Gather & Glow co-founder, Noor Nassar talks with Sarah Lenhart, Jamie Siquieros, Heather Doss and Ashley Meikle, at a junk journal event on April 26, 2026.
Ask almost anyone at any of Tucson’s growing number of social craft groups and they’ll tell you crafting isn’t just a new trend but a way to unplug and create new connections.
With so much of daily life now spent on phones and computers, groups like Gather & Glow Club are offering a return to nostalgic pastimes, with less screen time and more creativity and community.
“I really do think this is the era of analog hobbies, and they're coming back strong, because we're looking to reconnect almost, back to the 1990s,” said Noor Nassar, co-founder of Gather & Glow Club. “We're trying to reconnect, back to ourselves without technology, without social media and the dopamine hits that we're chasing.”
Nassar and her friend Twyla Haggerty started Gather & Glow Club earlier this year with the goal of using their own love of art to help craft-lovers in Tucson build community.
“We get together and either craft or paint or journal together,” Nassar said.
She sees the experience as almost a form of therapy — getting together with other people and spending a couple hours doing something fun and creative to decompress after a long week.
Junk journaling materials at Gather & Glow's recent event.
And Gather & Glow is by no means the first or only craft club in Tucson either. Artsy Babes Club, Keep Tucson Crafty, Corazón Collective and Crafting Resilience all host similar crafty events.
“There's so many other amazing art clubs,” Nassar said. “We really, truly support each other, which has been so beautiful.”
The social nature of the clubs, Nassar said, provides space for attendees to foster new, meaningful connections.
“These environments just make it easy to meet new people,” Nassar said. “Especially in the post-COVID-19 world, people are just wanting that human connection again. And the world is just so dark in so many ways that I think people are just looking for opportunities to have a little bit of a little bit of light.”
Worst-case scenario, she said, everyone gets to walk away with an art project they’re proud of.
Participants craft at Gather & Glow Club's junk journal event April 26, 2026
Desirée Guerrero, founder and facilitator of Corazón Collective, started the club in January as an extension of South Tucson Community Outreach, in response to community desire for more social and creative opportunities.
“We had a number of people that wanted to do things with arts and wellness, creativity, movement and things like that,” she said.
Guerrero officially launched Corazón Collective in January to provide Tucsonans with a space to interact with their neighbors, socialize and relax with free crafts or exercise classes.
“Our goal is to just make these wellness and social and creative spaces more accessible,” Guerrero said. “And have an inclusive, safe space for people to come unwind.”
So far, Corazón Collective has been hosting one free crafting event each month, including pot painting and planting, junk journaling, trinket-box crafting and a vision board party, and Guerrero said she is encouraged by the support and enthusiasm she's been receiving for the events.
“We've had a really good turnout,” she said. “I would say on average, 30 to 35 people at a workshop.”
According to Guerrero, people are even traveling all the way from Marana, Oro Valley and Green Valley to attend.
A big factor driving people back to analog hobbies and activities, she theorized, is affordability, which is why she has kept events free to attend.
“For example, junk journaling is literally recycled materials or things that you were going to throw away anyway, that you can reuse and make into something beautiful. There's a lot of crafting that you can recycle materials with, or reuse things that you were going to throw away, and that cuts down on the cost,” Guerrero said. “A lot of people are also wanting to find community outside of social media and the internet, and find in-person connections again, especially with people who have the same interests.”
Sarah Lenhart, 25, was one of the attendees at Gather & Glow’s junk journaling event on Sunday, April 26, and she said that the social clubs are a way for her to meet and form friendships with other women her age who are into the same crafting hobbies that she is.
“It's nice to come here and be creative with other women,” she said.
Through clubs like Gather & Glow, she’s made friends with many of the other regular attendees like Heather Doss and Jamie Siquieros, who were both at Sunday’s event. The three keep each other informed about upcoming craft nights. Sitting around their table at Hee Mee Bakery, they shared journal tips, craft supplies and swapped life experiences, while the other dozen or so attendees chatted and laughed with their own table groups.
Lenhart said she first started getting into junk journaling last year, after seeing videos about it on Instagram.
Sarah Lenhart shows off her newly complete junk journal page.
“It was Christmas time, so I kept saving pieces of wrapping paper, and I ended up gluing them together, and I'm like, ‘this, this could be a fun hobby for me,’” she said.
Since then, she has attended several junk journaling meetups and crafting nights with Gather & Glow, Artsy Babes and Keep Tucson Crafty, including a paint and sip night with Gather & Glow in March. The meetups have been an inspiration for her to get creative and work on her junk journaling.
“Sometimes I don't have junk,” Lenhart said. “Or if nothing exciting happens, and I don't get any junk, what am I going to junk journal about?”
Her favorite thing about joining crafting clubs, she said, is seeing what everyone does with the exact same sticker pack. Her own piece featured a collage of pink and blue patterned scraps and floral stickers, while her neighbor Ashley Meikle painted her background in watercolor.
Even beyond crafty social clubs, Lenhart said she’s seen many of her friends and family return to offline hobbies.
“This is not my only ‘granny’ hobby. I've taken up baking again, I've started gardening, even though I'm terrible at it. My sister recently learned to knit, and she's never knitted before,” she said. “People are trying to decrease their screen time, because a lot of us now work all day on a screen, and so the idea of coming home to be on a screen is just not restful.”
Ashley Meikle paints in her journal at a junk journaling event with Gather & Glow
Meikle, who was attending her very first junk journaling club, said she is trying to find her hobbies again, after becoming a mom.
“Right now, I crochet and cross stitch, so I do a lot of fiber arts,” she said. “I've attended an open crochet and knit class where you just take your stuff. There's two local yarn shops that do it, and I've been to those to just sit and crochet with other people.”
Crafting, she said, is her way to destress and connect with herself.
“This is kind of like self care, but a creative version,” Meikle said. “I need a creative outlet to relax my brain.”
Stickers and bags created by Gather & Glow co-founder Noor Nassar.
Everyone, it seems, gets exactly what they need out of crafting, whether it’s companionship, distraction or meditative creativity.
“It's so beautiful to just see people come together that didn't know each other before,” Nassar said. “I'm just excited to see the community grow.”
Gather & Glow’s next event is May 10 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Di Luna Candles, 2700 N. Campbell Ave.
Each ticket is $30, and attendees will be making their own bedazzled picture frame with charms, buttons and other crafting supplies. You can find more information on their Instagram.
