Happy new year and thank you for being still here to read my posts! đ
The beginning of a new year is the time when people reflect with thankfullness on the past, set their goals and make projects for the months to come.
2021 was an interesting year in many ways for my family and me. I gave new life to this blog after almost a two-year break (see the blog post Time to catch up!) and I returned to be fully artsy with my kids and for myself (Return to visual arts).
In the first months of 2021 I attended an art course âFun with portraitsâ that inspired me so much and boosted my creativity. Since September, I have been following a year-long course in Visual Arts. I feel very inspired in these months, eager to explore new techniques and to perfect my artistic way.
All of this is reflected in the creative activities and play with my children, because practicing âartâ and making âcraftsâ are closely linked in our house!
For example, once, the weekly theme of my Visual Arts course was modelling clay. I created a mask coloured with gold paint and then finely decorated with an acrylic marker. These materials on hand at home sparked my daughterâs curiosity, who asked me to use them. The result of our co-creation was a tableware set for Barbie made with air-dry clay (Das), painted in gold ad decorated with acrylic paint markers (Posca pens)!
Other times, my passion for torn paper collages turned into easy child-lead craft-activities, such as a torn paper collage rainbow and a multicoloured field of flowers both from recycled paper, old magazines and catalogues.
These crafts were posted in the linked Instagram account @craftymessymom, which is growing! I started following creative, very inspiring accounts, and taking part to weekly/monthly play prompts/challenges, where our crafts have been included more times in their top craft selections.
Here are the Best Nine 2021 at @craftymessymom, my top 9 crafts/posts 2021 among those most liked, shared or selected by weekly challenge hashtags.
They reflect our passion of crafty activities inspired by art, nature and recycling. Our crafts, as you can see, are often a mix of them. Also, they tell of a swift, since I started with CraftyMessyMom in 2018, from making things FOR my children to co-creating WITH them.
This made me think to refresh and restyle this blog and the linked social media accounts, Facebook and Instagram.
Then, I updated the header, cover and logo because the new design better reflects what WE – my children and me – do. A handmade, ink-printed wrapping paper using recycled packaging and DIY stamps tells everything about our passion for art and craft using mostly junk materials. There are also leaves, recalling our love for nature elements, often included in our crafts.
Another news is the splitting of the general âArt and Craftâ category into three:
- Art and craft, that remains, but it is exclusively for creative projects for kids (art-nature-recycling). Have a look at its introductive page.
- Visual arts, more specific about art techniques, with art ideas for kids. Here is an introduction about it.
- Needlecrafts, more specific about needlework, such as sewing, crochet, knitting, quilting, embroidery. Head over to this category introduction.
The sections Cooking with kids and Fancy Dress Costumes remain unchanged.
Let’s get social!
Join in the conversation and see the latest Craftymessymom’s updates at instagram.com/craftymessymom and facebook.com/craftymessymom. Find Craftymessymom on Pinterest too
Crafty Messy Mom 