The Easy Way to Make a Special Present
We all know someone who is difficult to buy a present for. Someone who has everything they need and would not appreciate 'normal' gifts. Often this will be your parent or an older relative or neighbor, and they can be a problem to buy something for. Well, this is a simple way to make a unique gift that they will be happy to accept. When you take the time to produce something that relates only to them and their interests it will always be happily received. The idea is to make a picture that includes something that they are especially interested in. This could be a hobby or any other interest they have. This is a quick and easy technique. You simply choose your theme (their hobby or interest), paint a silhouette of it onto a colored background and frame it. You could paint a colored background onto a canvas panel or use already colored paper. I noticed my local art store had colored card that had a range of colors merging into each other, this would be ideal for this technique. The theme of your silhouette is really the creative part. The easiest thing would be to use their hobby as the theme. Look through some copyright free clip art until you find an image that you could use for the outline of the silhouette. If they like fishing it could be a fisherman/fish/fishing fly. For a golfer it could be a set of clubs/golf hole with flag. For someone who likes to cook it could be related to cooking. If they are keen church-goers a silhouette of their church may be appreciated. A lot of people like to receive a silhouette of their home. For car enthusiast a silhouette of their car is a good idea. In which case you could use a digital camera and take a picture of their church, home or whatever you have decided to include in the picture. You really can use your imagination for this. When using clip art you have a huge range of options (probably too many!) to choose from. You don't have to be great at drawing! Also, you can use a computer graphics package to blend together two or three images for your final silhouette shape. Be sure to adjust the size of the final image to make it the correct size for the painting surface you have chosen, and print it out. As this is a gift you can make it whatever size you choose. Once you have painted or found a suitable background, then trace around the outside edge of the image for your silhouette shape. Use carbon paper for this. The silhouette shape can be painted in using acrylic paints ? don't make the paint too thin though! Another alternative is to use a permanent marker, not a normal marker as it will fade over time, and that would be disappointing for the person receiving the gift. Silhouettes look very effective and traditional in black. However you could use a darker shade of one of the colors in the background for an alternative look. For example if the background was a pale green the silhouette could be in a dark green. This all adds to the uniqueness of your gift. If you are using a colored card it will be better to use a permanent marker as the water in the paint may cause the card surface to buckle. Fill in the silhouette shape and leave to dry. Then frame the silhouette picture. **A distinctive gift for a special person.** This type of personalized gift is always appreciated and shows that you have put some thought, time and effort into the present. Another major benefit is that no one else will be giving exactly the same gift! This is an excellent technique if you can't find a suitable card. You can make your own special card. It is most effective if you choose a very simple shape for the silhouette when using this method in card making. Cards are generally a lot smaller and look best when you use less detailed shapes. Use this system and say goodbye to gift buying problems for that hard to please someone. Catherine Calder is the author of the Acrylic Painting Course. This step-by-step course teaches you how to paint using acrylic paints. All stages of each of the 12 painting are illustrated. Ideal for beginners or anyone new to using acrylic paints. For a free preview of the course visit
http://www.learnanddo.com/acrylic.asp
Sign up for the free report on 'How to Paint Abstract Pictures for Pleasure and Profit' at
http://www.AcrylicPaintingCourse.info
Related News
Leading a healthy and active life - Petaluma Argus Courier
Leading a healthy and active lifePetaluma Argus Courier, CA -20 hours agoShe keeps her days filled with hobbies, crocheting baby blankets for a organization servicing unwed mothers and working in her garden. ... |
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. - SWOT Analysis - companiesandmarkets.com ... - PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung)
Community center on its last legs - Baxter Bulletin
Community center on its last legsBaxter Bulletin, AR -Nov 27, 2008This was truly a happy place to celebrate life events, heritage, crafts, hobbies and social networks where friends are made and contacts bonded. ... |
