REVIEWED BY: Ann Currie
MY RECOMMENDATION: YES
AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Craft for Health
WEB ADDRESS: http://www.craftforhealth.typepad.com/
BLOG DESCRIPTION: At Craft For Health, design & craft expert Kathy Peterson and Nurse Practitioner& RN Barb Dehn, The Craft Practitioners, join forces to share empowering anecdotes, inspiring stories and crafty tips about the therapeutic benefits of crafting.
Creating handmade health is our specialty, no matter what ails you.
MY REVIEW: This is a fascinating and cathartic blog that combines crafts and stories told by those who are hurting, depressed, or ill.
Guest bloggers come together to weave a beautiful handwork of love, loss, joy, and pain. The stories are both poignant and creative. Some talk about craft projects, others about their diseases, some about their loved ones. Some just talk about their talents. Of all the blogs I have read and reviewed, I have never seen one like this. Even if you are not hurt or hurting or interested in crafts, I encourage you to visit this site, it will be worth your while. I am neither a sentimentalist, nor a crafter but this is an amazing thing to see.
The writing is from the soul and you can feel the depression, the pain, the joy, whatever the writer wants to convey. It is the naked truth. I think by the time someone has the strength to post on this blog, they are either seeking help and/or hope or they are sinking and just letting someone know. It is truly therapeutic.
The site is full of links to the guest blogger's own sites and the categories are a great source to seek posts relating to specific diseases. The labels are a great resource for different crafts. Whether it is jewelry, soap, beading, or crocheting, there is some of it here.
Sample post:
Insecure and Critical of Myself From my Job Burn by Susan Vernicek
My two driving forces in life from a young age were to run my own business and have a positive influence on others. Like many fine women I know, I’ve always had to work hard for what I wanted. I’m a native New Jersey girl from Wharton, where I still reside, and have always had a creative spirit. After graduating with a Fine Arts degree and a dual focus in Graphic Design and Photography from Frostburg State University, I had a tough time finding a job. I decided to spread my wings and spend a summer in London with a friend. When I came back, I had a renewed sense of purpose, and found a job in the graphics department of a medical company. While I learned quite a bit with many unique experiences, I found my inspiration from my bad experiences within the company.
I spent five years working closely with pharmaceutical companies, doctors, and others in the medical field. I would work on rating scales for doctors. The scales looked like a poster with a number of images. The scales show progressive improvement from ‘before’ to ‘after' for Botox injections, plastic surgery, etc. The images are altered to match a grading system that the doctors validate. The grading would range from zero to five, for example, with five showing a severe case of improvement. There was such an intense process that these scales went through to be approved, but the process made me feel insecure and very critical on my skin and body. I always judged men and women's features based on my current project and ended up comparing myself to others. It was mentally exhausting!
For example, I would take my photo; they used my face model for a few scales. So here I am, working on my face for hours, removing and adding wrinkles according to the scale. I would have to create the scale in stages of wrinkles from none to severe. Every day at home I would critique my face! I couldn’t get the imperfections out of my head and couldn’t get away from the mirror fast enough. I was always dissecting my face and my features. It was a vicious cycle that I am happy to be out of, yet thankful for at the same time because the end result was Identity.
Being a woman with many interests, and all the same concerns as my female counterparts, I relied on the media for information that could help improve and inspire my life. Through my own discontentment with all the in-your-face ads and useless information about diet fads, fashion trends, and celebrity gossip found in other magazines - Identity was born. I believe our role models should be in our everyday lives; not photo-touched fashion plates on a page. Identity is my gift to every woman, for being who she is, and the best that she can be. I hope you check it out and enjoy it.
RECENT ARTICLES:
--When my creative urge hits, Its so overpowering it cannot be ignored
--Crafting Soap is my Anti-depressant
--I spent an entire week painting a pineapple and I felt better plus GIVEAWAY
--How Mod-Podge, Acrylic Paint, and Glitter Helped Mend one Women's Heart by Beth Engelman PLUS GIVEAWAY
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Ann Currie publishes:
My Life a Bit South of Normal
Silver Pieces: The Strange and Peculiar
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