Day 25

Day 25 What advice would you give to a newbie crafter OR Craft something that has the colour orange on it

Hmm advice for a newbie crafter....this could be an interesting one!

I think the first piece of advice would be to invest in some decent cutting tools. Your crafting can only be as good as your tools. When I properly started some point last year (I think, it might have been the year before!) I bought a couple of pairs of scissors, including spending a few months finding the right pair of fine detail curved decoupage scissors! 

Most recently, my latest investment was a 13 inch guillotine trimmer from XCut, and I have to say it is one of the best craft purchases I have made! (and trust me I've made a few!!). It cuts so crisp, smooth and straight, and cuts my 12x12 papers, something I was looking for, for a while. I also prefer the fact that it is a guillotine, as I can just sharpen it by cutting some ordinary kitchen foil, instead of having to worry about trying to find replacement blades.

Another thing when you are a newbie crafter is to remember that you are still learning, and every thing will take some practice before it will look anything like the inspiration image you are working from (sometimes I still need to remind myself of that now!)

Practice everything, especially techniques you like the look of, the more you practice, the more you can learn from your mistakes, and you can have fun playing in the process! Also, play around with different styles. Some people find simple works well for them, others prefer lots of layers and embellishments. You will soon find what you are happiest with and what works well for you.

Shop around when looking for things. What might seem a good deal in one store, might be better in another, those pennies count. Ebay is usually a good place to look. I have found that I can buy nail art embellishments, like pearls, gems and fimo slices and use them on my crafting. And the bonus is they cost a third of the price of the craft ones! More pennies for other stash!

Also, thing about how you store your stash. Papers are always best stored in some form of box, or laid flat somewhere to help protect them, and keep them usable for your projects. Take out boxes and cartons become handy for embellishments and stickers and bits. You soon find yourself looking at everyday containers thinking how best could you utilize it for your stash!!

Most importantly, remember to have fun with your crafting! If you can't have fun with it then you won't want to do it, and crafting should be fun!

And now before I write a dissertation, I shall stop for today!

I'm sure I shall think of other tips later on, I'll make a note of them and do another post at some point with more!