Here's a big list to get you in the holiday spirit - Mooresville Tribune
Tastes like Christmas - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Tastes like ChristmasFort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN -Nov 21, 2008Or, a brother-in-law whose only hobbies seem to be smoking cigarettes and popping the word "irregardless" into conversations. Even worse? ... |
Meet the Person of the Week: Nancy Horne - EastBayRI.com
Meet the Person of the Week: Nancy HorneEastBayRI.com, RI -Dec 3, 2008Do you have any hobbies? “I like to do word search puzzles — I can do a couple in no time. I enjoy the holidays with my family and spending time with them ... |
Baby boomers take to more high-energy hobbies - Newsday
Baby boomers take to more high-energy hobbiesNewsday, NY -Nov 15, 2008While many find satisfaction in creative-yet-sedentary hobbies such as painting, arts and crafts and flower arranging, others are turning to more strenuous ... |
Vermont Hand Crafters Fine Craft & Art Show to be held at Sheraton - BurlingtonFreePress.com
Patrick R. Barbieri - New Times SLO
Patrick R. BarbieriNew Times SLO, CA -Nov 26, 2008According to two local craftswomen, the two hobbies couldn’t have more in common. And to prove it, Anne Gough, owner of Yarnsat the Adobe, and Jenne Hiigel, ... |
Gifts from the heart, made by the hands - 9NEWS.com
Gifts from the heart, made by the hands9NEWS.com, CO -Nov 29, 2008Kate Lutska, a teacher, spent her Black Friday at Thompson's Hobbies and Crafts in Lakewood shopping for her students. "Well, I have a lot of students to ... |
|
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Making Hemp Jewelry Is Fun and Easy
Making our ideas come to life and creating them with our own hands is a great source of satisfaction for many of us. Handicrafts such as making hemp jewelry have been and continue to be very popular among both hobbyists and would-be entrepreneurs alike. Aside from being a productive way to pass time, making hemp jewelry encourages creativity and is a great and inexpensive way to have fun either by one's own self or with friends and family.
Photograph Mosaics and Markers in Your Scrapbooks
An attractive technique for placing photographs into scrapbooks is the photograph mosaic. Mosaics stretch photographs into an artistic rendition of the original photograph. Maps can also be stretched in this way. This method might be employed to create a funky look for a friend scrapbook or as a background for someone who likes computers, GIS, or geography.
Sewing Embroidery Designs in New Ways
How many of you are always looking for new ways to use your embroidery designs - always, or never? If never, you are overlooking wonderful opportunities! Do you optimize the use of every design? Do you routinely review your library of designs to see if you can combine motifs from one set with another? Have you noticed how embroidery design styles have changed over the past few years? Give those old motifs a new look by using the designs that you got way back when, again! Add new motifs under, or around, them to create a whole new look! My last big project, a wind jacket back, is a good example of what anyone can do with a little time and imagination!
Antiques - The Modern Day Treasure Hunt
In today's world, everything that's old can be described as antiques and generally speaking that's quite true. A product is considered to be an antique if it is over a hundred years old or is rare enough to have some value. In other words, these are old items that are in limited supply.
Embroidery Stabilizing for Machine Embroidering
Here are some tips to get good results with your embroidery designs sewing.
How to Create a Reverse Painting on Glass
Introduction:
50 Ways to Use Your Ribbon for Scrapbooking, Home Decor, Crafting and Fashion
Scrapbooking:
What Is A Reverse Painting?
Welcome to the world of Reverse Painting on Glass.
Reverse painting on glass has been considered a popular 'art of the people' for many centuries. The use of glass as a support for this intricate painting technique has not hindered its continuing popularity.
The Nuts and Bolts of Vintage Tin Toys
Before Game Boy and Play Station, there were tin toys. During their heyday, these whimsical toys amused children for hours. Today, these toys have great nostalgic appeal. Here's your guide to tin toys.
Depression Glass Companies
Just before the advent of the Great Depression, more than a
hundred companies manufactured glassware in the United
States. At the end of the Depression, fewer than fifty
percent of these companies remained in business. Of these
companies, seven became major players in the production of
Depression glass, and these seven companies utilized a
little more than 90 patterns to decorate their wares.
Indiana Glass, Hocking, Federal, U.S. Glass, Jeanette
Glass, MacBeth-Evans, and Hazel-Atlas manufactured hundreds
of thousands of pieces of this popular and inexpensive
glass, creating a bright spot in the lives of everyday,
working-class people during a grim epoch of American
history.
