Art/Craft Therapy for Pain Management, AKA What I've Been Doing for the Last Month

I had the best of intentions. I was going to post fun photos of the things I'd been making. Funny how life stepped in and slapped me around a bit! Ok, I'm exaggerating quite a bit, but the last six weeks or so have been really, REALLY unpleasant thanks to changes in the medication I take for fibromyalgia.

Let's start out with the flowers. See, I have this bizarre need to make things, especially pretty things. For whatever reason, I had an epiphany in the middle of the WalMart scrapbooking section. I found the cutest little flower punch in their $2 bins, and realized I could make cute cute mini flowers, then emboss them with my dotting tools.

This is a closeup shot of my flowers.
They're all about dime-sized. Cute, eh?

Of course, once I had them punched, I realized I could use my gel pens and hand sanitizer trick to add some shading and dimension to them. I did, and would up with quite a few really pretty flowers.


What will I do with these? I have no idea... I figured maybe I'll throw them on eBay or Etsy or something. I'm sure someone could come up with cute uses for these!

This isn't all of them... one of the little guys ran away when I was
photoing the group. Oh, and one found a home before I could
get any photos of him. Weenie.

I've also been having a lot of fun making stuffed animals. Would you believe all of these are hand-sewn? They are... and I think that's one reason they help distract me from my pain. I get so focused on each stitch that the pain signals just don't seem to be as noticeable.

I'm not sure which of them is my favorite. I like the big purple guy in the back. He's made of flannel baby blanket with felt details, and he's super snuggly. I also love the stripey guy on his left... I spent almost as much time on that heart detail as I did stitching his body, arms, and legs!

This girlie isn't finished, obviously. I was experimenting with making hair for stuffies that would be a bit more flexible, and less tedious than hand-tying each strand of hair. I've done that before, and it gets old QUICK.

I also had fun shading her lips. I started out with a basic hot pink felt, then used Sharpie markers to add shadows, and a Liquid Paper correction pen to add some highlights. It's kind of awkward looking, but I like it.

Oh, and her head is sitting on a coffee container. I'm going to make a body for her eventually, I just haven't gotten to it yet. What can I say, I get distracted easily!

Moving on to what might be my favorite stuffie dude?






This guy was a total experiment, but I like how he came out. Adding the pink details at his horns was an attempt to cover up a sloppy join, but instead it looks like a design element instead. I like that!



The heart detail on his chest is made from 3 layers of felt, decoratively stitched and lightly stuffed so that it's three dimensional. He's definitely a huggable stuffie!







Then there are the adipose babies. These guys are based on a Doctor Who monster, and they happen to have been on one of my favorite episodes! These two are made of white flannel, so they're super soft and snuggleable. What can I say, I like things I can hug!

I'm not so sure about the one on the right... I used safety eyes on him, and while they're cute, their placement is just a bit off to me. Still, they're handmade, so they don't have to all be perfect... right? :D

Let's not forget my socktopuses. I can't even begin to explain how happy these little guys make me. Then again, the octopus is one of my favorite animals! They're so bizarre, and so fascinating! In my mind, the guy on the left is a boy socktopus, and the one on the right is a girl. They're not dating, though... they're just good friends.

What, you don't give your stuffies background stories?

Finally, a couple of shots of me! My husband and I went to the updated Red Stick festival last week, and I had to share these with you. We started out getting lunch at McDonald's, and after we ate, we had to play with what was left of our food. I would love to introduce you to our french fry guy- isn't he cute?

And yes, I carry a bunch of sizes of googly eyes with me everywhere I go. I also carry a glue stick, and up until recently I carried a pair of scissors with me. I never know when I'm going to get the urge to make something, you know?





While we were there, I was feeling very frustrated with my fibro. It sucks when there are things I want to do but can't because my pain level makes it almost impossible.

So, I pulled out my gel pens and did some lettering. I don't know why it helps, but it does...

Most of the time when I'm drawing on napkins I'm leaving a happy note for the people who work wherever we happen to be. That day, though, I was seriously overwhelmed by pain. Still, it made me laugh, as did this photo!





Once at the festival, we found a dalek! How many of you could have found a dalek and not taken a photo with it??

I have to admit, no one even batted an eye when I did this. It was loads of fun... I'm hoping the festival gets bigger and bigger. I really miss it.


Finally, I'll leave you with this close-up shot of my cutie-patootie. I don't know why this photo makes me smile, but it really does. Hopefully it makes you smile too!

Sometimes the simplest things can be healing.

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