“Art saved me. It got me through my depression and self-loathing, back to a place of innocence.”
– Jeanette Winterson
Whether you believe you have one or not, exploring your creative side can help manage stress very effectively. It’s one of the major benefits of creativity.
According to a study conducted by The U.S. National Library of Medicine, visual art helped critically ill patients have a more positive outlook on life along with increasing their self worth. Agree, this might have used some guided techniques. But, the fact remains that art & creativity can do wonders for our mental health.
Even if your drawing skills today are of a quality that won’t win any contest with a fifth grader, you can still express yourself creatively without the fear of embarrassment. Let me show you how.
If you can draw lines using a ruler & hold a brush, you’re good to go!
Here’s another thing – All decor updates needn’t essentially burn a hole in your pocket to look polished and professional.
How do these two thoughts link? If you have a bit spare time on your hands and creativity within you, there are loads of easy DIY decor projects that add a personal touch to interiors without looking like displayed school projects.
So today, we’re combining these 2 benefits of creativity
- stress management, &
- pocket-friendly gorgeous décor item
to create something very simple yet could very well be a conversation starter.
Related:
Relaxation techniques: Creative & Fun Stress Relief activities
Benefit of creativity from this particular creation for me
I learned that I was unknowingly turning into a hoarder when I thought a de-cluttered mindset was my thing. This came as a reality check for me.
This week, going through my art stash, I found a couple of spare primed canvases and acrylic paint hiding behind lots of other interesting stuff.
Scary realization:
“Oh my gosh! Am I becoming a hoarder?”
Positive Action:
I created this DIY décor item with a combination of my forgotten art materials. It took just a couple of hours, but the result was quite pleasing.
Learning for the future:
It’s Ok to fall back into old habits. What matters more is doing routine reality checks & pulling yourself back on the road.
Related
Self Improvement Tips: 7 Essentials to Excel in Your Personal and Professional Life
Let’s do this
So, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create a display-worthy decor item.
Step 1: Decide on design and size
Take a sheet of paper of the size you want and paste it neatly on a sturdy piece of cardboard. I had a spare primed canvas (size 14 x 18 inches) lying with me, so I used that.
I decided to go with a
Step 2: Get creative and begin
At this stage, you can get loads of help from the internet. There are quite a few printable designs, letters and images available for free on the web. But if you are feeling really creative, you can draw it out right on the board.
Right now I am dabbling a bit in calligraphy, so decided to rough it out in pencil on the canvas. The chevron pattern seems to aptly balance out the decorative feel of the letters and add a touch of elegance.
If you make mistakes while penciling the design down, don’t worry because it would all be painted over.
Step 3: Save up white spaces
Before you start painting the patterns in, either use masking tape or masking fluid to save up the white spaces or light-colored spaces. You can choose to not use either of these and just paint in part by part, but that is a bit time-consuming and leaves more space for error.
Since there were lots of curves and corners in my design, I went with masking fluid. It is easy to apply and offers great flexibility of brush movement.
Step 1 
Step 2 
Step 3
Step 4: Brush in background colors
You can see in the image below how I have been able to cover most of the part in paint with very little care for color bleeding or spillage. Also, all the drawing mistakes and changes have disappeared 🙂 .
I have used acrylic paint here as it is comparatively easy to apply and you can cover up any mistakes quite easily. Let it dry. Since the general color scheme of my kitchen is green, I chose to go with blue-tinged green and powder blue.
To avoid looking too matchy-matchy, I used grey to balance the whole thing out. While choosing the dominating color of your creation, be clear in your mind whether you want the decor item to stand out boldly or get along with the general interior color scheme.
Step 5: Detailing and finishing touches
After the paint has dried sufficiently to work with, unmask the preserved spaces on the canvas. Rubbing gently with a finger or eraser removes the masking fluid pretty easily.
There might be some untidy edges, which you can tidy up before filling the spaces up with lighter color. I went a bit crazy with white and ended up altering the chevron pattern quite a bit. But surprisingly, it came out better than I had planned for! So, you never know!
Just go with the flow and make any changes to your planned design that you feel would turn out looking better. After all, it is your DIY decor idea! Remember, it’s not stressing out but stress relief benefit if creativity that we’re aiming for.
Step 6: Ta Da
And here’s my finished artwork adding a touch of elegance and personality to my kitchen! May be, I will hang it on the wall later. What do you think?
Step 4 
Step 5 
Step 6
I later attached two paperclips on the back and hung it on the wall. You can choose to go with smaller board sizes and make it a collection of 3 or 4 different messages. Why not go rustic and use pellet wood as the
The beauty of this idea is that you can create a few pieces and keep rotating them to reflect your mood. Once you begin, it’s hard to stop! New design ideas just keep sprouting.
Once you let go of your hesitation, each new thing you make will motivate you to create some more. The benefits of creativity simply keep growing with each whole-hearted effort you make.
How many did you end up making? Or, are you just toying with the idea of giving it a go? I would love to hear (or see) what design ideas you came up with.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Pingback: DIY String Art Décor Accent for Kids' Room - Nandyz Soulshine