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Posts Tagged ‘Pattern Books’

How to Buy Art & Craft Books

September 23rd, 2011 No comments

Wanting to try a new hobby? Or just needing to expand your library, Halfvalue is a great place to get Supplies and Instruction books you will need. Just like anything else in life, practice makes perfect and most artist are not born with the “know how” to get started. So look for Art & Craft Instruction Books. They can be the jumping off point for a new hobby or even for making money.
When looking for Art or Craft Instruction books, you must determine which media you want to try or use. There are Oil Paintings, Watercolors, Pastels, Acrylics, Quilting, Sewing, Decopage, Embroidery, Cross Stitch, Drawing, Pen and Ink, Pattern Books, You also will want to also look for books that have great pictures to help you “see” what you will be doing and to use as a comparison guide.
There have been thousands of books and booklets written for this purpose. Which ever media and type books you decide to try, always remember to read the description the buyer places in his/her listings. If you need more information email a message to the seller and ask specific questions. If you don’t get an answer you may want to reconsider bidding on that particular book. Please give the seller time to respond, (we are not online every minute of every day). Also watch feedback. Sometimes bad communication is the cause for negative feedback and the seller is not really at fault, sometimes it is. The higher feedback the chances are you will have no problems. Sellers listings should tell you what payments they accept and where they will ship. Another thing to remember as a buyer, always check the shipping. International prices for shipping can be high, and I am sorry to say I have seen sellers charge high rates for shipping to cover looses on the item. ALWAYS check BEFORE bidding.
A last important thing when buying books to remember, make sure the condition of the book is fine for your use. Sometimes with old or used books, pages yellow, or get loose. Check the description to see that the books are in useable shape. I also have bought a book that looked like it came through a flood and was described as good shape. Most sellers are honestly trying to describe items clearly. But some ones “good shape” is someone else “poor” or even someone else “excellent”. Ask before bidding any and all questions and at least with enough time allowed for seller to respond.
If you buy from a seller and enjoy the experience place that person in your Favorite Seller’s to make searching esier, and faster for you. I have a lot of repeat customers and so do other sellers and we all love repeat buyers. Sellers and customers a like are looking for someone they can trust and increase the pleasure of “Halfvalueing”. Search the sellers feedback to see if they constantly place these type of books, or email and ask them.
Some art and craft books are one time listings. You may never see that particular book again so bid if it is a price, and type book you want. Art and craft books are wonderful presents for those loved ones that you never know what to get for.

Wholesale Art & craft supplies
Arts and crafts from our old school days are back in style. Our crafts catalogs here at Catalogs.com couldn’t be more popular. You’ll find all your wholesale craft supplies, and at reduced prices. Into scrap booking? You’ll find tons of great scrap booking ideas to get your next project underway. You’ll even find some kid craft sites for the young ones getting into the fun. There’s needlepoint, candle making, beading patterns, woodworking plans, and more. So just browse around our wholesale craft supplies section until you’ve found all you need.
Half price books
Don’t miss the chance to save big on thousands of popular half price books here at Catalogs.com. Our book merchants selections include hard and soft cover half price books by best selling and award-winning authors in virtually every category imaginable: fiction, nonfiction, cooking, sports, romance, biography, mystery and suspense, to name only a few. We also feature some well known half price books clubs specializing in today’s Christian books by trusted Christian authors.

Subhash
http://www.articlesbase.com/ebooks-articles/how-to-buy-art-craft-books-55464.html

Creating Keepsakes for Christmas Gifts

September 15th, 2011 No comments

You can create some memorable and low-cost gifts for this holiday. Your family and friends will be so happy you did!

The most appreciated gift I made was an appliquéd picture of my sister’s two story English cottage. They had gone through some financial difficulties in which the loss of their home had been a possibility. I had not framed my gift and when she opened and unfolded it, she was so touched that she cried. She framed it and put it over their fireplace.

For this project I purchased only fusible webbing. I had everything else on hand. My design was very simple. I used an old photograph and did a simple sketch from that onto tracing paper. I traced each separate section on another sheet of paper, then I cut them out.

Place the pattern pieces and the fabric both right side up. Choose a heavier fabric such as corduroy for your background. Iron the individual sections to the background material using the fusible webbing. Machine or hand appliqué around most of the individual pieces with coordinating thread. Where they overlap another piece, you need only stitch around the top piece. You could add your own touches, such as your appliquéd signature or perhaps some hand embroidery.

My finished product was about a foot and a half by two feet, but you can make ours any size you desire. Choose a geometric or floral design. Find pattern books in a crafts store. You could even use a design from your child’s coloring book!

Other Gifts

One year, while my older girls read aloud for homeschool, I crocheted afghans. I chose colors that coordinated with the recipient’s home. Crocheting is easy. You can learn from how-to or pattern books from your library. The cost for yarn is reasonable too, and nothing can compare to the love of a hand-made gift! I also enjoyed this time of creating. It was relaxing and yet we were being efficient in doing two things at once.

I made cookies and candy every year when the children were home. One year we took the whole month of December off from school and baked nearly every day. As soon as they were finished and cooled, they went into the freezer. Then, about two days before Christmas they were thawed in their covered containers. The ones we wanted to frost and decorate were placed on the counter to dry. We gave away many plates to family and friends that year… at least thirty!

You could create Christmas baskets with your own home-canned or purchased jellies. Include hand-written recipes, home-made breads and anything else you would like to include, perhaps a bread knife or butter knife. You can make up home-made mixes, such as for muffins, and include the recipe. Perhaps you would like to include a bag of coffee.

Use your creativity! Nothing, to me, is as much fun as being creative. And believe me, the recipients will love your home-made gifts!

Lorraine Curry