General Crafts Tips
Punch Needle Technique
If your needle keeps catching on the previous loops, make sure you are holding your needle straight up and down, not at an angle.
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Punch Needle Stitches
Don't worry too much about making your stitches perfectly spaced. Turn your design over and you'll see the front looks just fine!
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Fixing Long Punch Needle Loops
After filling an area with color, check the front of your fabric for any loops that are extending above the others. Simply trim them with a pair of small scissors, and the ends will blend in with the rest of the loops.
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Neat Punch Needle Designs
When filling an area of your punch needle design, work just inside the printed outline on the fabric. This ensures that areas of color are clearly defined on the front of your design.
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Keep Fabric Taut for Needle Punching
In order for the punch needle tool to pierce the fabric easily, the fabric must be taut in the hoop. Retighten your fabric periodically by removing it from the hoop and re-hooping it.
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Watching the Paint Dry
Weather conditions can vary the amount of time it takes for paints and stains to dry. If it’s very humid, more time may be needed.
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Protecting Painted Surfaces
While your stains are drying, place a box over your design to prevent any dust that may be in the air from getting into the wet stain.
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Mixing Stain Colors
To mix colors, count out the number of drops of each color stain you need, then stir the colors together with a toothpick.
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Burst the Bubbles
If you get bubbles in a color stain (for painting) as you apply it, prick them with a toothpick right away to remove them.
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Keeping Color Stains Mixed
Stir color stains (for painting) if they have separated. Don’t shake to mix – shaking causes bubbles.
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The Right Needle Felting Surface
Always use a foam block under or inside the item being felted. The needle tip will break if you try to felt on a hard surface (and it might damage the surface, too).
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Neat Needle Felting Designs
When filling in a design with felting, start at the outline and work towards the center.
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Needle Safety
Felting needles are extremely sharp and a bit fragile, so you need to use them carefully. Be sure to hold the needle straight up and down – if you hold it on an angle, it might break.
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Working Needle Felting Roving
If it seems like your roving isn't staying in your fabric, keep felting. It can take a lot of “jabs” to firmly attach the roving to the fabric. Keep your needle jabs close together to be sure the roving is interlocking with the fabric.
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Needle Felting Basic
When you needle felt, start with a small amount of roving (narrow piece of fiber). You can always add more as you felt.
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Your Hoop is Showing
Always remove the needle and the hoop before storing your embroidery. It will help to prevent permanent marks on your fabric.
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Neat Threads
As you separate individual strands of thread and put them back together for stitching, always put the same ends back together. This will help to prevent tangling or knotting. Separating the thread strands and putting them back together before stitching will make your stitching look fuller and more even. It really is worth the time!
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Prevent Knotting
To prevent your thread from knotting as you stitch, occasionally hold your stitching upside down and let the thread dangle to unwind it.
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Separating Thread
To easily separate individual strands of thread from a bundle, hold the end of thread securely in your fingers, then slowly pull out one strand at a time.
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Paint Brush Variety
In addition to the brush that came with your paint-by-number kit, add a liner brush for fine-line details and a #4, 6, or 8 flat brush for larger, open areas on the canvas.
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Add Glitter to a Snowy Scene
To add your own personal touch to a snowy scene, try adding some glitter accents. Simply apply a thin layer of glue with a small paintbrush, then dust the glue with glitter.
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Paint-by-Numbers
Some light paint colors, like white and yellows, may need more than one coat to cover the numbers on your canvas board.
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Adding Details to Painted Art
If you don’t quite have a steady hand with a paintbrush, you can use colored pencils or fine-point markers to add the fine-line details after you finish painting all the areas.
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Mixing Paint Colors
When mixing paint colors, use small containers with lids so that you can save your mixed color in case you need more later.
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Two-handed Cross Stitching
If you use a stretcher frame you can stitch with two hands. Lean the frame up against a table or place it in a stitching stand; this will leave both your hands free to stitch. With one hand on top and the other below, you can stitch more quickly.
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Distinguishing Cross Stitch Canvas Colors
To distinguish similar colors on a cross stitch canvas, lay it on a solid-colored light or dark background.
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Checking Stitches
When you have finished filling in your cross stitched areas, hold your canvas in front of a strong light to check for any missing stitches.
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Cross Stitch Color Match
Thread a matching piece of yarn or thread through each color block on the canvas to make it easier to identify the colors as you stitch.
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Don’t Tie the Knot
Don't knot your yarn or thread. Weave the ends under the back of the stitches either in a horizontal or vertical direction, then clip the excess close to the back of the stitches.
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Counted Cross Stitch
For counted cross stitch designs, start stitching in the center of the fabric and work toward the edges.
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Don’t Get Twisted
If your thread becomes twisted as you stitch, let the threaded needle dangle from the fabric and it will unwind like magic.
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Keeping Track of Stitches
To help keep your place on the cross stitch chart, highlight the squares that correspond to the stitches you’ve put in your canvas.
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Ease the Tension
Keep the tension of your stitches light and even. If you pull the strands too tightly, the thread may break or the fabric may pucker.
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Tip Tuesday
this the todays tip
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