50 Ideas to Get Organized and Enjoy Your Scrapbooking Hobby
Scrapbooking is a wonderful hobby! Besides being relaxing and fun, it also allows you to be creative and to spend quality time with your family and friends. Plus, it results in a storybook of lifelong memories.
How to Value Your Jewelry at Home or Work
Many thanks for taking the time to read this compact jewelry article entitled 'How to Value your Jewelry at Home or Work'. You are about to discover the intricacies and formulas that highly qualified Gemologists and Valuers are using, right now, to evaluate and appraise gold, silver and platinum jewelry.
Comic Book Supplies, Necessities of the Serious Collector
If you want to keep your comic book collection in tiptop shape, comic book supplies will become part of your collecting life. As soon as a magazine is printed there are natural environmental forces going to work to try and destroy the ink and the paper. You have put in a lot of time, effort and enjoyment in acquiring all your comics. You don't want them to turn back to the dust and elements from which they came do you?
Collectible Action Figures - Is About Fun Memories And More Money
Superhero action figures first stormed the doors of department stores and toy stores nearly 35 years ago. Constructed of various kinds of plastic and clothed in uniforms, costumes and capes G.I. Joe, Superman, Spiderman, the Lone Ranger and others marched, flew and rode off store shelves and into our lives. After short stops under the Christmas tree or at birthday parties, these action figures found their way into toy boxes and playrooms around the world.
Save on Kids Craft Supplies - Recycle!
Here is some information about how to collect and use recycled objects in your crafts!
Make Your Own Citronella Candles
Need a cost effective way to get rid of mosquitoes? Try making your own citronella candles and eliminate mosquitoes while providing a romantic, outdoor setting. Making citronella candles is easy and can cost as little as $0.25 per candle. Follow this step-by-step guide and make your own candles at home in less than 10 minutes:
A Brief History of Japanese Daruma Dolls
Daruma dolls are representations of the historical Indian priest Bodhidharma, a sage who traveled throughout Japan and China in the 5th or 6th century AD. Bodhidharma is credited with establishing Chan Buddhism in China and Zen Buddhism in Japan. Legend has it that Bodhidharma achieved enlightenment, or satori, following seven years of meditation either in a cave or as he was facing the wall of a room at the Shorinji Temple in China. During this time he moved neither his eyes nor his limbs. Legend has it that as a result of his inactivity Bodhidharma's limbs shriveled and fell off. Another legend relates that angry with the fact that he had fallen asleep during his meditation, Bodhidharma cut off his eyelids in a fit of anger. It is believed that the severed eyelids fell to the ground and sprouted into China's first green tea plants!
Embroidery Sewing Quality of Machine Embroidery Designs
Many new to embroidery have experienced numerous problems because of the inferior quality of free embroidery design files that they downloaded over the internet. One of the biggest mistakes that many new sewists make is using free designs patterns that have problems built in. Even if you are lucky enough to do everything else right and use inferior designs, results will probably not be good. Many of the free embroidery designs files that one can download are the first efforts of someone that has just begun to digitize and thus are not very well made. Many new to this great hobby use these because they are free and easy to download without using a credit card, but this is where the trouble begins. Then when outlines are off or there are gaps in the sewing and poor results are evident, how does one know where the problem lies? Is it the designs or the stabilizers or even worst - Can it be the new embroidery machine? We have a test so one can determine if the design is at fault or if the stabilizer is the problem. We make available free designs, free sewing lessons, free thread color charts and info that you may need to learn so you can get great results with your embroidery designs projects.
Lighted Holiday Potpourri Jars
Lighted potpourri jars are a festive addition to any holiday decor. They are inexpensive, easy to make, and make great hostess gifts.
A Look at Cabinet Humidors
Cabinet humidors are specially designed for the serious cigar aficionado. Much more of an investment than a small desktop humidor that can hold 100 to 200 cigars, cabinet humidors can be as small as a standing chest, can hold up to 8000 cigars or more, can measure as much as four feet wide by 20 inches deep and over six feet in height or larger and resemble a large bookcase, and can cost from the high hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars. These humidors are designed for the discriminating aficionado, and because of their size and the cost, they are considered a good long-term investment.
|