Crafting Secrets

Looking for something to do with your children on those rainy days, when everyone seems to be cooped up indoors? When my daughter was small, we used to do craft projects together. It quickly became a ‘rainy day’ tradition in our household.

I feel it’s important to spend quality time with our children. These days, too many children are sitting in front of a television watching TV shows, or playing video games. I don’t find this to be quality family time.

Here are 4 easy craft projects that you can do with your children.

Soapy Bath Crayons

1 c. grated Ivory Soap
1/4 c. warm water
food coloring
plastic cookie cutters

Mix water, soap and food coloring together in an old bowl. Stir the crayon mixture until it begins to stiffen. Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead until it’s the consistency of a very thick dough. Spoon crayon mixture into plastic cookie cutters or other plastic molds (play dough molds work great too!). Press down firmly. Place the plastic cookie cutters in your freezer for 10 minutes. When firm, pop the bath crayons out of the cookie cutters. Allow them to air dry overnight.

Play Dough

2 c. flour
1 c. salt
4 tsp. cream of tartar
2 c. of water
4 tbsp. oil
food coloring

Place flour, salt, cream of tartar, water, and oil into a large pan. Heat over medium heat, stirring until dough comes away from the edge of pan, and makes a soft ball. Cool on a sheet of waxed paper. When cool, add food coloring. Store in plastic containers or in plastic bags.

Finger Paints

2 c. of plastic liquid starch
1 c. of Ivory Snow detergent flakes
food coloring

Combine liquid starch and Ivory Snow in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer until the volume is tripled. Divide, add in food coloring as desired. Store in covered containers in the refrigerator.

Blowing Bubbles Refills

1/2 c. liquid dish detergent
5 c. water
1 container with lid
1 bubble blowing wand

Mix water and dishwashing liquid together in a large bowl. Don’t over mix. Pour liquid into empty bubble blowing containers.

Tip: When you spend time crafting, please remember to take photographs. It’s a great way to preserve all of these wonderful memories.

Take advantage of those rainy days, and spend some time crafting with your children.

If it is winter time and your child has been asked to make some winter projects and therefore there are many wonderful possibilities for basic winter art projects and crafts such as cutting out snowflakes or drawing a Santa Claus but in addition there are some other fun things and activities to be done. You can pose the idea of interesting arts and crafts to your children and you shall really be surprised at the creative ideas of your children.

Some fun ideas for winter crafts whereby you can use organized supplies such as:

1. Cotton is very useful in making some great winter art projects and if these cotton balls are a bit colder they can even look like mini snowballs. Your child can also draw wonderful winter scenery and then rip them, fluff them and glue them at the places where snow has to be shown.

2. Winter is always incomplete without marshmallows. Marshmallows is added treats in hot chocolate but can also be used for winter crafts. Your kids can take three big marshmallows and then stack them on top of each other so as to make a mini and tasty snowman. Toothpicks can also be used to hold the marshmallows together and also as the arms. Mini marshmallows can be a great fun when snowballs are attached to winter collages.

3. Plaster of Paris is also used in many great ways and not just for winter crafts and one of such ways is to use it to make “footprints in the snow.” For this, you can fill a box lid with negligible item such as Plaster of Paris. When it settles and dries you can make different footprints in the snow or could be used as the side of fist to look like a baby’s footprints.

4. Birds that stay in place all through winter needs food and during winter children can make a pine cone bird feeder. So you need to cover a pine cone in peanut butter and dip it in the bird seed and then tie a bit of string to one of these pine cones and hung it up on the tree outside.

5. You can also use glitter to add so that any basic winter art project looks even more fancy and beautiful.

For further details, log on to craft-books.net

Transfer paper also known as Iron On paper could be used in many arts and crafts projects. Provided you have a working Inkjet printer, the options are quite unlimited, perhaps only by our imagination. Using your home Inkjet printer, any image or text could be printed onto a transfer paper and ironed on a textile fabric. To start your project, find a suitable image or create a block of text and download it to your computer. Next print the image onto the paper and using a hot iron with a min 1200w place the textile on to a stable hard surface, such as a worktop and apply pressure.

5 Creative Arts and Craft Uses For Transfer Paper:

1. Print onto a t-shirt - Recommended for creating colorful marketing slogans for an event, for exhibitions and even for creating custom uniforms for youth sports teams.

2. Print onto a cotton bag – Cotton bags are natural, reusable, biodegradable and are ideal for promotions, exhibitions and re-sale. Simply print an image on a transfer paper and apply on the bag for great results and to create a ‘bag for life‘.

3. Print onto a baby apron – Prepare a blank textile baby apron to apply your custom design. Perfect as a special present for your little ones and to re-sale as a business venture.

4. Print onto a canvas – For the more artistic projects print onto an A3 or A4 canvas sheets.

5. Other textile surfaces – Any textile fabric surface could potentially be used to create arts and crafts work from cleaning cloth to fabric blinds.

Use transfer paper to create fantastic looking custom arts and crafts designs from the comfort of your own home, using your own Inkjet printer and all within a small budget. Not only would you save money, but to really express your creativity with an exciting designs there’s really no other alternative. For long lasting results when washing the fabric turn it inside out, use maximum temperature 40°c at full spinning and avoid using washing powder containing bleaching materials.

Kuala Lumpur has gained accolades over many years for its amalgamation of old and new architecture. Rich with the influence of Victorian, Neo Moorish, Grecian, Spanish and Modern Architecture, it is visible to any visitor how great constructions belonging to different eras grace and add opulence to Kuala Lumpur skyline. Among such splendor is an air conditioned arts and crafts market which could very well be the final stop of a long walking tour through this splendid city. The Central Market in Kuala Lumpur will say out a loud “Selamat Datang!” (Which means ‘Welcome’ in Malaysian) to any visitor in typical Malaysian fashion.

Situated at the boarder of Chinatown, the Central Market is on Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, opposite the Klang Bus Stand. The Pasar Seni train station is right outside the Central Market so it will be the ideal way to reach to pick up a host of local handicrafts and other souvenirs. This deco market is filled with every imaginable curiosity from old Craven cigarette tin boxes, oil lamps to century-old Nyonya tea sets, charcoal irons and hairpins. It is also possible for one to see live demonstrations conducted by the very hands that create rich cultural artistry. Not only can you purchase items with a genuine local feel but they are price friendly too, although a little bargaining would be rewarding. This treasure trove also has outlets where you could buy richly woven silk and batik, priced according to their workmanship.

One can find charming souvenirs to take home as keep sakes from your travels such as a Kelantanese tea set, antique silver dining ware, jewelry or an authentic Malaysian kite. The Central Market would also satiate the need for refreshments or a tasty Asian meal as there are many eateries and pubs in and out of the complex. Rich cultural experiences are to be awaited as there are performances, demonstrations and hands-on batik painting as well as cultural performance such as Bangsawan (Malay Traditional Theatre), Wayang Kulit (Shadow Play), Chinese Opera and Nadagam (Indian Traditional Theatre). Moreover, heritage activities like Chinese fortune-telling can also be experienced.

At the end of a long day of touring round the city, it is convenient to retire to a Kuala Lumpur hotel which is closer to the Central Market as well as other attractions of the city such as the Petronas Twin Tower, the night markets and the shopping malls. Citrus Hotel Kuala Lumpur is conveniently placed hotel in Kuala Lumpur, located off Jalan Raja Laut.

Halloween is a time when one can experiment with creative craft ideas to make wonderful decorations for the house. It is an opportunity to dabble in the wonderful world of art and craft. Making the Halloween decorations is not only a fun activity; it gives your house a festive look. One need not be an expert in art to make these decorations. All you need is loads of imagination, creativity and a few items available around the house and you are ready to get going. Some simple ideas are given below to get you started.

One of the easiest Halloween decorations to make is creepy candles. You will need candles, sequins, beads, colored threads and any other trinkets that take your fancy.
The candles should be of dark colors, you could go for the Halloween colors of black and orange. With the help of simple white glue, stick these trinkets around the candles in any manner you like. You may have to use tweezers to stick the small items onto the candle. Table sprinkles in the form of ghosts, pumpkins, witches or bats can be used to give that creepy look. Place these decorated candles around the house and watch them light up the evening!

Another art and craft Halloween decoration is the creepy balloon ghost, which is very easy to make. All you need is white balloons and plastic grocery bags. The bags should be plain with no writing on them. Here is how to create a spooky ghost: Cut off the handles of the grocery bag. Leaving the bottom of the bag intact, with the help of scissors, cut the bag into dangling strips up to about an inch from the bottom seam. In the same manner cut up another grocery bag. Fill up the balloon with air and knot it up. Tape the seam of one bag to the front and the other to the back, leaving the knot on top. Paint a scary face of the ghost on the balloon and tie a string to the knot. Hang up these creepy balloons to trees in the yard. You may also put a few bells to the end of the strips, so that they make a sound with the movement of the wind. Enjoy the haunting chimes of the ghosts moving around in your yard!

