Drawing: Pencils & Charcoal

I am an avid scrap-booker and love creating homemade crafts, so I know that buying supplies from art supply retail stores can be quite expensive. This should give you some good ideas for ways to save on art supplies while still maintaining your creative edge.

• If you have a large collection of periodicals that have been piling up around your house, there are a variety of different ways to put them to good use. Try creating your favorite quotations from assorted sizes and colors of letters you have cut out: one of my favorite tricks! To get a cool retro look just cut out letters from different ads, articles and the cover and mix them together.

You can also look through old magazines for cute pictures and graphic designs to incorporate into collages, scrapbooks, or any other visual project. Another good idea is to use for backgrounds in a scrapbook is pages from a fashion spread magazine. They are always really themed and have little to no writing on them. Unwanted writing can easily be covered with a picture or other design.

When creating your scrap books, you can use internet search engines to find appropriate graphics to include. I searched Google images for different terms like "baby girl", "it’s a girl" etc, when I started my daughter’s scrapbook. By doing a little searching and looking around I was able to find materials to use and saved a lot.

If you take the time to do different searches on your search engine you can find some designs or ideas for your project. You will discover a lot of information that applies to your projects and you can print it out. I’d suggest you only use these graphics for personal purposes though, since some may have copyrights on them. Till they are used within your crafts which are personal, that will not be a problem.

The lack of a printer should not stop you as they are readily available for your use at your local library or school for a small fee. You’ll save tons of money over buying designs and stickers from an art supply store.

3. Most people do not know that you can make your own glue instead of buying it from the store. Once you figure out how much glue you will need, mix together one part flour to one part water. A pasty substance is the ultimate goal; mix it up until it gets to this consistency.

You should use the glue immediately after you finish making it because if you leave it out, it will become moldy. This must be left to dry totally after it is used; it is very good to use for any kind of paper project.

You can always add glitter to your paint or glue for an added touch.

Homemade Modeling Clay- Some type of modeling clay is quite often a necessary ingredient in many of the unique and interesting crafts available today. Rather than spending a lot of money for store supplies, you probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen that you can make stuff with. Now, combine 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, 2 tablespoons of cream of tarter, 1 tablespoon of oil, and 1 cup of water. Saute the combined ingredients in a large pan for a few minutes. It should be stored after cooling in a container that is airtight, kept in the fridge, until it is needed for use. Be sure the container is closed tightly or the clay will get hard!

E: If you take a few minutes to observe what it around you, you may find some supplies you can use. With scissors and markers, a pizza box can be cut up to make a big wall collage, dry pasta can be painted and glued on as a decoration paper plates can be masks.

When you’re crafting, look around the house using not only your eyes, but your imagination. The options are endless!

Here are the wonderful low prices on slightly used and new Drawing: Pencils & Charcoal: