The Positive Effects of Crafting is Amazing!!

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope your weekend went well. Did you get time to craft? I had a rough day yesterday but I still managed to get some crafting in. I have Lupus so some days are challenging. Do you have something that makes it hard for you? I'm always surprised at how much of an impact pain can effect my life. Crafting helps me focus away from the pain. Do you find crafting can take you away from whats bothering you? Its amazing to me how crafting can help people cope in so many different ways. There are studies that have proven crafting relieves stress. Do you feel the study to be true?
My Sister's Birthday is coming up and I wanted to make her a special card. I wanted something soft and feminine. It took me a little bit to figure out what I wanted to do. I had the paper and the colors picked but I really had to think about what we like to do together. Suddenly an idea swooped in and I was off.... Here's what I came up with :)

• I started with 2 pieces of the same size of the striped paper. I glued the gold handles (one piece is 1/2" smaller than the other) with tacky glue to the back of the front piece and waited for the glue to set.
• Once the glue started to set I adhered 2 pieces of fun foam together and cut them 1/4" smaller than the bag. You will need to cut out the area where the handles are. 
• I wrapped the tag around the front of the bag and heat embossed the sentiment with WOW! Bright white embossing powder.
• Then adhered the fun foam to the back of the front piece. The tissue paper was adhered to the back of the bag.
• I adhered the second striped piece of paper to the back of the bag, The stripes need to be facing forward.
• For the front of the card I took a piece of pink card stock (5" X 7") and used a Martha Stewart corner punch on the corners. Then attached it to the front of a 5 x 7 card.
• The Bag was adhered to the front of the card. 
• It still needed a little something so I added clear Jems to the center of the flowers, the sentiment and to the tissue paper.

I can't wait to give her this card! She will enjoy the fun of this card and it will bring a smile to her face. The best part of Card Making is seeing the joy on peoples faces. It gives me such a great feeling to be able to touch peoples hearts with something I made for them. Almost everything I craft is for somebody else. Keeping the things I make just isn't as satisfying to me. Do you give most everything you make to somebody important in your lives?

Please remember to leave comments below. Tell me how crafting helps you with stress, or illness, in your life. Let me know if most of what you make is for others or for yourself. Let me know why you craft. I LOVE your comments and its just awesome to share and get to know each other. Nobody understands a Crafter like another Crafter does! Happy Crafting Everyone! ~HUGZ~