Effects of Crafting

Crafts help keep the mind alert and active because they are stimulating and creative. They can help people to relax, improve eye-to-hand coordination and help people express themselves. Seeing the finished product gives them a feeling of accomplishment that they might not get in other areas of their lives. With the growth of the scrapbook industry in the past several years, women especially have become more involved in crafts. Making a scrapbook can be a fulfilling pastime. Women are recording the events in the lives of their families more and more. They can record small accomplishments and big events as well, and find satisfaction and meaning in their lives. Of course men can too.

Along with the emphasis on scrapbook making has come new techniques in other arts and crafts such as greeting card making, small book binding, journal writing and tag books. People are inspired by collecting their thoughts, finding appropriate sayings and pasting their family photographs in artistic ways to create books and cards of graphic beauty, often using a wide range of creative techniques. One can use stamps, textured papers, lace papers, ribbons, flowers and leaves made of many materials, foils, paints and inks, overlays, hardware, keys, watches and other found objects. All of the accoutrement to be found in arts and crafts stores combine to inspire bursts of creative energy that are therapeutic and inviting to many people, not just women.

Arts and crafts have long been used in physical therapy settings, rehabilitation centers, day cares and other places where people gather for physical, mental care or recreation. The therapeutic value of crafts is well-established in the clinical community.