Halloween decorations can be a good way to bond with family and friends. It can be a fun activity done together, enjoying each other’s company and getting to know the creativity of your children, while experimenting with these decorations. Although Halloween art and craft decorations may be difficult to make, the possibilities are endless, limited only by your imagination and creativity.

The National Day golden week will bring a new round of business opportunities to Yiwu Art and Craft market. Since September, the sales volume of tourism craft and home decoration craft has been continuous rising, especially for the purchasers from surrounding areas are increasing.

Onccc found that a lot of tourists are purchasing wooden sailing boat craft in Yiwu International Trade Mart. The golden week is also the wedding week, as many young people would marry during the National Day golden week, which also brings many business opportunities to Yiwu Art and Craft market. The wooden sailing boat craft is in lifelike design and attractive design, which is far sold to more than 20 countries and regions and being widely welcomed by purchasers both here and abroad.

Hot Selling Wooden Sailing Boat Craft in Yiwu Market

Every girl is looking for warm and romantic feeling. Onccc found the colors candleholder in the Arts and Crafts trade zone, which looks like prosperous branch. The colors candleholder is decoration iron work, which adopts glass making bright-colored flower as the candleholder. We believe that such a candleholder would bring you romantic and happy feeling, no matter indoors or outdoors.

The Colors Candleholder is Noble and Elegant

Yiwu market would definitely be as the shopping paradise for ladies during the golden week. The gorgeous appearance of jewelry box in Yiwu market will be the best choice for ladies!

Animal Design Jewelry Box in Yiwu Market

Source: China Commodity City: http://en.onccc.com

It’s a common thing nowadays that most people are earning good money by starting their own home crafts business. Making your favourite crafts can be fun but you also need to have a good understanding of what products will sell and how one goes about selling them. If you are going to start a craft business, you need to know how to come up with ideas for which craft to focus on, how to maximize profits for your business, where and how to sell your products, and especially how to market your new business. One of the things that can kill a business faster than a natural disaster is not knowing the ins and outs of running a successful business.

Now obviously most of us think that you don’t need to develop a business plan for your new craft business. But, a business plan will help you work out the financial aspects of your business before you’ve invested any time or money on a losing proposition. And lets face it, general business books don’t go into enough detail about the specifics of starting, running, and marketing a successful craft business. At the end of the day without customers, your craft business will never take off and quickly die. Having said that I would like to talk about a guide called “How to Start Your Own Craft Business.” The information given in this Home craft guide will not only provide information on how you can run your own successful crafts business with advertising and promotional techniques as well as how to control your finances but will also provide you with a large database of how to make a variety of about 250+ crafts. Whatever it is that you are interested in making, the chances are that this guide will have it. So if you would like to find out more information on this guide please visit my homepage below.

Derek’s Gold Mastery Guide, is one of the latest World of War craft Gold Guides to become available recently. This guide states that it can help any WoW player at any level farm close to if not more than 150 gold an hour in World of War craft. While this statement does appear to be unbelieveable, the War craft Riches guide does an excellent job of providing step-by-step ways to farm plenty of World of War craft gold. Many other World of War craft Gold Guides would do well to take notes on how the War craft Riches guide illustrates the art of World of War craft gold making into no risk and easy to follow steps.

The author of the War craft Riches guide is Derek, hence why it is sometimes called Derek´s Gold Mastery Guide. Derek has been playing World of War craft since the beginning and has learned the best ways to farm gold in Wow. Many of these secret tips he picked up by watching the online World of War craft gold famers who inhabit the World of War craft servers. These World of War craft gold farmers are very efficient in collecting gold. They then create websites and sell the gold they farmed to other World of War craft players for a price. For many of these gold makers, this is their real job. By watching these World of War craft gold farmers operate, Derek was able to learn valuable tips on how to quickly farm large amounts of gold in World of Warcraft.Derek’s Gold Mastery guide is broken up into many smaller sections.

