I'm obsessed with diamond painting. It seems totally odd to me, but doing a craft where I don't have to think much or make decisions has really taken away some of my stress. Here are the first three I've finished in January of 2022...
The easiest and fastest to complete was this mandala inspired fidget spinner from Fansells priced at $4.08. It took about two hours to make and turned out even better than I thought it would. I was happily surprised to find that it's two sided with both sides having the same pattern.
One thing to note is that most of the surface is sticky--not just where the rhinestones are supposed to be placed. To fix that, I painted some Mod Podge over the entire surface which surprisingly didn't seem to dull the shine of the rhinestones.
These would probably make useful gifts, so I think I'll be buying more in the future.
This special drill hedgehog was also on Fansells for $4.08, though I've seen it on several other sites. It was really easy and took about five hours to complete.
I like the image a lot but was honestly disappointed by the way it turned out. It's still cute, but I don't like the way the drills are placed in lines on the hedgehog's body. I also think it could use more variation in color around the flowers to make them stand out more.
Last but not least, my husband gave me this one for Christmas. It's the Diamond Dotz version of Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh priced at $29.99 (don't tell my husband I looked up the price for this post!).
I absolutely love how this one turned out! The photo really doesn't do it justice-- especially because you can't see much of the sparkle. Since it's a larger canvas, it did take about a week to complete. The only thing I would want changed about this kit is that it uses mostly symbols to mark where the drills should be placed. I like it better when companies use letters and numbers instead.
Diamond painting has been a great stress reliever for me for the past several months. It's nice just to sit down and work on something easy and repetitive rather than working on original projects where I have to make decisions about colors and materials. While coloring books and Zentangle can have a similar stress relieving and meditative effect, you still have to think about what color or pattern you're going to use next.
I only wish I could get over this sense of guilt I keep having about spending my time diamond painting rather than making something original of my own. I know I shouldn't feel this way since it's something I really enjoy, but sometimes it's hard to get past these feelings. Still, I highly recommend diamond painting if you're looking for a craft that lets you unwind and de-stress.
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