Creative Ideas
You Design ItTM, You Learn ItTM and You Paint ItTM products come with tons of fun components to decorate your projects. You can also combine odds and ends, even recyclable items you might have around the house to really jazz up your creation!
Here are a few ideas!...
Ideas to Help You Get Started:
- Prep your work area for easy clean up by covering it with newspaper or an old table cloth.
- Keep your clothes clean while you craft! Buy an inexpensive smock or where your dad’s old t-shirt (ask your dad for permission first!).
- Use paper plates or plastic cups to mix paint in and just throw them away when you’re done.
Easy to Make Craft Tools
Sponges (You will need: dry, unused household sponges, scissors, pencil or pen, cookie cutters or stencils.)
Place the stencil or cookie cutter on top of the dry sponge. Trace the shape onto the sponge using a pencil or pen. Next, cut out the shape using scissors.
You can also draw your own shapes (letters, numbers, animals) to make personalized sponges!
Stencils (You will need: pencil, scissors, cardboard or poster board.)
Stencils are areas in paper that are cut out and can be traced by using pencils or paint. Begin by drawing shapes on to the cardboard or poster board pieces (You can use household objects as guides to make shapes. Example: plastic lids or CDs as a guide to make circles).
Using scissors carefully cut out the shapes from the center of the paper. Use the empty spaces that are left over from cutting out the shapes to draw or paint with.
Stamps (You will need: potatoes, sharp pencil, sharp knife - for adult use)
Have an adult cut a potato in half. Use a paper towel and pat the potato halves dry. With the sharp pencil, poke a pattern or shape in to the potato halve. You can also carve out a shape in the potato using a spoon. To use the stamp, lightly rub the stamp into a small amount of paint and press the potato on the paper.
You can also make stamps out of leaves, carrots (to make polka dots and circles) and shaped rubber erasers! Extra Ideas for Decoration
Trinkets (You will need: glue, small rubber erasers, small figurines, beads, charms, coins, stamps, lace, bottle caps)
Add a personal touch by gluing small trinkets from around the house to your project!
Decoupage
Cut out pictures from old magazines, pretty decorative paper or old greeting cards. Apply them to your project using a white glue and water mixture. Use paintbrush to apply a thin layer of glue mixture. Lay the image flat on top of the glue and paint another layer of the glue mixture over the top of the image. Let the glue dry.