Hi friends!!
Happy Monday :)
Preeti Datta (aka Dutt Preety) here. Hope you had a pleasant weekend :)
As we all know, Art and Craft can be an expensive hobby, so I thought why not share a few ideas and products for crafting on a budget. For today's post, I'll share a few of my favourite craft products which are under Rs 500 and definitely worth trying out because they are easy on the pocket.
Few Ideas/Suggestions for
Crafting on a Budget:
1. Try the product- Before buying the whole set of anything, especially, something totally new to you, it is always better to test and try it for yourself. Judge and see how you like it and what all you can do with it. Once you like using the product, buy the whole set. This way you will be sure that you are buying and investing your money in a good product that you actually enjoy using. For example: Gelatos were a new product for me and for trial, I bought the 4 set of Tropical Gelatos, I tried it out and did various mixed media techniques with them. When I liked the product, I bought the bigger, Mix & Match Gelatos Gift Set during a sale at Crafters Corner.
2. Buy in Bulk - Some consumable products are used on a daily basis by any crafter, so, everyone needs a huge quantity of these. For example: Card stock especially white, kraft and black, everyone needs a large quantity of these. These do not spoil, if kept in a clean, dry area of the house/office. So I would suggest buying these in bulk, especially if they are on destash/or during sales. These won't get wasted and you know you will eventually use them. Buying them in a bulk quantity can help you get better deals on the per unit price.
3. Waste not, Want not- Try not to waste anything while crafting. Be creative and use up the left overs, this way, you only buy the things you really need and you can make your current stash last longer.
For example:
A) If you smoosh your Distress Inkpad onto a Craft Mat to pick up color from it, after you are done with the project, don't wipe off the ink left over on the mat, instead, spritz it with a tiny bit of water and smoosh it onto a blank art journal page or a piece of card stock, this way you have an organic looking background already ready for your next project.
B) Use the negatives of die cuts as stencils. These act like use and throw stencils & give good results with many stencilling techniques.
C) While card making, to try out new stamped designs, use cheaper printer paper for the first time. Usually, the first trial ends up a mess. Once you have tried out the design and are happy with it, then use your heavy cardstock to stamp the final design.
D) When embossing chipboards or paper die cuts, use a separate sheet of printer paper underneath the piece, while inking up the piece with Versamark Watermark (sticky) ink and a separate paper for coating it with embossing powder. This way none of the embossing powder will stick to the paper and all of the powder can be funnelled back into the bottle.
E) While spraying ink through any stencil, do not waste the ink on the top of the stencil. Instead, just flip the stencil onto a piece of cardstock, to get the negative impression. This is a great technique called, "Monoprinting with Stencils"
4. Check all the Offers/Deals- Check out all the current offers and deals to get the best savings. There are new products added to many of the offer categories, so it is wise to keep checking regularly to see if some of your favorites are listed.
A) Coupons- There are multiple coupons available on the Crafters Corner site on the "Coupons" page, so browse through them, try a few and see which one gives you the best discount.
5. Sets for Less- Many popular products are sold in singles as well as in sets and often, the sets offer a better per unit price. So when you are building your stash, it is wiser to go in for a few sets.
For example-
A) Distress Inks are sold in 3 forms; full sized ink pads, 1 inch cubes and kits of 4 mini ink cubes. The kits with 4 mini ink cubes are available at a great deal and offer the best per unit price, so for a newbie, picking up a few of these sets is a good idea.
B) Distress Oxides are sometimes available in a set, which is a better deal as you get some discount in the per unit price. Please click HERE to see the current offer.
C) A set of Tonic Tim Holtz Snips (7") and Mini Snips (5") is available at a great offer HERE.
D) The 12 set of FolkArt Paints, please click HERE to see the current offer.
E) Pack of 22 Foamiran Sheets with all the colors, available HERE at a great price.
Some Useful & Must Have Craft Products Available for Under Rs 500
(Please click on the photos to explore/shop)
Masking sheets offer an easy and affordable way to create masks while stamping/ink blending.
Palette knives are great for sculpture painting, spreading paints , gels and mediums. Ideal to create textures & for stencilling. These are Flexible & Durable with Versatile Shapes & Sizes. Palette knife sizes range from #1-5 & have assorted shapes and styles for a variety of techniques. Perfect for professional artists, creative hobbyists, art students, art teachers and painting lovers. Great for Spreading, Smoothing, Smudging, Mixing, Pre-mixing Paint for Watercolor, Oil, Acrylic Painting / Nail, Body, Face Painting / Miniature, Model, Craft, Rock Painting, etc.
3. Ranger's Fine Tip Applicators
These fine tip applicators convert regular paint tubes/bottles into fine tip bottles which can be used for precision application of media, adhesives, drawing fine lines & doodling.
This tray helps to contain beads, glitter, embossing powder, water etc and the funnel at one end can be used to easily pour the substance back into the bottle.
5. Corsage Pins
These corsage pins can be used in flower making, floral arrangements, to pin corsages, in dress making, in mixed media and also to easily poke out small paper bits from die cuts and dies.
This 12 inch ruler is made of clear acrylic and features a grid background for perfect placement, a centre measuring guide, a straight edge for drawing lines, a metal edge for cutting and evenly spaced holes for paper piercing.
7. Scrapbooking Rings
These rings provide an easy way to bind books and albums, the rings can be easily opened to add more pages, if required. Besides this they can be used to hang storage containers & bind stencils/stamps for easy storage.
