Archive for ‘Tips & Tricks’

January 6, 2012

Get Organized In The New Year: Ways to organize your crafts

Gather and Group similar items: Go around your house and gather all your fabrics, paintbrushes, paint bottles, embellishments, etc… This is the first step in getting organized. Once you are able to see all you have, then you can group these items together to determine what type of storage box can hold them.

Visit your local container/supply stores: Take sometime to explore these types of stores in your local area. Also don’t forget to check Target and Walmart, as they also carry great supply boxes. You can stores craft items in boxes, towers, tackle boxes, and totes

Label Everything: It might serve you well to invest in an electric labeler, if you don’t have one already. Use this to label your boxes, containers, or notebooks. This will allow you to find things a lot easier.

Upcycle Some Old Furniture: Take an old piece of furniture, or a great flea market find, and use it to create a stylish storage space. This extra storage space can come in handy when you are looking for additional space to store your craft supplies.

Pick A Place: Choose a place/room in your home to serve as your craft area. If you don’t have enough room, try converting your computer station or a mini vanity, into your craft center.

Below are some videos we found on YouTube that show some great ways to organize your crafts. Enjoy!

 

 

June 29, 2011

How to Have Your Own Crafty Book Club

by Candie Cooper

How to start a crafty book club.
Almost two years ago I started a “Crafty Book Club” at our local library.  If Oprah can do it, so can we, right?!  It’s a great way for fellow crafters to meet and unwind from the daily grind.  You can start your own Crafty Book Club too!  Here are a few tips and ideas to get the pages turning…

June 15, 2011

Painting on Metal 101

by Chris Williams

Traditional tole painting.

Did you know that painting on metal is often referred to as tole painting? The word “tole” is a French word which describes hand-enameled or painted tinware which often is embellished with gold gilding. Yesterday’s tole painting is found on metal surfaces such as pitchers, coffee pots, spice jars, and document boxes of all sizes and shapes.

Today, tin still is a favorite surface to paint. The key to painting on tinware is to properly prepare the surface so that your artwork will last for many generations to come!

May 25, 2011

Fabric Painting 101 with Chris Williams

Look in your closet for your next crafting surface.
If you are looking for a fun painting surface that will amaze others, look no farther than your closet!

For years, textiles have been the surface of choice for many artists.  Imagine decorating tote bags, canvas shoes, ever popular t-shirts and jeans, or home décor items like pillows, curtains, and seat cushions!

May 19, 2011

Painting on Jewelry

Welcome to another installment of ASK PLAIDIE LADDIE!

Plaidie LaddiePlaidie Laddie, loyal Plaid pooch and one of our blog contributors, wants to answer your most burning painting questions. Every week he’ll pick a question out of his virtual mailbag and answer it (with a little help from me, since he only has paws). This week’s question:

“Dear Plaidie Laddie, I love making jewelry and I’ve recently really gotten into painting. Can you give me some tips for painting on jewelry?” Marie C. from Florida

Painting on jewelry follows the same basic rule as any other kind of painting: use the right paint for your surface! If you’re painting on glass, tin or metal you want to use FolkArt Enamels. This paint is formulated to adhere to these non-porous surfaces. Plus, once cured, these painted pendants will look great for years! If you’re painting on ceramic, paper or a small piece of artists’ canvas, regular FolkArt Acrylics are your best bet. Have fun making your jewelry, we’d love to see what you come up with!

May 11, 2011

Terra Cotta as a Crafting Surface

by Chris Williams

A peek at Chris' garden.

Many of my friends know that I enjoy gardening.  My flower gardens and porches are home to pots of blooming flowers.  Many of those pots are hand painted terra cotta.  Today I want to share what I know about painting terra cotta and how to prepare it.

April 27, 2011

Easy-to-Paint Projects to Mom From the Kids

With Mother’s Day coming right on the heals of Easter, some of you may be scrambling to find the perfect present from Mom. If your mom is like mine, she’ll love handmade presents from the kids or grandkids. Fortunately, Gallery Glass is easy for kids to use. Clings are fun for them to make and have multiple uses. Plus, you can even create coordinating projects with them!

