Family sparetime: gifts, kid crafts, paper crafts and a lots of fun

Paper Crafts - 5 Tips to Save Money

2006-05-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

Paper crafts:

Do you have artistic hands that can create amazing things from a piece of paper? From such a simple and basic material, you can do anything from beautiful 3D flowers to scrapbooks which will preserve the life story of your family for generations to come. But there is something more amazing. These materials you use to do your art can be quite expensive. The good news is there are always some little things you can do to save some money and go on doing your art. Here are the 5 ideas to help you save money on your paper crafts:

Do not toss, save: Have you ever considered that Christmas, birthdays and holidays are great opportunities for the paper crafter? The best item to save would be cards. You can create gift tags or even small gift boxes from these greeting cards which would be tossed otherwise. From now on, I am sure you will look at the gifts, whether it is for you or someone else, in a different way. You will be thinking if the wrapping papers has a potential to be used later and save it instead of throwing it away.

Keep an eye on Ebay: You can find anything, literally anything on Ebay. What you should be watching on Ebay are the "wannabe" crafters, their failure to stick it will become a boon to you as a hard core crafter. You have to keep an eye on these purging ex-crafters and you have to be ready to cash in on your good fortune as soon as one of them gets tired of storing supplies he will never use.

Watch out for the deals in disguise: Have you heard the old saying "Never judge a book by its cover".? Maybe you should not judge a book by its cover but it is a fact that the real value of a book or photo album is in the cover. Those covers can be pretty expensive! Here is an idea to cut $20: Buy an inexpensive album, throw away the insides pages and fill it with your own pages fitted into plastic sleeves. In this way you will spend maybe $10 instead of $30. You should always watch for ways to convert cheaper products into the ones you need.

Buy in bulk and swap: It is not a secret that buying in large quantities usually saves us money. Next time you go shopping and see something that will save you a lot of money if you buy in bulk, but you only need one of them, go ahead and buy the bulk quantity. Now all you need is a gathering with your crafty friends and swap these items, for the old barter time's sake!

Get the freebies: Why pay money for it when you can get it free? Patterns are usually the greatest expense for crafters. Or, if you are not buying patterns you are probably buying crafting magazines for fresh ideas. Have you tried going online and finding free patterns? The Internet is full of resources. Whether it is a free pattern or fresh ideas, you can find it on the Internet. Just join a forum with people sharing your passion.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Crafts

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

New image

2006-05-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

I will change the image of my blog, because I would like to make narrower the theme of the blog. My plan is the following: my blog will provide information and ideas about: kids crafts, child crafts, paper crafts and holiday crafts.

Easy face painting

2006-03-05T05:50:00.000-08:00

Face painting! Are you kidding?

No, I'm not. This is very amusing, mainly for your kids.

This art could:

provide memories, joy and laughter for children,
provide you with a unique talent and creative outlet, even if you thought you didn't have a creative bone in your body,
give you a service that you can offer as a way to raise money for your favorite charities, schools or other organization
provide a part time income to you and your family!

But, what do you have to do, if you have no idea and you feel that you have 2 left hands. I provide you an amazing guide, that will help your problem.
Joanne Wettscott had the same problem, but she prepared this step by step course.

You will find in Easy Face Painting:

Step-By-Step Photo Library of over 40 Super Simple Designs!
You'll learn the very basic supplies you'll need to get started so you don't spend money on unnecessary tools.
Discover when you should never paint a child's face and what to do instead.
An ingeniously simple secret to making sure that two colors painted close together never smudge.
How to make face paint right in your own kitchen
The very best ways to keep an antsy child from fidgeting in the chair as you are painting.
Learn the "why's" for each essential face painting tool. You'll also discover which tools are absolutely necessary for your success as a face painter.
How to organize your face painting workspace or booth so your customers will be lined up out the door.

You'll learn the simplest techniques that will get you started right away.
How to create your own designs through the use of stencils
The simplest way to prevent cracking and peeling of your finished masterpiece.

Amazing professional-looking designs that can be completed by even a novice in three minutes or less!
How to quickly and easily promote your new income-producing hobby to the folks that will hire you for cash

It has taken months to gather all of this research (which I've done myself). To hire someone to compile this much information would cost between $750 and $1,000 Everything is explained in simple terms. It's easy to read, easy to understand and most importantly, easy to do!

What others say, who tried "Easy face painting"?

"JoAnne, thank you for the fabulous e-book. I just sat down and read the whole thing and am now looking forward to the school fete in October ... your pointers are simple and easy to follow ... and the pictures at the end will provide hours of entertainment for the kids and even me now!!!"

Lisa
Sydney Australia

"Hi, your book was such a great help. It was great to see the pictures and hints to face painting. My sister and I are going to start face painting at local markets in a month so I will let her also have a read of the book. I also have two children who think it is great that mummy is going to start up face painting and loved looking at your pictures of different faces."

