Mindful Crafting: How Beaded Tree Art Helps Calm An Anxious Mind

A couple of things. First, I have no idea how this beautiful beaded tree craft idea had escaped my notice until recently. In January I started seeing them everywhere all over social media. All colors, sizes, styles and bead and pin types and I fell in love! They are beautiful and each one is a one of a kind work of art!! I was mesmerized and had to give one a try. I already had a foam tree form that was intended for something I didn’t get to and I had Amazon, Hobby Lobby and some odds and ends around the house and I was off to the races! I decided to go with all white for my tree as it works into a decorating feature I hope to do in the future.

Secondly, yes, I know it is January and I am making a holiday tree. Apparently, I didn’t get the memo that Christmas crafting has an expiration date. Turns out it doesn’t. The lights and decorations are down, the rush is over and all the expectations have packed up and gone home. Honestly, I feel like that makes January the perfect time to create something festive. January is blissfully quiet. Making a holiday tree now feels a bit rebellious in the best way. No deadlines, no pressure to impress. Just a little sparkle for the sake of sparkle.

I didn’t set out to find a coping mechanism, a way to calm my anxiety or a way to quiet my overthinking brain. I was simply interested in creating something beautiful. As it turns out, sometimes what you need finds you when you are not even paying attention. It started with a styrofoam tree, a pile of decorative straight pins and a whole lot of things that sparkled. Beads, buttons and sequins. There is something quietly soothing about pushing a pin into styrofoam. Just enough pressure to keep you present, not forceful and certainly not rushed. Each pin holds beads, buttons and sequins in place and in that moment, my anxious brain has a job. I am not spiraling, I am not replaying conversations over and over, I am not staring at an anxiety producing screen, I am not catastrophizing about the future, I am not worrying about imagined but non-existent situations. Just one pin, one bead, one sequin and one breath at a time.

This is not the type of project that requires perfection. What a relief!! The beads don’t need to match, there is no pattern to follow, some of the sequins will lean sideways, you will inadvertently place two identical bead formations side by side and somehow this makes your tree more interesting. This is not a symmetrical tree. Some sections are dense with sparkle, others are more quiet. A few pins here and there lean at angles that would make a perfectionist twitch. Yet, all the inherent imperfections just make it all the more beautiful.

Anxiety, a racing mind and overthinking love rules. The more the better. They thrive on “shoulds” and “musts”. This tree ignores all of that! It allows for imperfection, uneven spacing, mis-matched beads and sequins and buttons showing up where beads were planned. Somehow, the more imperfect it becomes, the more interesting it looks. This serves as a serious reminder that sometimes, calm doesn’t necessarily come from control but from simply allowing thing to just be. This serves as a serious reminder to slow down, to do something small to calm your mind and, most importantly, it serves as a reminder to just breathe and take care of ourselves and our mental well being.

I am enjoying making my little tree so much that I have decided that I will need a much larger multi-colored one as well. 🎄 I am going to extend my newly discovered, super beneficial activity and have a extremely effective way to calm my mind throughout the rest of the year! I’ve started to gather supplies and can’t wait to see how that tree shapes up!

If you are reading this post and have a busy mind, you don’t have to make a tree if you don’t want to but you might want to find an activity that is repetitive, that is tactile and doesn’t expect you to be good at it. Maybe it’s pins and beads, maybe it is a paint by number kit, maybe its knitting or crocheting. Calm doesn’t always come through rest. Sometimes it comes through making something small, sparkly and completely unnecessary-slowly and imperfectly.

And…Apparently…that can be more than enough!

I have linked items below that I ordered from Amazon for my projects, you can also find a treasure trove of beads and other sparkly goodies at Hobby Lobby. It is much more economical to order pins from Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from Qualifying purchases. No additional cost to you. 😊

1000pcs 4 mm Bicone Crystal Beadshttps://amzn.to/49EWYvj

YBEATY 300 Pcs Rhinestone Corsage Boutonniere Pins Crystalhttps://amzn.to/49U2VTQ

Mabor 75mm/3Inch Straight Pins Sewing, 100Pcs Pearl Head Decorative Pins, Colored https://amzn.to/49RMWWf

Zavaca – Round Pearl Head Sewing Pins Straight Pins https://amzn.to/3NCTEYT

Multicolored Rainbow 10mm Cupped Sequinshttps://amzn.to/4pZhQSK

1000PCS Multicolor Straight Pinshttps://amzn.to/4jWtQms

636pcs Glass Beads for Jewelry Makinghttps://amzn.to/49USj7k