Craft Tips

Nature Crafts:

1. When making dried flower arrangements, be creative about the containers you use. You can use anything that will hold the flowers including a dump truck, football helmet, old watering can, china cup, basket or anything that suits your fancy.

2. Save your old phone book and use it to press flowers and pretty leaves for decorating items around the house. Just open the phone book, lay the flower or leaf flat on a page and close the book. They will be dry in about a week, then you can put them in/on frames, cards or use them to decoupage items such as candles or paper boxes. Most any flower can be pressed, but the flatter ones such as pansies work the best. You can also separate petals and press them individually.

3. To decoupage, you can add water to white glue until it's the consistency of cream. Brush this solution on the item you are decoupaging, carefully put the flower on, then very carefully brush on a top coat of the glue solution. Let dry and add another coat if necessary. If you want to make a design of flowers and leaves, be sure to lay it out first to find the best look. You can also add pressed flowers to pictures of the family, or other pictures in frames. When putting into frames, you can use decorative paper to mount the flowers onto, then frame.

4. For a shaped (heart, square, oval) grapevine wreath, bend florist wire into the desired shape then weave fresh grapevine around it until you get the look you want. Be sure to put more vine on than you think is necessary because the vine shrinks a lot as it dries. Lay the wreath on newspaper until it is thoroughly dry.

Doll Dressing:

5. A fun thing to do is dress up a purchased doll or stuffed animal with your crochet and/or crafts. You can purchase a new doll or stuffed animal, go to the thrift store to get one, or, if you have kids, use one of theirs. Once you have your doll, take a good look at it and decide what type and color of clothes would look good on it. You can then look for a crochet pattern, sewing pattern, or purchased clothes that suits. Once you have the doll or stuffed animal dressed, you can add accessories like crafted or purchased hair ribbons, crocheted or sewn socks, buttons, shoes, miniature items, homemade jewelry and more. I'm sure that in the process of doing this you'll come up with a name for it. If you don't get too attached, you can sell it at a bazaar or give it as a gift to one of your loved ones or a friend. It's a fun thing to do.

Needlecrafts:

6. If you crochet, be sure to save your yarn scraps because they make excellent stuffing for pillows or stuffed animals.

7. If you knit or crochet, put balls of yarn in a coffee can. Punch holes in the lid and string each yarn through a different hole.

8. Use a soap sliver as pin cushion. It will also lubricate the tips of the pins & needles so they slide easily into stiff fabrics.

9. Use cut-up, old pantyhose as stuffing for pillows or stuffed animals.

Painting:

10. Large bottle caps such as liquid laundry detergent bottle caps make great disposable containers for glue or paint.

Have fun crafting!

©, 2001, Monica Resinger

About the Author: Monica Resinger publishes an e-mail newsletter Mon-Fri for homemakers that poses fun questions to readers about organizing, crafting, gardening, frugal living and other homemaking subjects; readers can respond to the questions and receive the resulting, very informative 'tip sheet'. If
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