5 Christmas Craft Ideas you can try yourself!

12/04/2019

Our artists have been running some beautiful Christmas-themed art sessions over the years, which are super-simple for people of all abilities to try with incredibly effective results!

Here are five great examples of sessions that took place, which you could easily try at home!

Bleeding Tissue Paper Christmas Trees

These pretty colourful wintery scenes were created at Ladywell Convent in Godalming with CM Artist Julie. The backgrounds were formed using bleeding tissue paper techniques, where squares of tissue paper are applied, dampened with water, then lifted to reveal vibrant prints. Simple tree silhouettes were then painted over them and white acrylic sponged over the floor for snow. Snowflakes were added in paint for the finishing touch.

Christmas Lanterns

Festive lanterns were created by residents at Belmore Lodge Care Home in Lymington with CM Artist Karen using rolled laminated A4 sheets. Strips of tissue paper in festive shades were layered inside the sheets, with pretty Christmas embellishments included to give that festive feel. They looked great all lit up with LED tea lights!

Christmas Wreaths

These contemporary Christmas wreathes were created by residents at Glenholme Care Home in Sunderland with CM Artist Lily. Recycled toilet roll tubes were cut and folded to form the floral patterns, which were then painted with acrylics and attached to card rings. Gems were added to the centre of each flower for some extra sparkle and Christmas ribbon was tied onto the bottom.

Wooden Christmas Tree Decorations

This jolly Christmas display was created by residents at Aldersgate Retirement Flats in Nuneaton with CM Artist Alison. Residents painted onto pre-cut wooden triangles to form their own little forest of festive creations. We love each unique design, with some painted as Santa, others as Christmas trees, and texture added to some as snow. The variety really adds to the charm, and they look wonderful on display.

Wintery Collages

These wintery collages formed Christmas Card designs for residents at Beechwood Grove Care Home in Eastbourne with CM Artist Sarah. Residents enjoyed working with a variety of different textured wallpaper, which they layered to form the snowy landscapes. They then used drops of paint onto coffee filters to add some colour to the trees. Silhouettes of trunks and branches were cut out and added at the end.

We’d love to see your creations too maybe using some of our Christmas Craft ideas above. Tag us into any pictures you share on Social Media with @creativemindsan we’d love to see them!

Enjoy getting creative this Christmas!

Christmas Card Competition WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!

12/04/2019

The winning designs have been announced for our Christmas Card Competition #CreateYourChristmasCard that was open to people living with dementia, ran in partnership with MindForYou.

We were overwhelmed by the response, with so many beautiful and creative entries. We were thrilled to welcome celebrity judge, singer and actor Tony Christie to choose the winners, and he picked these two designs.

The winners were chosen based on the ‘humorous side’ to the Santa and Snowman scene, as well as the ‘cool atmosphere and background’ created in the Polar Bear design.

The competition winners will receive a free supported holiday to any of the MindForYou UK destinations as well as in-house Creative Minds art sessions.

Our Etsy shop is up and running so you can now buy our winning Christmas Card designs! £2.50 of every pack of 10 cards sold will go to the MindforYou and Creative Minds fund, helping to offer more arts sessions on our supported holidays for people living with dementia and their carers.

Follow the link below to buy our Christmas cards!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DementiaXmasCards?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Exciting new partnerships for Creative Minds in 2019!

11/04/2019

Throughout the year we’ve formed some exciting new partnerships with a number of organisations that are passionate about the benefits that creativity brings to people’s wellbeing. These have opened up some great opportunities for our artists to expand their businesses into new fields and reach out and touch the lives of others.

Colostomy UK

Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been working closely with Colostomy UK, delivering therapeutic art sessions to Stoma Support Groups across the country as part of their “active ostomates” programme – designed to empower people with a stoma to participate in activities to increase both physical and mental wellbeing.

These sessions have been hugely popular – some with as many as 35 participants attending! These always make for a wonderful social occasion, and we’ve had some great feedback from attendees on how much they’ve enjoyed it, and how therapeutic the sessions are. Our artists have thoroughly enjoyed delivering sessions at the Stoma Support Groups too.

partnerships — Giovanni, the Fundraising & Development Manager with Karen U, CM Artist

CM Artist David delivered a session in Salisbury and said; “Everyone loved working with watercolours – it was a lovely atmosphere with lots of fun and banter.”

CM Artist Rhiannon delivered a session in Sheppy and she said; “It was a pleasure working with the Stoma Support Group in Sheppy. They astounded me with their positivity and creativity. They really encouraged each other and gave great feedback on each other’s work. Some fabulous art was created!”

To find out more about Colostomy UK, visit: http://www.colostomyuk.org/

MindForYou

Back in the summer, we formed a partnership with MindForYou, a wonderful company who organise holidays for folks living with dementia to enjoy with their nearest and dearest. Their holidays span across England, Scotland and Wales.

CM Artist Tracy ran a session in Hathersage, Derbyshire. Holiday goers used soft pastels and inktense pencils to draw views of the beautiful Derbyshire countryside.

