50 Incredible Things People With Extra Time On Their Hands Made Themselves And Shared On The “Something I Made” Online Group (New Pics)
When was the last time you created something with your hands? Like a cake, a painting, or a pair of socks? Do you remember the feeling you had after finishing it, the satisfaction you got even if it wasn't "perfect"?
Handicrafts can be an excellent way to experience flow, decrease stress, and relieve anxiety. However, when you're, for whatever reason, a bit lost in the quest for a balanced life, it can be quite difficult to choose a project that would suit you.
For that, let's take a look at the subreddit 'Something I Made.' As its name suggests, this online community unites people who are proud of the fruits of their labor and want to show them off to others, congratulating each other on a job well done and encouraging people to keep at it.
So, continue scrolling to check out their top recent posts, and fire up our earlier publications on the subreddit here and here if you want more.
This post may include affiliate links.
Pencil Portrait I Drew Few Weeks Ago. (Pencils On Paper)
I Did A Shirt! This Is The 3rd One I've Made And I'm Super Pleased With How It Turned Out, Despite The Wobbly Top-Stitching On The Pocket
It is awesome. The fabric ist splendid and the light blue looks quite perky with it ;) Nice one.
As postdoctoral researcher, editor, and former journalist Natascha Chtena pointed out in Inside Higher Ed, people who spend a good amount of time creating with their hands – be it cooking, growing vegetables, building, knitting, or any sort of working with raw materials really – describes the process as “therapy” and as essential to their well-being.
Additionally, research actually confirms that making things with your hands is a large part of finding your flow, and flow is highly correlated with happiness. Unfortunately, our modern world often makes it very hard to find that rhythm where we can, free of distraction, just focus on the task at hand – where we can just turn off our minds (and phones) and be present in the moment.
I Made Some Cloud Pendants!
I Designed A 3D Printed Mirror Array To Propose! The Mirrors Are Angled So That Just Before Sunset, They Reflect The Sunlight To Spell “Marry Me?”
A Mailbox I’m Building. Steel And Copper
However, don't confuse handicraft with chores. "Making, as wide a spectrum as it can encompass, isn't about routine chores or tasks. It’s about the love of the craft – the pure joy of creating something from zero," Chtena said.
"There’s a difference between rushing home after a day in the lab to throw together a quick dinner before you faint, and savoring the experience of baking the best banana pie you can possibly bring into existence. The same goes for making your own home repairs to save money versus making your own home décor crafts to add personal accents to your place."
I Made My Daughter This Armor From Leather, Wood, Plastic, And Brass And Foam Sheet
I Made A Portrait By Smashing Glass!
Painting I Did Like Looking Through The Rainy Window Of A Car
Wife Wanted A Greenhouse. Repurposed Wood And Windows
If all of this sounds like fun but you don't know where to start, it might be a good idea to choose something relevant to you. "If you just pick an activity because it sounds cool in theory, you likely won’t be able to stick with it very long," Chtena said.
"Instead, take a look at your life and think about parts you’d like to improve. Are there things you enjoy but can’t afford readymade? Are there products you’re using that aren’t quite meeting your needs? Things you’d like to improve? For instance, I met someone at a party recently who started brewing their own beer because they were after a flavor they couldn’t find in stores. Similarly, I have a friend who uses her handmade jewelry as a personal trademark and sells them for some extra cash. Another friend, to whom living an environmentally friendly life is very important, makes her own natural cleaning products."
I Made A Dress For My First Day Of Work
I Handcut Playing Cards Into 3D Art Using An Xacto Knife
I Made This Sweatshirt Out Of A Blanket I Got At My Local Thrift Store And It’s Probably My Favorite Thing I’ve Made So Far
Latest Finish, Wild Thing Denim Vest! About 6 Months Of Work
You might also want to keep it simple. At least in the beginning. "Making your own furniture sure sounds fulfilling and all, but it’s also massively time-consuming and difficult to try out without making a huge investment in tools (unless you’re lucky to live near a maker space with woodwork equipment, of course)," Chtena said.
Similarly, winemaking is something you probably can’t pull off if you live in the city but alternative wines, like elderflower or walnut, are easy to make without any fancy equipment and they add a nice touch to social gatherings.