These little wonders are very nominally priced and can magically turn any button, cabochon, embellishment into a charm/pendant. All you have to do is put 1 drop of Glossy Accents to attach this to the button or cabochon and instantly, one has a charm ready. Then one can easily use the charms to make jewellery, home decor pieces or embellish projects. There is a great, creative post on the use of these by Anchal Sapra, to read more, please click
HERE.
The portable and collapsible Koi Waterbrushes are a unique tool that puts a water reservoir at your fingertips. The self contained water reservoir inside the handle delivers water conveniently and directly to the brush tip. The fine flexible nylon brush tip provides excellent watercolour dilution and can produce fine lines or bold broad strokes. The lightweight transparent barrel signals when refilling is needed. These are great for watercolouring and mixed media work. They are available in three sizes:
small,
medium and
large.
When one has to adhere thin & intricate die cuts, it can be difficult to do especially with liquid glue. That is when die cutting the paper with double sided tape sheets can be useful and more convenient. These can be used for glittering, foil leafing and embossing as well. These are also available in a
64 mm roll and a
152 mm roll.
Glossy Accents is an acid free, 3-D, clear gloss medium. This can be used to brighten, add dimensions and magnify. It is a strong adhesive. Can also be used to coat embellishments to protect them and add a glossy overlay.
This square eraser removes most adhesive residue from paper, plastics, glass and more.
This is a strong adhesive which gives you a few seconds to move things around before it finally dries. It has a pen tip for precise application and a broad tip for larger areas. This is one of my favourite glues and I highly recommend it.
This set of 10 paint brushes is very affordable and great for fine application of paints and works wonderfully while water colouring detailed images.
The reverse action tweezers are great for picking up tiny items such as eyelets, beads, stickers, rub-ons and self-adhesive jewels to place onto projects with ease. The metal is coated with Teflon so embellishments do not stick and it is easy to clean. These are great for holding die cuts/card stock while heat embossing (to avoid your hands from getting burnt.)
Multi-use designer paper helps keep your dies clean & cutting edges sharp. Works with most metal dies to make die-cutting easier and cuts cleaner.
Works with card stock, paper, vellum and more. Die cuts pop straight out of the die. Package has serrated edge to ensure you only ever need to cut the length you need to suit your favourite die. The beautifully designed paper can also be used on your cards before or after it has been cut. No waxy film or residue left on the die. Saves time as no picking out the small leftover pieces in your die.
This retractable craft pick features Kushgrip handle for comfort. Retractable point for safe storage. Can be used to pierce through papers, chipboard, and polymer clay. Needle extends up to 1.25 inches for multiple surfaces.
This paper distresser has a Kushgrip center for handling comfortably when distressing paper, card stock, chipboard or even cutting fibres and threads. There are seven sharp recessed edges which makes it safe and easy to use. This distresser measures only 2-1/4x13/8x3/8in and features a plastic loop for adding a key-chain or hanging on a peg-board/hook.
This retractable craft knife features Kushgrip handle for comfort. Knife blade is retractable for safe storage. Includes 2 spare blades. Can be used to cut papers, chipboard, and polymer clay. Small detail blade allows for precision cutting.
20. Dress My Craft- Non-Stick Craft Mat
DMC Craft mat is 15" by 18". It has a heat resistant & non-stick surface. It is a great base for all crafting including stamping, distressing, spritzing, zig colouring, ink blending, heat embossing, melt art etc.
A soft wax used to help glide the embossing stylus over the desired area to gain a raised effect. This makes embossing easier and flower making a joy.
These are A4 sized and 190 GSM in thickness. One can die cut these with ease and they lend much needed sparkle to all paper crafting projects.
The spellbinders enlarged embossing pads are used to emboss with dies and stencils while using a manual die cutting machine. Although these are not under Rs 500, they are quite useful and very close in price, also during the 10% off sales, one can get them for under Rs 500.
This round blending tool and foams are perfect for ink blending and stencilling. The round edges make blending easier without leaving marks.
These paper doll die cuts are the perfect addition to scrapbook pages, cards and other craft projects. They are great value for money since you get 107 assorted die-cut pieces which can all be used as focal elements for different kinds of projects especially in scrap booking and mixed media.
These tools are great for embossing and flower making, to create a realistic look on petals and leaves.
It is great for applying gels, pastes and gesso. The ideal tool for working with stencils.
Great quality, flat round brushes with short wood handle. Perfect for using with stencils and acrylic paints, texture pastes and other popular art mediums.
Acrylic blocks are available in different shapes and sizes. These are necessary for mounting photo polymer stamps and cling mounted stamps. They can also be used a make-shift palettes while colouring. The ones by Dress My craft are light weight and easy to hold with rounded edges and a grid pattern to make alignment of stamps easier. The other options in acrylic blocks can be viewed
HERE.
A bone folder that measures 6 inches and creates crisp and clean folds on your card stock.
Artist quality matte medium is ideal for gluing, image transfers, sealing art, extending paint, creating glazes etc Used for paper, metal, glass, plastic, fabric and more. Dries clear and waterproof when dry. This is also available in a
gloss version.
The products listed above are just some of the useful products one can buy for under Rs 500. There are tons of more options, from inks to stencils to stamps to dies to colored card stocks to embellishments like charms, cabochons etc... I've just shared some of the important ones which I felt we can all look into, depending on our areas of interest.
That's all for today. I hope some of the information shared will be helpful.
Also, if you would like to check out my first five blog posts (in the series of Beginner's Guides), please click on the below topics.
Hope you have a great day!
Thanks a lot for your precious time :)
Stay Blessed!
