happily sit down for a few hours with an audio book and my array of Stuff, and end up with some new cards or suncatchers; for knitting, I'll be in front of the telly with an old and familiar DVD or something guilty-pleasure-y on the TV. (My Ravelry projects page is here: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Nestholder) Currently, I've been decorating a piece of high-character felt, which I'm hoping to mount and put up somewhere in the house.

So. What do you do that is creative? Baking, knitting, writing poetry, gardening, what? What is it that you enjoy about what you do? Do you give it away, sell it, keep it? Is it long-term, or have you taken up something new to deal with current stresses?

Pictures in comments would be grand, but perhaps we should just put one or two each! Links to DeviantArt, or Ravelry, or... wherever? would also provide some refreshment for all our spirits, I'm sure.

Comments

[brumeier]

When I'm not writing fic, I do digital scrapbook pages. At one time this was a huge part of my life, much more than it is now. I was on a design team and some months I was whipping up twenty or thirty layouts. Some get turned into books. I had a hardcover album printed up for my mom that documents family happenings in the 70s.

Mostly I just document life. Birthdays, trips, food, and lately life in a pandemic. Here is one of my recent layouts:

[jesse_the_k]

What a lovely collage.

[brumeier]

Thank you!

[pensnest]

What a fun thing to do! So nice to have a really beautiful and thoughtful record like this.

[brumeier]

Thank you! It's nice and relaxing, too. Throw a movie on and just settle in with the laptop. ::grins::

[smallhobbit]

What a lovely memory!

[brumeier]

Thank you! I'm the keeper of all family memories and most of the photos. It's a lot of history to cover. LOL!