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Thursday, August 20, 2015

How to decorate a tea-light jar with mehndi designs

Tried my hand at another variation of jar-decorating - adding a tea-light!

First, I prepped the jars by washing them, removing the labels and drying them thoroughly.

Next step, use a sponge dipped in glass paint and apply all over the jar to create an even, speckled look. This is so that there'll be a background colour, but you could also skip this step if you have a very smooth, clean jar surface.

Now, you'll need some designs. There is lots of inspiration to be had on Pinterest, Youtube and on the net in general. Besides  tutorials, you can also look at the kinds of decorations others have used on their tea-light jars. The easiest thing to do would be to download some mehndi designs from the net, and practice drawing them on paper first with a pen or pencil.

Finally, once you've identified your design and practiced drawing it, transfer the design onto your jar using a black glass painting pen (these are available at craft stores). The thinner the tip, the more elaborate the design you can pull off. I had to make do with simpler designs as I couldn't find a really thin-tipped pen :-)

It can be a bit challenging to draw on a surface that's not smooth or has already been painted on. One tip would be to make sure the ink is always flowing freely on your pen. If it feels like it's drying out, stop, shake the pen and test it on a piece of paper to get the ink flowing again.

If it's a tall jar, you'll need to put in a filler - stones, shells, marbles, dried spices, anything you fancy - before dropping in the tea light or else, the candle will just go out once it reaches the bottom of the jar! :-)




Thursday, August 06, 2015

How to use old photographs to personalise handmade cards

Recently, I was going through my collection of landscape photographs and hit upon the idea of using some of those images to personalise my handmade cards.In the digital era, anyone with a smartphone can accumulate thousands of images in a short span of time.

But what does one do with all those photos?? More often than not, the answer is nothing :-)

How about this - every week (or every month) take some time to curate your images. Select a few and get them developed/printed. If it's an image that you really like, get a few copies made of the same photo.

Use them to personalise handmade cards. Crop the photograph to fit the space designated for it on the card you are making. The result? A card that is truly personalised... rest assured no one else could have taken quite the same photograph in quite the same way! It's also a wonderful way to rekindle happy memories of the past.

In this card I used an old photo I took years ago, of a beautiful seashell I found nestled in the sand on a beach. The image was cropped to fit the inside of the card  using craft scissors to create a decorative border. The other photos are of the other pages of the card.