One Of My Works About Humpback Whales
The Diamond Engagement Ring I Made For My (Hopefully) Soon To Be Fiancée. In 18k Rose Gold
2.5 Years Sober Tomorrow; I Painted This For An Art Auction Benefiting A Local Sober Living Facility
Great work on the art, and great work on the 2.5 years of being sober. Both fantastic achievements
A Painting I Did For My Fiancé. It's Him And His Oldest Son
Generally speaking, baking, brewing, gardening, DIY, body-care, home crafts and accessories are all good (realistic) starting points for most of us.
Remember, when you start small, you will eventually get the hang of it, and can always move on to making bigger and more elaborate things in the future.
“Holding Hands” Silver Ring Made By Me
I Made These Huge Paintings For My First Solo Exhibition
I Previously Posted This Elsewhere But Kept Being Told To Post It Here. So Here Is My Alien Abduction Outfit. I Made The Top, Skirt And Necklaces
Wow, it is blinding. With this outfit you would be the alien queen in no time.
Some Of My Favourite Hand Embroidered Landscapes
"I got started by brewing my plain kombucha, then I added a second fermentation where I started infusing the brew with herbs and fruits, and then I slowly moved on to other fermented drinks and vegetables," Chtena described her own journey.
A Leather Bag I Made
I Made Every Part Of This Outfit, Corset And Petticoats Included!
Just Finished My Biggest And Most Difficult Backgammon Board So Far, Made With Real Fern Leaves And Flowers
Finally Completed The Mosaic In My Mom’s Shower! 5000 Individually Cut Tiles And A Year Of Work
I love making mosaic tile tabletops. Always wanted to try something bigger!
As it so often is, the most important thing is to simply get started. Try whatever it is that attracts you once, take it slow, and don’t be intimidated if it doesn't immediately work out. You'll get there!
One Of My Favorite Rings I’ve Made
I Won First Place At The Fair This Weekend For My Cross Stitch!
I Made This Embroidery As A Gift To My Religious Grandma And She Loved It!
My Mother Crocheted This Blanket From Over 800 Small Flowers. She Doesn’t Even Has Facebook So I Thought I Would Post It For Her Because It’s Such An Awesome Piece
I Made Some Shroomy Ceramic Planters
I Made These Ceramic Ghost Buddies With Tea Lights!
I Painted This Pourtrait
Incense Burner I Made For My Girlfriend
I Made This Pumpkin Kitty Out Of Polymer Clay. I Wanted It To Look Like He Was Wearing A Costume And I Think It Turned Out So Cute!
Beaded Pin Inspired By Vermeer’s Girl With The Pearl Earring
I Made Cellular Biology Stained Glass To Hang Behind Me For My Work Zoom Calls
My Daughter Wearing The Coat That I Made For Her
My Playful Red Brooch. Made Entirely Of Polymer Clay
Diplodocus Hand Painted Ceramic Tile
I Made This Lingerie Set For A Friend’s Birthday!
I Preserve And Frame Spiderwebs!
I used to do this! I would use different colors for the background at times and even dyed some of the webs. I used Rit fabric dye mixed in a spray bottle and would very lightly mist the web and let it dry several times until it reached the hue I desired. After getting the web on the background I would then lightly spray with hairspray to help preserve it. I may have to try this again, it's been a long time!😊🕷️🕸️💛
Pretty please tell us your technique for actually getting the web from its original location without ruining it?
Load More Replies...Ok! This I want to hear more about! How in the world do you preserve a spider web and be able to present it?
Like this: https://www.madaboutscience.com.au/shop/science-extra/post/preserve-a-spider-web
Load More Replies...https://www.madaboutscience.com.au/shop/science-extra/post/preserve-a-spider-web :)
Load More Replies...The frame is so fitting, love it. I can't even grasp how hard it would be to pick up a web and frame it.
i really want to know how that’s done, sounds really difficult and like it took a long time to master
I have a series of photos I took of a huge web covering my front porch one morning. The glow of dawn, tiny droplets of mist outlining the delicate strands, a blooming Bradford pear tree in the background.... It looks so peaceful, and I'd love to have had it preserved like this.