CM Artist Liz ran a lovely session near Honiton in Devon. The sun shone into the room as holiday goers had a great time creating bold sunflower canvases.

Throughout the summer we delivered sessions at holidays across the country, with groups from anywhere from 15-35 participants, and our artists will be delivering sessions at many future holidays to come!

To find out more about Mindforyou, visit: http://www.mindforyou.co.uk/

Chatty Art Cafe

The Chatty Café Scheme is a brilliant initiative, founded by Alex Hoskyns, in which cafes can join the scheme and allocate a table or two within the establishment to be a ‘chatter and natter’ table to encourage people in the community to talk to one another reducing loneliness and isolation.

The scheme has really off and in just two years, there are now over 1000 cafes across the UK and globally, in the US, Canada, Gibraltar, Malta, Australia and more!

CM Artists Caroline and Judy set up their own Chatty Art Café at Greengages Coffee Shop in Salisbury earlier in the year. Since then, Creative Minds founder James got in touch with the founders of the Chatty Café Scheme and they loved the idea of forming a partnership to run Chatty Art Cafés as part of the initiative. This has opened up another exciting avenue for CM Artists to pursue and we’re looking forward to seeing Chatty Art Cafes popping up across the country in the coming months.

In the meantime, CM Artists Caroline and Judy’s Chatty Art Café in Salisbury is continuing to grow from strength to strength. They have a solid group of regular attendees and some wonderful new friendships have formed. It’s lovely to hear that some of the regulars are already making Christmas plans together!

To find out more about the Chatty Cafe Scheme, visit: https://thechattycafescheme.co.uk/

Magnificent mosaic delights residents at Cloverdale Court!

10/01/2019

CM Artist Kirsteen has been delivering art sessions at Cloverdale Court Retirement Flats in Wallington for around 6 months. This year they are celebrating 55 years since opening, so the manager got in touch with Kirsteen and commissioned her to work on a project with residents to highlight this. They decided they wanted to create a giant mosaic piece to be displayed on the garden wall.

Kirsteen chatted to the residents to see what they all wanted to feature in the mosaic. They all agreed on a forest theme, which would include woodland wildlife. Kirsteen then took the time to create a beautiful design for everyone to work on, and over the following 4 weeks residents came together to work on this engaging project. Kirsteen provided all the materials and they were each given their own piece of the mosaic to create. They were so pleased to see it all come together in the final week, and the staff were absolutely thrilled with how it turned out!

The manager at Cloverdale Court said;

“The residents really loved working on the project – in fact they didn’t want it to end! All were delighted with the final outcome, and it looks wonderful on display in the garden. The residents got so much out of working on this project.

“Many of their flats look out into the garden where they can enjoy seeing this wonderful piece on display, and they couldn’t be more proud. It’s great to watch the residents stopping to admire it. Visitors have paid loads of compliments on the mosaic too!”

Creative Minds at the Alzheimer’s Show 2019

07/15/2019

The Alzheimer’s Show is an annual event held at London Olympia and is the UK’s leading event for dementia help, advice and information. The show is attended by family carers, healthcare professionals and members of the public who want to learn more.

We exhibited at this year’s event on June 7th & 8th and ran a number of art sessions for attendees to come along and get involved. Participants had the opportunity to create drawings using soft pastels and have a go at print making using cardboard blocks. There was also a giant communal canvas, which people could come and add their own mark to. It was a great opportunity for people to come explore their own creativity whilst finding out more about what we do, and the benefits that our art sessions have on those in care or living with dementia.

Attendees really got stuck in, and the gentleman pictured (with the daisy drawing) had never worked in pastels before in his life! After being diagnosed with early onset dementia, he attended the show with his daughter. He said he’d been advised to try some creative activity as it would be beneficial to him, so he bought a book on art but found it too much information. He also bought an adult colouring book, but never used it. Then when he attended the show, and visited our stand he plucked up the courage to attend our art session – he went on to produce this beautiful daisy drawing! Every participant at the session couldn’t believe he had never drawn before and all wanted a photo of him with his artwork. He was so proud and emotional by the end of the session.

CM Artists really enjoyed attending the Alzheimer’s Show too. CM Artist Laura commented; “What an amazing experience! Getting to meet so many caring people all wanting to help others, it was just so humbling. The response was brilliant, one lady said to me it was the best part of her day! The soft pastels went down a storm with lots of great work. Everyone was so pleased with their efforts. It was a very rewarding session!”.

Many industry professionals visited our stand during the day, and one of the tutors from the Reigate School of Art commented that our art sessions gave them loads more ideas and inspiration on how they can do more work to engage the local community.

We are also delighted to announce that following the Alzheimer’s Show, we have formed a partnership with a wonderful organisation, MindForYou, who run holidays for people living with dementia to enjoy with their nearest and dearest. Holiday goers will be able to enjoy fun, relaxing and therapeutic art sessions during their UK breaks, ran by our specially trained artists!