Here’s the idea: while the kids are in school or asleep outline some patterns on leading blanks using Liquid Lead. Getting this done while the kids are away gives the leading time to dry without getting the kids too excited. (Liquid Leading needs 24 hours to dry, so plan accordingly.)

The next day bring out your Gallery Glass Window Colors and the cling patterns. Since the bottle has a pointed tip the kids can paint directly from it. There’s no worry about paint brushes, knocking over cups of water, etc. And if they manage to drip some Window Color on the table, as long as you wipe it up before it dries, no one will ever know.

Window Color also needs 24 hours to dry. But once it is dry, you can peel the clings off the leading blanks and attach them to vases, mirrors, picture frames or any glass surface. You can even put them on the windows for Mom — she’ll have her own customized sun catchers.

Visit PlaidOnline.com for more great Gallery Glass ideas.

March 24, 2011

How to Paint a Realistic Flower Pot

Welcome to another installment of ASK PLAIDIE LADDIE!

Plaidie Laddie, loyal Plaid pooch and one of our blog contributors, wants to answer your most burning painting questions. Every week he’ll pick a question out of his virtual mailbag and answer it (with a little help from me, since he only has paws). This week’s question:

“Dear Plaidie Laddie, I’m learning how to paint. Can you give me some tips on painting items to look more realistic? ” -Darian S. from California

 

realistic painted flower pot

Dear Darian, thank you for your question!  We have a blogger friend named Colleen from Mural Maker who loves painting realistic items with our FolkArt paint.  She gives lessons on her blog, showing people how to paint items more realistically – the pot above only uses three paint colors!  Colleen shows the step-by-step photos on her blog, and she has several more painting lessons here.  Take a peek at her blog entry on the pot here when you have a chance.  Painting realistic items is much easier than you think!

Sincerely, Plaidie Laddie

March 16, 2011

Aged Vintage Frame Tutorial

Are you a fan of vintage framed art?  I am.  There are many techniques to dressing up a frame, but I like this one by Pinky found at Much Ado About Nothing.  Pinky used Apple Barrel paint and Mod Podge along with a heat gun to create some gorgeous faux crackle/distressing techniques.  She also incorporated distressing ink which is SO FUN.  The resulting artwork is beautiful – click here to see the full tutorial and pictures of the entire piece.

March 10, 2011

How to Make Clouds with a Stencil Brush

Welcome to another installment of ASK PLAIDIE LADDIE!

Plaidie Laddie, loyal Plaid pooch and one of our blog contributors, wants to answer your most burning painting questions. Every week he’ll pick a question out of his virtual mailbag and answer it (with a little help from me, since he only has paws). This week’s question:

“Dear Plaidie Laddie, I’m about do a painted project with a nature scene and I’m wondering if you have advice on how I can paint clouds.  I want them to look natural and a regular flat brush doesn’t get me the look that want.  Can you help?” -Suzi C. from California

Dear Suzi!  Never fear, I’ve got the solution to your problem.  I’ve asked one of our resident experts, Plaid designer Julie Lewis, how she does her painted clouds and gets them to look so natural.  Her solution is to use a stencil brush!  Let’s illustrate with blue paint so that you can really see how it works.

Use a stencil brush that fits the size of your clouds – use a smaller brush for smaller clouds and a larger brush for larger ones.  Dip your brush into the paint puddle lightly (don’t cover the brush) and then “pounce” the stencil brush up and down on the side to tap off some of the paint.  You want the brush nearly dry when you are doing this technique.

Lightly swirl the brush on your surface.  Keep adding paint, tapping it off and then swirling again.  Use less paint for more whisp-y clouds.

Yay, loook at the pretty clouds!  They will look fantastic in white, don’t you think?

Sincerely, Plaidie Laddie