101 Ways to Continue Crafting Without Breaking The Bank

[bookstorebabe]

go to flea markets later in the day, people will give you sruff or just leave it near the trash so they don't have to bring it home!

Good idea! And that's tip number 80! Or close enough. ^^

[endlesslove]

tip 81   look at ur parents house lol they have alot of cool stuff atleast mine does

[citygrlcountrygrl]

82  Plastic containers and caps from laundry detergents- I reuse the caps from my laundry detergent bottles for mixing paints or water dishes. I have also used them on strings of light (decorated with scraps of fabric or paper.) Containers from cottage cheese or yogurts work well to keep paint in when I'm working on a project and have to walk away from it. I just lay a damp paper towel over the top, pop the lid on and the paint stays wet. (Just don't forget about it and find it months later like I did....YUCK! )

These are all great ideas people! Keep 'em comin' =)

[bookstorebabe]

Tip 83- I have a stash of old watches,and I buy them at thrift stores whenever I can get them for cheap. Dud ones become parts for steampunk crafts-faces, movements, gears, ect ect. Especially if I can score them for a dollar or two.
BUT-how to know they're duds? Watch batteries are often 5-6 dollars, and the various watches take different sizes.
Which leads to tip 84.
Tip 84-Cheap toys are a good source of button cell batteries. I just bought a spinning, light up top for 1.50 at the dollar store, because I wanted the domed top for another project. After taking it apart, I found it was powered by three button cell batteries.
I had some cheap tiny plastic wind up toys I was given from work-I smashed one to see what kind of gears it had inside. I found a coiled watch spring, a couple of tiny plastic gears-and a button cell battery. Which was the right kind for one of my watches!
Now, I wouldn't buy these just for that-there's no way to know what number battery, if any, is inside. But for someone like me with a boxful of watches, it's great! I'll know to save any cheap toys I come across to destroy for the innards. And I don't know how long the battery will last, but it's been a few months and it's still working.

[bookstorebabe]

Tip 85: Use the last bit of your supplies. Example-
I use a lot of Luminere acrylic paint. I'm also job hunting, and can't splurge on it. I had  empty bottles, just a little almost dry paint left. Experiment time!
The bottles of black and indigo-I added perhaps a couple of tablespoons of hot water, shook it up, stirred vigorously with a brush. I now have half inch to an inch of water color wash, in charcoal and a pretty almost slate blue.
Bottle of burgundy acrylic-I experimented. I buy stuff from the clearance section, so had a big bottle of acrylic glazing liquid. I squeezed in a couple spoon's worth, stirred all around the bottom and sides. Paint softened and blended. Then took the almost empty bottle of grape, little hot water, shook, scraped down, brushed into the burgundy, shook and stirred again. That made a nice amount of a mulberry water color.

Tip 86: Colors of paint you don't use? Since you've nothing to lose, experiment. Example-
I either bought for pennies or was given Joann acrylic christmas green, lemon ice, and terra cotta. Rarely use them, but wouldn't throw out good paint! I have yes, an empty luminere bottle. I keep pouring in, stirring, adjusting-I now have a bottle of a lovely sage-ish green I *will* use. I daubed some on the lid, so I could easily see the new color. Mixing colors is one of my favorite things ever, even when I have plenty to spend on supplies!
Also-sometimes you can use up colors by using them for your base coat. And of course, you can just give them away if you know someone who can use them.

See my new colors? True, it didn't make a lot of paint, but it's paint I wouldn't have had. And when the bottles get empty again-well, they've probably been extended all they can be! But I can wash them & use them for mixing paint.

Tip 87: Another way to use up paint.
I paint. I slide the brush against the lid of the jar to scrape off the excess, as we all do. But then I don't just rinse it.
See, working retail I could amass a lot of old gift cards. I keep a few handy next to where I paint, and brush back and forth on them, *then* rinse the brush. Or I use tissue paper, plain scrap paper, what have you, instead. You get nice backgrounds for atcs and inchies, or just to cut up for art. The gift cards take several layers before the printing is obscured. Sometimes I get a nice effect just like that, and if not-that's my base coat taken care of. I use them in altered art for all kinds of things, an ordinary hole punch works on them, they cut up easily.

[AmphipodGirl]

#88: make your own printed tissue for collage-making.  A friend and I are planning to do an e-workshop that calls for printed tissue paper, and it's kind of hard to find in stores.  Even online, the selection is not as wide as I'd hope.  I realized we can make our own!  We did some by stamping,a nd then I found out you can print onto tissue with an inkjet printer!  Just tape it to printer paper (I use scotch tape; the tute I found the idea in used painter's tape) and run through the printer.  The Graphics Fairy has some great images, as do archive.org, Wikimedia Commons, and the Antique Pattern Library.  You can buy tissue at the dollar store or craft store, or salvage it from gifts and purchases.

[highestshelf]

89 newspaper for paper mache. We use a flour paste (our last one was from flour that had gone bad)-- flour and water cooked til thick, then watered down again. we will do 4-10 layers of newspaper, then a last layer of wrapping paper(also recycled form presents) for decoration. The kids enjoy pinatas and maracas, but we also make bowls and trays that have a theme such as valentines or Christmas. I paint a layer of varnish over most of our projects, but you would be amazed at how sturdy they are even without varnish. I'm threatening to do a bookshelf with paper mache for strength and empty boxes for form.


 

[bookstorebabe]

tip #90-Do you have an old beaded holiday sweater lurking in the back of the closet? Given one by great aunt Edna? Find one at a yard sale or thrift store for pennies? Good.
My hideous xmas sweater, I took a pair of manicure scissors to the beading while I watched tv, and I ended up up with half a cup (yes, I measured!) of beads to use.

[spaz2phreek]

91. Need plastic buckles? Small D-rings? Hook thingies.... I recently needed some plastic buckles to create strap things for a snowshoe outing so I could bundle my jacket up when I got hot and strap it to my backpack. Anyway, craft store only had big buckles (I wanted small) and they were a couple bucks each. So I hit the Dollar store for dog/cat collars/leashes.

92. Alternative to the Fiskars ShapeXpress cutter tool (which is for cutting out shapes using stencil things and runs about $12 if you get it at a good discount and comes with 1 replacement blade). On the other hand, I recent picked up knock-off exacto knife with a swivel blade plus 2 replacement blades for $6. And it works pretty great.

[Saintcady]

Come see us over at the Swap Your Stash swap; we all have supplies we're looking to trade or give away.