Maybe if I did this around the house I could get away with not dusting corners? Lol
I Made A Big Fruit/Salad Bowl From The Root Of A Black Walnut Tree
Almost Finished Making This Chefs Knife. Just Need To Sand The Handle A Bit More. Love To Hear What You Think Of It
I Make Canvas Bags, Here's My Latest! Naturally Dyed With Madder Root And Cochineal
Candy Corn Ghost! A Happy Little Experiment!
A Mug I Made A Little While Ago
A Feltart Embroidery Of Spirited Away Train Scene That I Made, Trying To Build A Wall Of Ghibli Feltart For Myself
I love this! The tanslucent fabric for No-face is awesome. A Wall of Gihbli feltart would be a joy to look at.
I Made This Little Pastel Green Polymer Clay Stegosaurus!
An 8x8 Witch Cottage I Designed/Built For My Backyard! First Major Construction Project
S’more Making Dinosaur! What Should We Name It?
I Made Paintings From Dried Pressed Flowers From My Garden
I Built A Little Town
My Wife Told Me To Do A Craft With Our 6yo Son. 40 Hours Later. Paper Mache
My 15 Year Old Is Almost Finished With This End Table. I’m So Proud Of Him
Check Out This Cool Little Charm I Made, It Has A Pearl Inside!
I Made This Acrylic Painting And Is My First One To Get In A Show!
I Designed And Crafted This Master Sword Necklace In Silver With A Hidden Button On It To Unsheath
I Made These Pair Of Crescent Moon Opal Stud Earrings
I Make Woodburnings. This One's My Favorite So Far!
I Made This, And It's Kinda Cool. I Dunno, What Do You Think?
They made this a lot here, Colombia, yo can make a sphere of it. That’s the process of earth for some ancient communities, is beautiful
My Interpretation Of A Classic
I love this a lot! It looks cute but neat at the same time. You did a fabulous job with the design.
100 Hours Later… It’s Done
I Made This Dress And Crown For A Potato Festival Sewing Competition. I Came Runner-Up
Mancala Board I Made With Pressed Flowers And Leaves
Female Woodworker With Her Statement Wall
Recycled Combs Made From Discarded Bottle Caps! Took Many, Many Months To Nail This On My Injection Machine
Cotton Candy Cart I Designed For A Customer
My Attempt At A Desert Landscape Scrimshaw On Bone
Fun Lighting For My Lounge I Made
Oil Painting Of Pinecones That I Made Recently
I Made Miniature Pizzas For My Barbies Out Of Polymer Clay
I just looked at the pizza and thought how delicious it looked, then read the caption and saw the Barbie hands. Now I´m hungry.
A Lovely Dress For A Baby Shower!
The dress looks gorgeos on you. I think the fabric fits you a lot.
5 Years Of Experimenting And Practice On My Stop Motion Puppets!
I Crocheted This Groovy Blanket As A Surprise For My Younger Brother, Who's Going Through A Tough Time. I'm So Happy With How It Came Out, It Just Might Be My Favorite Thing I've Ever Made!
Made with love - you can't buy this degree of sisterly love. Well done you!
I Made Stained Glass Beanie Babies
Vywhittler
Some Of The Candles My Girlfriend Recently Made. What Do You Think?
I Made An Acrylic Painting, It's 18x24 On Cotton Canvas
I Made This Painting! Hopefully It Looks A Little Familiar, But Not Too Familiar
I Made A Stained Glass Cynthia!
For My Girlfriend's Birthday I Made Up This Wine Featuring An Illustration Of Her With Her Best Friend - Named After Their Favorite Book
I Made This Pulp Fiction Mia Wallace Inspired Candle Holder
Nice! Eleven from Stranger things would be another good one....
This Is A Recent Oil Painting Commission I Did. Let Me Know What You Think
I Made These Retro-Style Tote Bags That Transform Into A Backpack
I Made Knife Handle Scales With A Pinecone In Resin. Can't Wait To Put These On A Chefs Knife
Made A Necklace With The Rare 4 Leaf Clover. Any Thoughts?
Finished This Blazer After Two Weeks Of Sewing
My Second Attempt At Repurposing Sweaters Into A Hoodie
These are all very very very awesome. Everyone is so crazy talented... Is it bad that I'm a wee bit envious?
my brother discovered gold in the equipment needed to make gold fillings & bridges at dental school. There were flecks & little bits left over after the casting process that the other students ignored. He collected them and made some impressive jewelry for my sister-in-law. Imagine, enough free gold to cast several rings...
