With friends, classes, and the need for sleep, you might not have much extra time. But if your artistic side runs in overdrive, you can try some of these crafts for dancers.

Treat Your Sweet Side

Cake isn’t usually something that dancers want to spend much time handling. But, when it looks this good, you might not want to eat it! The cake pictured at this link was created by a dancer who wanted to thank her ballet teacher. And although the artist doesn’t plan to work as a pastry chef, she does sell cakes once in a while to earn extra money.

New Life for an Old Love

A few modifications give a new life to old, well-loved items

Although I don’t want to make assumptions, I think that generally, dancers love clothes.

And, I’ll also make the claim that dancers love bags. I mean, how couldn’t you, with all of the gear (and clothes!) you tote around?

Many dancers combine those two loves in crafty ways. Maybe the best way to show appreciation for that pair of favorite jeans that has finally fallen apart is to cut them up and make them into a bag! You can see examples of that sort of work at these links:

• Jeans Tote Bag - Video from Associated Content
  
• Bag Instructions from Craftbits
  
• Design Idea for Jeans Bag from BBC
  

The best thing about this craft, of course: you get a new bag, and you have an excuse to go shopping for new jeans.

Collect Yourself

Chances are that your parents have shoe boxes full of photos from every one of your past recitals. Before those boxes get out of control, it might be a good idea to take up scrapbooking.

You can find materials for making scrapbooks at any art supply store. And, if you still need more scrapbook supplies, take a look at this article. She suggests that you use pieces from old costumes to decorate your dance memorabilia. (If you’re looking for something that’s specifically for dancers, you can check out this CD ROM, which lets you print out scrap book pages, as well as other dance-themed project pieces.)

Re-use, Recycle, Redecorate

Because dancers go through so many pairs of ballet slippers and pointe shoes, old shoes can be great craft

Shine up those old shoes

Of course, many dancers decorate their old shoes and put them on display. There are no limits when you’re decorating your old shoes. Paint, rhinestones, glitter, ribbons, sequins, permanent markers, fabric: there are endless materials for you to use in coloring, embellishing, bedecking, festooning, and otherwise prettifying your old shoes. Think about where you’ll display the finished craft, and then decorate the shoes to match the décor in that room.

You can follow this link to check out the work of one artist who decorates pointe shoes professionally. And although she doesn’t dance en pointe, she has a great appreciation for those who do! Keep in mind, though, that she’s decorating new pointe shoes, not old ones–decorating new ones would probably be a bit too expensive for anyone who was just doing it for fun. At this link, you can read about the “napkin technique” that this artist uses on pointe shoes.

Share Your Skills

Do you have an idea that should be added to this list? Leave a comment explaining it, or leave us a link to a website with examples.