Craft tips and trick.....

It's been said that necessity is the mother of invention and that's how I came up with many of my little crafting tips. As soon as the batteries are recharged, I'll take some pictures..

Painting tips....
-when painting small pieces, use sticky tack to stick the piece to something for hands free painting. I'll often stick small wooden pieces right to the top of the bottle of paint. As long as you aren't painting the back, it's great - especially for painting sides

- minimize drying time with a blow dryer on cool. Keep in mind this doesn't cure the paint, just dries it quickly. Ideal for base painting.

- save paint when painting small details or pieces by using paint in the cap of the bottle. Shake well and you're good to go!

- designate a bottle for leftover paint. Great for base coating where coverage and not color is important.

- skewer sticks are a must! Use for blending paints, holding some items for painting and drying. I used them when painting shells from the dollar store - stuck the shell on one end, painted, then jammed the other end into floral green for drying.

General........

Dollar stores and thrift stores are amazing places for supplies. Don't look at something just for what it is but what it could be. Is it the design or the components that are ugly? I snagged some butt ugly beaded tassels at the dollar store and took them apart. A little time and now I have a lot of awesome beads!

Yes, you could pay silly amounts of money at the store for a bag of pine cones.....or you could go to the park and collect them for nothing! Really want that cinnamon smell the ones in the store have? Easy! Buy a small bottle of cinnamon oil, place a few drops on a cotton ball. Put ball and pine cones in plastic bag, tie up and leave for a day or so. Or you could just dab the pine cones before or after the craft is finished!

I'll be adding as time goes on. Right now I'm off to take some pics! I'll have some new crafts posted in the next few days!