Are you looking for craft ideas to suit someone in their twilight years? As we get older our vision is not so good and our manual dexterity declines, but there are still a lot of craft projects we can get to grips with. Crafting is a rewarding and enjoyable part of life, and now that we have more time on our hands the horizons really open up. So which ideas and projects are better suited to the more mature crafter?
Whether you are someone new to crafting, or you have been tackling craft projects for many years, there’s no denying the sense of achievement and accomplishment gained from a project well done. In our retirement years it is important to keep focused on activities that are stimulating and enjoyable. Joining a crafts club where you can regularly meet up with others who enjoy similar activities is a good way of spending time. Staying sociable and retaining regular contact with the outside world helps stave off common retirement woes such as depression and loneliness.
Traditionally, crafts for the elderly have been in the areas of knitting, needlework, quilting and other sewing projects. Other activities such as basket making, pottery and painting are also popular, but can sometimes be problematic once hands and joints become less flexible and lose strength. Such developments don’t mean you have to abandon your favourite crafting hobby, but adapting the crafts you do may be a way of keeping up your creativity.
Card making is a fulfilling, useful and highly creative hobby which can be as simple or complex as you want to make it. With some great stamping and cutting tools from craft suppliers like Handy Hippo, you can achieve professional looking greeting card designs with limited effort. If you have the imagination and ideas, Handy Hippo helps you succeed in card making projects for all occasions. Whether it’s parties, birthdays, weddings, funerals or other significant events that need marking, creative card making is a rewarding hobby and from a practical point of view, fairly undemanding physically.
Moulding polymer clay is a craft hobby easily mastered by the elderly. Good for exercising hands and joints, the soft and pliable material can be utilised in a number of imaginative ways. Make beads for jewellery, bookmarks, pencil holders or ornaments and paint and decorate as required.
Buying blank ready-to-paint objects such as picture frames,trinket boxes and Russian doll sets make a rewarding craft project with an end result that is both unique and useful. Online craft suppliers have a range of paper mache blanks that make fantastic gifts and are simply waiting to be decorated in inspirational style.
Photography can be a wonderful hobby as you get older. Taking the images in the first place is a lot of fun and you can snap shots of grandchildren, pets or flowers to incorporate in your crafts. You can use photos for scrapbooking, making collages, fridge magnets, transferring images onto other items such as T shirts, placemats, crockery and more. Alternatively, you can frame cherished photographs in a self-decorated picture frame that is embellished with beading, decoupage, mosaic or paints.
If you are still very much attached to the idea of needlework, there are tools that can make your crafting easier. For stitching and sewing, use needles with large split eyes, try using a glue gun as an alternative to thread where you can or you can use Velcro to attach fabrics as well. Around your neck a hands-free magnifier will prove useful for those times when your eyes are not as sharp as they were. A fixed magnifier on a stand is useful as well for larger projects. Make sure that you always work on crafts in a well lit environment. Natural light from a window is best, but an overhead craft light positioned directly over your project can be beneficial too. If you have always enjoyed to knit or do crochet but are finding the needles or hooks hard to hold, and extend your buying crochet hooks & knitting needle process further and choose the thicker needles and yarn having is heavier gauge. If sewing and stitching have become too difficult, there are many patterns and projects these days which are no-sew. Made with soft, fleecy-type fabrics that are easily glued, you can create pretty scarves, cushion covers, and bags in wonderful designs.
As we age, our artistic drive does not fade. Exploring our creative sides through craft projects brings such pleasure into our lives, so let’s make sure we continue for as long as we can…
