Try something new every now and again

Every once in a while you have to try something new in life.  That is just what I did.  I decided to join a craft group for an evening.  The project they were going to work on was painting mugs for themselves.  At first I was very nervous and did not know what to paint, or even if I could, but after about half an hour of just looking at what all the other ladies were doing I got around to painting my mug.  Some girls were going dotty, painting lovely bright dots all over their mugs and others even brought stencils to do their mugs.  One could easily feel intimidated by all the creativity in the room.  I soon realised that it was not a test, and that I could not fail.  I thought it would be a great idea to have a ‘La Femme Joline’ mug, with a bit of a twist.

What do you think?  A bit crazy, I know, just like me.  Choosing colours was not hard, but the actual painting was a bit more stressful, because you have to do each line you paint four times if I remember correctly.  Then the lady who gave the lesson took all our mugs and about two weeks later I returned to the craft group to collect my mug, which has now been through the proper process of glazing and firing in the kiln (oven, furnace).

The lady who facilitates the group then told us all that the next project would be for others and not ourselves. We would be making a variety of small crafty items for girls in the Fisantekraal area, just outside Durbanville, for their Shine program.  The Shine program is designed to help with the self-esteem of ladies, and our gifts would be given each time they did a lesson. 

I liked the idea of helping others with our craftiness, and making them feel special so I took a few scarves to decorate...  

 I cannot claim to have crochet the flowers myself, that was the work of one of my lovely sisters, but I did sew them to the scarves.  For those who don’t know what crochet is it is making something from thick thread, by looping it through itself with a special hooked needle.

I have not yet been back to this group of ladies who offer their time and craftiness to others, but I am inspired by what they are doing.  We should all consider doing a selfless act every once in a while, it is really worth it!