Craft Shows Canada

Staying healthy as a crafty family

While arts and crafts are great fun, and are certainly intellectually stimulating, you have to admit that they’re not the best way to keep your waistline in shape. All of that sitting around certainly isn’t great for burning calories, and the constant flow of treats your crafty friends endlessly try to tempt you with can put you right in the danger zone! However, there are a few simple steps that you can take to ensure that your crafty family stays healthy.
Staying healthy as a crafty family can actually be quite simple, as all of your family members are specifically positioned to be creative and to meet a challenge. This means that you can do interesting and creative thing with your meals, and introduce healthy options as part of a challenge to your family. For example, challenging your crafty family to make a salad using ten low-fat ingredients, or to bake a standard menu item using half of the fat or sugar required by the recipe is one great way of staying healthy while keeping your family engaged. A fantastic option for shifting the pounds is going for a horse ride. Once you have your horse insurance sorted going for a lovely ganter through the local area can do wonders for the waistline of a consummate crafter.

Participating in fun types of physical activity can be fun for a crafty family, too. Opt for fun and unusual sports such as ultimate frisbee, poi, and juggling balls, as all of these will keep your crafty family engaged and interested, and they won’t feel as though they’re being made to exercise. Encouraging your crafty family to make their own exercise equipment, such as decorating a hula hoop, or making their own balls out of rice-filled balloons is another way to get them moving and active, keeping your crafty family healthy.
Awareness is key, too, so take the time to put together a chart highlighting the importance of healthy eating and exercise. No doubt your family will love to take part in this activity!

Get ready for spring

Phew – Christmas over and done with for another year! All our hand-made decorations were taken down yesterday and I was very proud that they all survived the whole holiday period without any disasters! Some have been put into boxes for next year, but I think some of the paper chains might be a bit too delicate for storage, so they’ve gone into the recycling.

Anyway, all my presents were a great success, including the Argos discount vouchers I sent to my lovely British relatives and the goregous Nao figurines I gave to my mother. I’ve already had lots of thank you emails from my nieces and nephews; no-one sends cards any more do they?

So, now my crafty mind is turning to spring ideas. Aside from a brief romantic interlude for Valentine’s Day, I usually spend most of the late winter months stuck inside because of the poor weather we get up here, trying to cheer myself up by making colourful, sunny Easter and Mother’s Day cards, with lots of pretty dried flowers and warm colours. It can really cheer you up when the weather is grey and grumpy outside, to spend a few hours living in spring.

My home-made cards are very popular with my friends and family and I even sell some of the better ones to neighbours and at my kids’ school fair. I’m usually a bit shy about selling the stuff I make at home, as I consider myself an enthusiastic amateur rather than any kind of professional, but every year I always sell out and end up taking orders for more! When I started crafting all those years ago as a student, I never thought I’d be making a few dollars from it. Mind you, the money I make usually just goes straight back to my local craft shops and fairs, buying ever fancier crafting materials and kit. Just don’t tell my husband!