Crafty group celebrates a busy year

December 13th, 2013

The craft skill-sharing group Crafty Tarts this week celebrated a busy year in and around Motueka with a lunch at the newly crowned best cafe in New Zealand, Jester House. (Photo below.)

Nearly half of the 60-plus membership of the group attended the lunch and reflected on not only the amount of new learning they had shared in this its second year, but also in the vibrant fellowship they enjoyed in their regular meetings and workshops.

One of the most public projects they completed was making about 16 large mock flowers from simple materials, which have been used to create colourful settings for the Vision Motueka Volunteers Awards ceremony, a wedding, a school fair and a 60th birthday party.

The flowers are now being used to brighten the vacant shop window beside Vodafone's shop in High Street.

After the meal, the Crafty Tart founder and co-ordinator, Val Armstrong, led the simple 'assignment of tasks' ceremony and then spoke about the role such groups have in making for a healthy community, particularly for women.

"Crafty Tarts is not only good for our minds and hands. I read an article the other day on 'The Relationship between stress and disease'. For a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.

"Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically, this quality 'girlfriend time' helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter in our brains that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. I think at Crafty Tarts we are doing just this, with our creativity, fun and sharing.

"Women share feelings, whereas men often form relationships around activities. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very GOOD for our health. It said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

"There's a tendency to think that when we are 'exercising' we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged. Not true! In fact, failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking!

"So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health!"

Speaking of the group's rapid growth, she said she "had no idea of the path we would take apart from this idea I had of sharing our skills".

"It's meant that with the combination of everyone's skills, collectively we are able to take advantage of each other's experiences. It has turned out to be so beneficial and rewarding as each Crafty Tart finds this, whether they have attended some meetings and workshops a few times, or are a regular attendee, or they just get the newsletter.

"We all get something out of Crafty Tarts - either learning something, sharing by teaching a skill, or finding out what else can be done with ideas.

"The Show-and-Tells are probably the most popular and they just keep coming, which bring more and more ideas. Communication in the 21st Century, like using your cell phone to take a picture of a craft you've seen, to websites, tutorials on the internet, and Pinterest, the ideas for making crafts are certainly made easier, plus the growing interest of revamping, recycling, and reviving old crafts is all rewarding.

>> , to be added to the page. [If this link doesn't work, use this form instead]

[ Return ]
[ Other news articles ]

We wish to thank these local community-minded businesses who generously sponsor our site. They recognise the value of supporting this community asset, and in return Motueka Online is pleased to use and recommend their services whenever appropriate.

Ray White Motueka, Motueka Floral Studio, Nelson Building Society, House of Travel,
Greenwood Active Health, Lynette Mytton,