Antiques and Collectibles

In today’s world, conserving our resources is more important than ever. If you’re a crafter, then you can save money and be environmentally friendly by using ordinary household items as crafts for your projects.

Ordinary items around the house like coat hangers, CDs and DVDs and old clothing often end up in landfill sites when they can be used to make functional and attractive items for your home, office or garden.

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Tin cans can be used for a number of special projects after their contents have been emptied. Turning tuna or cat food cans into candy containers is a practical craft project that is so simple that anyone can do it. After you’ve washed the can thoroughly, paint the outside white.

Punch two holes near the top edge on opposite sides and use light weight craft wire or a pipe cleaner to make a handle. Now the can looks like a little basket. To cover the wire, you can use felt or pretty ribbon.

To decorate the outside of the can, you can use stamps, stickers, glitter or more craft paint. Line the inside with plastic wrap, paper doilies, or colored cellophane. The candy container will look really pretty and artist once you put the candy inside.

Napkin rings are an attractive addition to any table even when you’re having a casual family dinner. Save your silver napkin rings for formal occasions and make paper towel tube rings for every day. This is so easy, and is one of safest crafts for young kids to do. You’ll need an assortment of dried beans.

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If you want a flashier look, you can use plastic gem stones. You’ll also need an empty paper towel tube, glue and scissors. Cut empty paper towel tubes into 1-1/4″ rings. Use the glue to attach the beans or gems to the entire surface area.

If you want to make a simpler looking napkin ring, cover the paper towel roll with shelving paper in a pretty pattern before cutting the roll into pieces.

Old or unwanted CDs and DVDs often end up in the trash because people don’t know what to do with them. Instead of adding them to a landfill, use the shiny discs to make decorative crafts for your home.

Here’s a simple way to turn CDs and DVDs into fun and easy gifts crafts that the kids can do. Collect some old discs, metallic string, glue, and gem stones, beads, beans or shells. Whatever is attractive to you is fair game for art and craft projects!

Glue two discs back to back with the shiny sides facing outward and loop the metallic string through the middle. Decorate the discs with the gemstones and shells, and voila, you will have pretty, reflective ornaments that you can hang anywhere!

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Everyday household items like towels, sheets, pillowcases, canisters and coasters can all be made at home using items that normally would end up in the trash. By turning waste into fun and functional crafts, you’ll save money and protect the environment from being cluttered with unnecessary garbage.

So, turn on your imagination and have a great time while filling your home with unique, one-of-a-kind, handmade items.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to frame your own photographs, pictures and any other artwork you desired? Picture framing can actually be fun and with the right framing tools and instructions you can do it yourself.

Most of the instructions will start off with how to cut a mat board, as many people feel that is really the first step in picture framing equipment.

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If you do decide to use a mat board, then you will need a good quality mat cutter and ruler. Start by marking the borders that need to be cut on the back side of the board and make sure that it will completely cover all edges of the picture by subtracting about 1/8 of an inch from the size of the image (length and width). Then attach your mat by applying only two pieces of acid free tape to the top edge.

In order to figure out the amount of frame moulding you will need, simply measure the artwork and the mat that you want to use and then add an additional 3 mm (0.118110″). This ensures that the artwork will fit into the finished frame easily.

Along with your other framing tools you will need to include a mitre cutter, as the 45 degree angle cut needed for the frame is one of the most important steps in making a frame.

Add the length and width together, then multiply by two to give you the overall length of the frame that you will need. You will also have to allow for those mitre cuts, so multiply the width of the moulding by ten and add this to the total needed for the wood picture frames.

Cutting one side is easy, but cutting the other sides so that they are the same all the way around is harder. Be sure that your measurements are accurate.

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Another item you are going to need among your other framing equipment are clamps, as tightly clamping the frame is essential in order to have a solid frame. You want to use clamps that will allow you to see the four corners all at the same time, as it makes aligning the frame easier.

A pushmaster is another piece of framing equipment that is good to have, as it allows you to tap the V nails into the wood much more easily. You can push the nails in by hand but is generally easier if you use some type of mallet to tap in the nails. It will make the job easier.

There are a number of peopleindividuals who are born with creative talents and yet do not utilize this ability in their lives. This could be due to a number of them were not fostered to show their artistry when they were kids. Additionally, since time has modernized greatly, parents should enhance their children for creative thinking by anticipating their capabilities. Creativity provides a wide range of advantages to children such as enhancing their managing abilities, increasing their intelligence power and makes them capable of solving difficult situation. Individuals can enhance artistry in their kids by giving them a wide range of resources including a suitable environment,suggestions, Art Supplies, Foam Board, coloring books and so on. There are a number of other things which parents can do to promote creative thinking in kids.

Parents and lecturers are the ones who can help children make great use of their abilities. Children should be provided with an environment that will allow him to be himself and investigate new things. If a kid is given pencil and coloring book and left in his room undistracted, he will get all the time on earth to craft his thinking on paper. This is the way parents can identify the capability of their kid. Parents also need to provide children with unique suggestions and if possible, involve the kid in resolution processes.

Moreover, a kid should not be felt pressured and should be provided ample time to explore the prospects. Pastimes like coloring and reading should be introduced as the parents contribution are essential in enhancing a child’s artistic talents. As a kid matures, it is essential to remove things like coloring books from his hobbies. Coloring books does not offer much to enhance a child’s abilities as it simply contains creations of some other person. A kid should be fostered to create his own pictures and color them. Moreover, children should not be criticized for their creations as it can diminish his capabilities. It is always important to foster them for what they have created to boost their morale.

