tinkerings 001 : sacred creative play & notes from a crafty month

lately, i’ve been tinkering with the idea of sacred creative play, a few hours in my day that are protected, intentional, and devoted purely to making something with my hands.

as creatives, it’s so easy to be consumed by work that exists for others. deadlines, deliverables, expectations. but i truly believe that if you don’t create just for yourself, something will wither. you have to make things that don’t need to be useful, sellable, or even good.

a practice i’ve been trying to build into my everyday is this: once i come home from the studio, i shut my laptop. completely. and i dedicate whatever hours i have left to making. side-quest projects. handmade gifts. all those tiny sparks deserve a chance to exist in the real world, and this is my way of letting them.

i don’t put pressure on these evenings. no time limits. no expectations. and no rules about outcomes. i just create. i call these my crafty evenings, and honestly, they’ve been absolutely crucial in keeping me creatively fulfilled this month.

what comes out of them isn’t perfect or polished. but they are deeply joyful. and purely exploratory. and i want to take the time to document them. and maybe, hopefully, they’ll remind you to make something too.

crochet dino keychain

my partner bought me a beginner’s crochet kit a very long time ago, back when i actually was a beginner. life got in the way, as it often does, and the kit sat untouched in the depths of my cupboard.

this month, i felt a strong urge to revisit all those unfinished projects that once excited me. so i pulled the kit out and started making. it was surreal to realise how far i’ve come since then. the instructions were clear and helpful, but i also noticed that with what i know now, i could’ve made this without them at all.

that realisation felt incredibly affirming :)

i ended up tweaking the pattern and adding a face, little hands, and changing the size and shape slightly. making it my own. i love him so much.

crochet mat thingy

i’d been seeing videos of people making yarn from old t-shirts and weaving them into mats and tapestries. i had a pile of old tees meant for donation, and this felt like the perfect way to give them a second life.

i didn’t follow a pattern. i just went with intuition weaving the t-shirt yarn with regular yarn, figuring things out as i went. i made this mat for my aunt; her home has a lot of blues, and i loved seeing little touches of pink peek through.

i genuinely had no idea what i was doing most of the time (oops), and that was the best part. i’m so excited to make more of these. everyone in my life may eventually end up with a slightly unhinged mat made from ness’s old shirts :)

vision board

yes, i made a vision board. i know, cliché.

i included a photo of my younger self, and that became the foundation for all my intentions for 2026. everything i want to do, create, and prioritise is for her. i want to make choices that would make little ness happy.

i bought cheap, fun stickers, rhinestones, gems. i cut scalloped edges. i leaned fully into whimsy. and i loved every second of it.

during a work exercise recently, someone asked: “what’s something you do now that makes you feel like a kid?” i froze. i couldn’t answer. whether it was because i truly didn’t know, or because i was put on the spot , i’m not sure. but i remember feeling abolutely gutted. but like, that moment stayed with me. and i promised myself i wouldn’t forget it.

now i know i do have things that make me feel like a kid: visiting craft and stationery stores, making chocolate fondues, scribbling on notepads, swinging on creaky swings, eating this one specific brand of chips, dancing in public when the music is too good, buying new notebooks, toy stores, barbies, glitter, star stickers.

documenting this is my way of remembering, for her.

2026 punch cards

i fully hopped onto the goal punch-card bandwagon, and i regret nothing.

i hand-painted each card using acrylic markers and gouache. it took two full days. slightly unhinged behaviour, but deeply satisfying. i tied them together with a beautiful ribbon from a friend’s shop packaging, and now they live on my desk.

punching through them is ridiculously fun. i’ve decided i’ll choose my reward only after completing the entire card like a mystery voucher. the idea absolutely delights me.

beads

i’ve wanted to work with beads for the longest time, but they always felt intimidating. a very talented friend of mine, reshu singh on instagram does incredible beadwork, and i’d admired it from afar for years.

this month, i finally tried. the bead kit was on sale, my stomach fluttered, and i ordered it.

best decision ever.

i made a beaded chain for my digicam and a bunch of bracelets for friends and family. i didn’t follow tutorials, once again, i figured it out on my own. it took like 2 hours longer than it probably should have, but it felt so fulfilling. the concentration, the coordination... it genuinely felt like working on a school project again.

i can’t wait to do more.

texture collecting

this was another experiment i’d been saving for “someday.” i started with play-dough (disaster. read: all the play-dough got stuck right up in all the crevices of the thing i was trying to pull textures from), then switched to softened blu-tack which worked beautifully.

i’m so excited to keep collecting textures this way. i love the idea of carrying a little kit around and noticing surfaces differently. it’s such a playful way to engage with the world.

what i'm learning

what this month has taught me is that creativity doesn’t need to be productive to be meaningful. and to protect myself from perfectionism and burnout, i’ve decided to document everything even when it’s messy. you’ll see bad lighting, ugly bedsheets, blurry photos. but these things matter more to me than aesthetics right now.

they are proof that i played. proof that i made. proof that i showed up.

so, if there’s a message here, it’s this: pay attention to your ideas. even the small ones. especially the small ones. they’re trying to keep you alive.

for now, that’s all. i’ll see you in my next tinkering 🤍