This allows the reader to choose which method they want to make use of to farm obscene amounts of gold in World of War craft. One of the sections is the World of War craft Guide to Leveling Professions. This guide goes through each World of War craft profession and illustrates the fastest method to level each of the profession skills. The War craft Riches Profession Guide also lays out how to utilize each profession to farm the most gold possible. Other guides included as part of the War craft Riches guide include a guide to the Auction House, a section to improve fishing, and a General/Grinding guide. All of these guides give easy to follow steps on how to farm the most gold possible in World of War craft. Some World of War craft Gold Making Guides only provide information on one aspect of the World of War craft economy. Derek’s Gold Mastery guide is the rare World of War craft gold farming guide that gives an abundance of information on how to farm World of War craft gold through many different means. Whether it´s the Auction House, Professions, or Grinding, the War craft Riches guide has ways to make considerable amounts of gold through all of them. Some of the hidden tips can even be combined to really see the World of War craft gold farming skyrocket. When looking for a good World of War craft gold guide, take into account what parts of World of War craft are enjoyable. If grinding is fun, then ways to farm gold via monster killing should be considered. Just because a World of War craft gold farming guide makes promises of 200 or more gold an hour does not mean that the manner in which the gold is farmed will be fun. Derek’s Gold Mastery guide offers many different methods of World of War craft
gold making so even if some of them appear boring, there are plenty of other options available to maximize your gold making efforts in World of War craft.
Want to see a video review of the War craft Riches Guide as well as great gold farming tips directly from the guide? Visit War craft Riches to learn more.

Are you tired of sticking your kids’ latest art and craft projects on the fridge? Are you looking for more interesting ways to showcase their talent? You’ve come to the right place! Below we have a list of creative ways to display art and craft for kids. Let your kids know how proud you are of their artwork by making their artwork ever present in your home, not just on the fridge!

Cover a serving tray with their artwork. It’s functional and whimsical. Your guests will admire your kids’ creativity as they nosh on your goodies. Turn their artwork into coasters. Simply paste their artwork onto coasters and apply a clear sealant to protect the surface. Make a shadow box. This is a good way to present some three dimensional artwork and craft for kids. Laminate the artwork and turn them into placements. This is simple and makes cleaning the placements a breeze. Use the artwork to wrap their school books. Use clear transparent to protect the artwork. Make a collage with their artwork. This makes a big impact when there’s a common theme in their artwork. Use them as clocks. Just get a kit and follow the instructions. Turn them into fabric. You’ll have to scan the artwork first using a scanner and print them onto fabric using your inkjet printer at home. Turn them into stickers. Just scan their artwork and print it out on sticky paper. Use the artwork in your calling cards. Moo.com prints beautiful calling cards for a fee.

Click on this link for more art and craft ideas for kids

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Since ancient times, India is globally famous as a land of art and craft. All variety of major handicrafts are being made here, such as textile, jewelry, wooden or metal handicrafts, etc. Craft village is the concept of modern day to express intricately created Indian art and crafts. This secures the presence of crafts and artisans at one place. Different handicrafts are exposed to everyone. Craft items are exhibited as well as sold here. The concept of Crafts Village has become successful in encouraging the rural craftsmen and performers in a big way.

Craft Village is made with numerous big and small stalls . These stalls are fabricated in the form of huts to create the atmosphere of a Indian village. Every single thing in a village craft, be it food outlets, dishes, utensils used there, has been created by keeping in mind the rural design and style. Among the numerous craft villages in India, some noteworthy among them are mentioned below :

Dilli Haat, Delhi
TheDilli Haat Food and Craft Bazaar is a joint project of Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) and New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). Dilli Haat is built on six acres of land, located in South Delhi on Sri Aurobindo Marg facing the INA market. The concept of Dilli Haat is taken from the traditional village fairs from various parts of India. The whole project of Dilli Haat was conceived with a view to provide an impetus to the village artisans and craftsmen. They come face to face with the buyers not only from India but also from other parts of the world. Dilli Haat is so colorful and rich in experience, that many a tourist has returned to visit it again and again. It is more than a celebration of crafts.

Shilpgram, Udaipur
The literal meaning of Shilpgram is ‘craftsmen’s village’. Nestled in the lap of rugged Aravalli’s, Shilpgram is just 3 kilometers away from Udaipur. The installed huts there gives an enchanting looks of the exotic crafts of Rajasthan including pottery, terracotta work, idols of gods and goddesses, traditional musical instruments, woodwork and even furniture.

Surajkund Mela, Faridabad
The Surajkund Crafts is an annual event that encourages some of the finest hand loom and handicraft traditions of the country. This Mela began in 1981 to promote handicraft and hand loom industry. From 1st to 15th February rural India basks in the warmth of admiration at Surajkund mela village that lies some 8 km from South Delhi. This colorful mela represents the various shades of Indian art and crafts including inlay work, rose wood carving, sandal wood from Punjab and South India, Chiki wood craft of Kashmir. The phulkari of Punjab, the Banjara and Banni embroidery of Gujarat and Rajasthan are the masterpiece of craft. Some of the fine paintings of Rajasthan, temple paintings of Orissa, madhubani paintings of Bihar are fascinating products at the mela. Various Crafts products are displayed in the Mela every year.

Visit Craft Village for more information on the similar topic.