Clay can also be used to enhance artistic talents. Additionally, elders are required to notice kids when they are using these things and they need to ensure that the kid does not start putting clay in his mouth. Paint also gives wonderful delight to children to mix out the various colors and experiment with them. While playing with the various colors, when a kid has made a new color, he will feel encouraged to attempt mixing new colors and observe the results of each mix. This will enable them to learn the color theory better with an adult supervision.

Creative kids have huge benefit over the noncreative ones. Creativity assists them to work out a huge variety of answers to situations and these kids are often the cleverest ones. They are more curious concerning things and are eager to learn new things everyday. Moreover, children will develop interest in many different areas and this will be beneficial in their studies and their learning abilities will be boosted also.

If you’re an artiste or crafter, then no doubt your special projects make perfect gifts crafts for your loved ones. Nothing shows how much you care more than sharing something close to your heart.

Whether you paint, knit, do woodwork or love doing a variety of art and craft projects, people love the uniqueness of handmade items.

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More and more people are getting into aromatherapy, and everyone wants their home to smell clean and sweet. You can make beautiful potpourri holders without spending a lot of money.

Save your empty jars or look for decorative bowls in discount stores. Many dollar stores now sell bowls made of frosted or cut glass that look quite beautiful. If you’re making the potpourri holder for a special occasion like Christmas, then you can get bowls that are already festively decorated.

Simply fill the jar with sweet potpourri, cover the top with a lace doily and secure the doily with a pretty ribbon or an attractive elastic hair band. Don’t use a floral potpourri like eucalyptus, as some people find the scent too strong.

Go for something sweet like vanilla or cinnamon. If you use a cream or ivory colored doily, these crafty gifts will have an antique feel and will look attractive in any room.

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Mulled wine is a delicious and easy to make beverage that people can enjoy when the weather gets cold. It also makes your home smell absolutely scrumptious. You can whip up a batch and pour it into wine bottles for unique, crafty gifts for the grown ups on your gift giving list.

You’ll need 1, 750 milliliter bottle of full-bodied red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz (something fruity works best), 1 cup of clear apple cider or cranberry juice, 4 tablespoons of honey, 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 3 cinnamon sticks, 3 pieces of whole star anise, 3 whole cloves, 3 peppercorns, and a large sliced orange.

The star anise will add the flavor of licorice, the peppercorns will add a bit of spice and the rosemary will give the drink a familiar holiday taste. Slowly bring all the ingredients to just below a simmer and leave it at that heat for about 20 minutes.

Some of the alcohol will cook away, so don’t worry about it being too strong. Remove the cloves, star anise, rosemary, cloves and oranges. Once the mulled wine has cooled, pour it into sanitized wine bottles and decorate it with a homemade label that advises the receiver to heat and add a shot of brandy before serving!

Candles can be used for a number of crafts that are suitable for any occasion. You can buy candles in jars very inexpensively at discount stores. Download free graphics from the internet and make individualized labels for the jars.

If you don’t have a color printer, then a copier like Kinkos can make a nice label for you. Stick the label on the jar and you’ve created a unique gift personalized for a special someone in your life.

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In these tough economic times, we all have to cut corners every way we can. Even if you’re on a strict budget, you can still give beautiful gifts to your loved ones.

With a little imagination, you can make lovely, thoughtful gifts crafts that everyone will appreciate.

Card games are so popular today that some people argue that Poker should be considered a sport. Thousands of players assemble at high-stakes games broadcasted on ESPN, which is one of the main arguments that make it sports-worthy. Yet, as comedian Daniel Tosh points out, “If poker is a sport, we should put it into the Olympics.” While the jury is out on whether these highly publicized, highly watched games should be on par with athletic games, the undeniable truth is that cards have survived hundreds of years as popular family games, gambling games and individual entertainment games.

Part of the success of card games is their portable nature. These small 2.5 x 3.5-inch cards make ideal travel games for families on the go. They were also used during wartime, since soldiers could easily throw them in a box or into their pockets. The simplicity and versatility of the card deck is another factor, since one pack of cards can be used to play hundreds of different games. At www.pagat.com, there are lists of rules for everything from 3 Card Poker, 500 and Baccarat to Blackjack, Chase the Ace and Old Maid. Cards can be played as drinking games, gambling games or just for fun, which can really change the whole feel of the occasion. The combination of chance, strategy and mathematics has long since fascinated us, making cards one of the most enduring games of all time.

Today’s family games often involve boards, in addition to cards. For instance, the eighties saw a rise in popularity for the trivia board game Trivial Pursuit. Most of the action itself centered on specially made game cards that asked trivia questions, rather than in numbered black and red cards. Dibs, Don’t Quote Me, Scandal Monger, Scene It, Smarty Party and Wits & Wagers are other trivia card board games that have taken America by storm. Quiz game shows furthered along our love for trivia card games throughout the eighties, when we all imagined we could be on Family Feud or Jeopardy. Some amateurs at home may dream of mastering their peers at trivia and one day going on a game show where they can win big cash and prizes. Then again, some of us have no illusions and simply love to dominate — err, dazzle — family and friends with our unsurpassed knowledge.

Magic the Gathering card games have caught on like wildfire with kids in Generation-Y. These kids, who normally adhere to computer games and video games, are allured to these collectibles, since they also grew up on Pogs and Pokemon cards. In Magic the Gathering, fantasy artwork is blended with mathematics and strategy. Kids pick “spells” and “lands” cards and have their wizards engage in battles. There are many complex rules within the game and the cards present a language of their own, which has created an almost cult-like following. It may not be one of the family games, but Magic the Gathering has at least attracted a new generation of kids to the classic game of cards.

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