Why should I or anyone for that matter get involved in crafting? Well...first things first, have you noticed how prices just keep getting higher and higher? Who can afford to give a decent gift to anyone nowadays? But...if you make the gift yourself it can be done for a fraction of the cost, not to mention the fact that everyone admires and wishes they could do the crafting themselves.

Well you can! All you have to do is try. Crafting is one area that creativity itself is often inspired by necessity. And amazingly enough new crafters usually find that they fall in love with crafting. Many people start out crafting because they have no choice, they needed something to give to someone or they could not afford to buy ready made things for their own home. In the process of learning how to save money they discover this amazing person inside of themselves, this creative and talented person that they never would have believed they could be.

You too can become more creative. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and each and every one of us has our own concepts of what is beautiful. Each of us has hidden talents just waiting to be accessed. Once you get started you will be amazed at how quickly your mind will become flooded with ideas for things you can make. Anything you see was crafted by someone. Why not you?

Where do I start?

Well, what do you need? Once you know why you need a gift then you can look for something to fit the person you want to make the gift for.

I needed a gift for my friend who had just bought her first home and I wanted it to be something special as a housewarming gift. She has always used tons of candles in her home so I found a log that had an interesting shape and cut it so that it was about six inches high by ten or twelve inches around. I cleaned the wood and sanded it top and bottom then carved out an area in the middle to pour the wax, that I had colored in green to match her new living room. The wax was a green apple scent and I poured it into the area I had carved out of the center of the log. A little polish on the top and I had a gift that I was proud of and she really enjoyed it also.

Crafting is anything you make yourself! And there are all kinds of crafts that you can choose to do. There's needle work such as embroidery both hand embroidery and machine embroidery, crochet, cross stitching, smocking and knitting just to name a few.

There's jewelry making such as beading, wire twisting and silver smithing (silver smithing is not as hard as some people think).

There's wreath making for all kinds of holidays.

Candle making can be even more creative than you think.

Painting both with oils and water colors.

Then there's the junk art that has become so popular and is made from things you find in and around your own home.

There are many more forms of crafting that have not been mentioned here and I'm sure even more are being created as we speak, so have a great day and happy crafting!

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