These are all so amazing!! great work to all of u, u are so talented!!!
They posted them on Reddit where they were copied from. They don't even know they are on this site, so no point saying this as they won't see it.
Load More Replies...This is such a happiness inducing post! So much talent and beauty shared.
This is a wholesome post. No bad comments, no downvotes. Just nice comments and congrats. We have many talented people that still need to come out and play with BP.
You really don't understand how the site works do you. These posts are copied from Reddit. Some of them are 9 months old. These talented people are not bored Panda users and they did not post these here. Click on the links under the pictures. It is rare to have actual user generated content on this site and you'd know that if you actually read the intro.
Load More Replies...Wow!! I just paint old thrift shop dolls and turn them into evil clowns and zombies for Halloween, lol!
I wish I could like all of these more than once. So many awesome creative people
More of this kind of posts, please :) So many talented people out there!
Bored Panda copy them from Reddit. These are not from posters to this site. They copy other people's content for clickbait to sell ads.
Load More Replies...I can't believe how talented all of these individuals are this stuff is terrific everything you've all made is all spectacular!! Vic.
So much talent, it's just incredible! Is it bad that I feel jealous of people who have enough spare time on their hands to even attempt such awesome handicrafts, let alone have the talent to achieve such amazing results? I even felt jealous of the folks in lockdown, because I was hearing stories of folks learning new crafts and even hobbies turned into new career opportunities, while my job as essential worker kept me slogging away at all hours, with no time for even basic things like cooking and cleaning... Anyway, kudos to all the very talented artists here - and please: more lovely posts like this one!
It's not BP talent the posts are copied from Reddit. Read the intros!
Load More Replies...My goodness, there as so many talented and creative people in this world. This post made my heart so happy! Keep making the world beautiful no matter what medium!
Cool list. But BP, absolutely no disrespect, you guys are doing a great job, but what's it with the duplicate posts? I counted 6...
That occurs because rankings are changed immediately with upvotes
Load More Replies...These are all very very very awesome. Everyone is so crazy talented... Is it bad that I'm a wee bit envious?
my brother discovered gold in the equipment needed to make gold fillings & bridges at dental school. There were flecks & little bits left over after the casting process that the other students ignored. He collected them and made some impressive jewelry for my sister-in-law. Imagine, enough free gold to cast several rings...
These are all so amazing!! great work to all of u, u are so talented!!!
They posted them on Reddit where they were copied from. They don't even know they are on this site, so no point saying this as they won't see it.
Load More Replies...This is such a happiness inducing post! So much talent and beauty shared.
This is a wholesome post. No bad comments, no downvotes. Just nice comments and congrats. We have many talented people that still need to come out and play with BP.
You really don't understand how the site works do you. These posts are copied from Reddit. Some of them are 9 months old. These talented people are not bored Panda users and they did not post these here. Click on the links under the pictures. It is rare to have actual user generated content on this site and you'd know that if you actually read the intro.
Load More Replies...Wow!! I just paint old thrift shop dolls and turn them into evil clowns and zombies for Halloween, lol!
I wish I could like all of these more than once. So many awesome creative people
More of this kind of posts, please :) So many talented people out there!
Bored Panda copy them from Reddit. These are not from posters to this site. They copy other people's content for clickbait to sell ads.
Load More Replies...I can't believe how talented all of these individuals are this stuff is terrific everything you've all made is all spectacular!! Vic.
So much talent, it's just incredible! Is it bad that I feel jealous of people who have enough spare time on their hands to even attempt such awesome handicrafts, let alone have the talent to achieve such amazing results? I even felt jealous of the folks in lockdown, because I was hearing stories of folks learning new crafts and even hobbies turned into new career opportunities, while my job as essential worker kept me slogging away at all hours, with no time for even basic things like cooking and cleaning... Anyway, kudos to all the very talented artists here - and please: more lovely posts like this one!
It's not BP talent the posts are copied from Reddit. Read the intros!
Load More Replies...My goodness, there as so many talented and creative people in this world. This post made my heart so happy! Keep making the world beautiful no matter what medium!
Cool list. But BP, absolutely no disrespect, you guys are doing a great job, but what's it with the duplicate posts? I counted 6...
That occurs because rankings are changed immediately with upvotes
Load More Replies...