Melanie
Australia

"I was so pleased to get a copy of your book. Although previously I did a short course on face painting, I only painted adults. Nothing prepared me for painting children. When asked to do a party of 30+ children aged 4 & 5 yrs I agreed, (privately terrified!). I hadly needed information and ideas for quick simple designs and found this very hard to get. If I had had your book which covers so much including the setting up and preparing children before actually starting painting, I would have been a lot more confident. Now I feel armed for future sessions and look forward to more enjoyable interaction with the children.
Thank you."

Rachel

The author gives us free bonuses and 100% money back guarantee. It's worth to try!!!

If you would like to more about: Click Here!

Update info: gift baskets

2006-03-02T07:11:00.000-08:00

I updated my homepage with some new sides: gift baskets. You can look at HERE or in the LINKS. This page consists of different gift baskets. Now: candle and spa baskets, but later I will let out the selection.

Wedding favors and gifts

2006-03-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

Firstly we try to organize a wedding. What we can do if wouldn't like spending a small fortune, but the ocassion would be unique and memorable.
Tanya Fleming give us some help. She prepared a useful guide. With this guide also valuable for those pairs, who has on a tight budget and they would like to save money.
Many brides spend a lots of money on expensive plastic wedding favors and gifts for the guests.
Personally, if I would like to do one's heart good, I'm not chosing the most expensive present, that have no sentimental value. I'm trying to give something, that hold a special meaning.

In the manual you can find more than 30 wonderful patterns:

16 elegant sachet patterns
shoe party favor
jewelery set
bridal garter
2 nut cups patterns
2 napkin rings patterns
3 victorian gloves patterns
5 vintage purse patterns
dainty flowers
and so on....

With the help of this manual you can make your own wedding as memorable as can be. And now there is a special free bonus for the manual you can get the resell rights of the book. So, if you would you can resell the manual and keep the 100% profits. This is an amazing possibility.
Find out more: Click Here!

How to make gift from an old box

2006-03-01T05:35:00.000-08:00

What good is an old box and some napkins? We can make a beautiful present for someone or we can hold little things in it.

We need the following materials:

box
3 different napkins
varnish (decoupage lacquer: this is a glue as well in one block)
brush, scissors

We will make the side of the box. The napkins in generally consists of 3 or 4 layers. We need only the upper coloured or patterned layer. The lower layers must have removed. (We won't coat the bottom of the box, because it causes that the box will close hard.) You should anoint the box with the varnish and put the tailor-made napkin on it. With the brush you need to stroke the napkin. After, you should anoint the napkin as well with the varnish. In the picture you can see it:
We will use 2 kind of napkins for the top of the box. Firstly we will gluing the frame and after, the main picture.

Finally we will anoint the whole box with the varnish (in plenty). And we can see the result! I made this box for my husband, because his hobby is the fishing. Another idea: you can prepare a personal gift with the help of this technology. The number of the opportunities are no end of.

From tapestry to picture

2006-02-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

This picture needs a bit more time, but it's worth, because it can be a nice adornment of the house or it can be a unique present for someone, who you want to surprise.
Necessary raw materials:

gobelin or canvas
yellow wool (cotton yarn)
3 different shades of green wool (or cotton yarn)
3 different shapes of red wool (or cotton yarn)
black paperboard
photo frame
needle, scissors, rule

You may embroider this with satin-stich or with cross-stich. Personally, I like more the satin-stich , because with this the work is faster, than cross-stich. But cross-stich a bit nicer, I think. So, the choice is yours!
You must work the leg and the leaves of the rose with green. After the blossom follows with red, finally the background with yellow. That's the crab! I used to do during "TV watching'. The tapestry has unawares finished.
If you ready, you can make the frame from the black paperboard. You should measure the size of the tapestry and cut a (1.5-2 cms) frame. This frame will get into the photo frame and the tapestry. Now, you just put together these three things and you may proud of yourself!

Puppets from wooden spoon

2006-02-21T02:45:00.000-08:00

This is a simple idea, which will entertain your kids for a while.
You need some raw material:

wooden spoon
cardboard
paint
paintbrush
scissors
colorful ribbon

And the game can begin! Only your fantasy set a limit to the number of the puppets.

(The idea was by Eva from Kecskemet.)

Theme of the website

2006-02-20T01:40:00.000-08:00

Welcome everyone in my new blog!
I would like to provide you useful and entertaining things, which will do the whole family's heart good. These ideas, hobbies, gifts and crafts will help you to spend precious time with your loved ones.
My website will continuously flare, so it's worth to come back later again. I propose you to add my blog to your favourites!
See you soon!