May 13, 2015

Tips and Tricks when doing wood crafts

wood crafting, tips, tricks

Wood crafts are so fun and make rooms so interesting and inviting.  I love wood crafts because they are durable and long lasting.  However, many people are intimated by them.  There is no need to be intimidated by them....I promise.  I am going to give you some tips and tricks in this post to help you overcome the intimidation. 

I received two free packages from Tru Luv Crafts in exchange for writing a review on the blog.  Although this post is sponsored, all my opinions are my own.

However, I first want to introduce a new company that sends wood crafts and everything you need for them in the mail.  It is called Tru Luv Crafts.  There are three types of boxes you can pick.  There is the regular box which is what you will see below that contains flowers.  Then there is a boy and girl kid craft box.  Hannelore is showing off her skills below with the girls kids craft box.  

Each box has different options when it comes to terms.  On the regular box there is month to month which is $15, 3 month prepay which is $39 ($13/month), and 6 month prepay which is $72 ($12/month).  On the kids craft boxes there are 2 different options.  There is month to month which is $12 and 3 month prepay which is $30 ($10/month).  

You can order until the 10th of the month to received the current month's box.  Orders that are placed after the 10th will be for the following month (you will not be charged until the following month).  Customers that choose to be billed monthly will be billed on the 10th of each month.  Boxes are mailed out between the 10th and the 15th of each month. 

I will show you what came in the girls craft box first.  Just like I said it comes with everything you need to make the craft.  It comes with the wood crafts, paint, wood glue, jewels, ribbon, glitter, and even a sponge brush.  This box was perfect for Hannelore because she loves everything princess.  

wood crafts, paint, glitter, ribbon, wood glue

Hannelore wanted to start on the crown.  She painted it pink.  One thing with her crafts is that she put quite a bit of paint on the front so she couldn't paint the back side.

wood crafts, paint, glitter, ribbon, wood glue

Once the paint was dry then she added the jewels on it.  

wood crafts, paint, glitter, ribbon, wood glue

I love the way she placed the little jewels.  No rhyme or reason.  It looks perfect to me! 

wood crafts, paint, glitter, ribbon, wood glue

She LOVED the glass slipper.  The whole time she was painting it she kept saying Cinderella is going to love her glass slipper.  It melted my heart.  

wood crafts, paint, glitter, ribbon, wood glue

The glass slipper had to be blue of course.  Again she wasn't able to paint the back.  In the box there was blue glitter.  It went on white, but dried clear.  She LOVED it! 

wood crafts, paint, glitter, ribbon, wood glue

The picture doesn't pull out the glitter as much as I would like, but it is very glittery and magical.  According to Hannelore, Cinderella LOVES it. 

wood crafts, paint, glitter, ribbon, wood glue

Purple is her favorite color.  So this wand was wonderful.  I made sure she didn't put too much paint on one side for this one.  I didn't want the wand to not be painted on one side.  

wood crafts, paint, glitter, ribbon, wood glue

Glitter makes everything better.  This wand came with purple glitter that went on white and dried clear.  The best part is that pink is her second favorite color and there was pink AND purple ribbon to tied to the wand.  PERFECTION in this little girl's eyes.  She has already turned me into a frog many times with this wand and also a princess.  I told her I like the princess option better, but she thinks it is funny when I ribbit like a frog.  

wood crafts, paint, glitter, ribbon, wood glue

Here she is with her crown, slipper and wand.  She is is heaven.  These sit in her play room as decorations, but she also plays with them often.  

wood crafts, paint, glitter, ribbon, wood glue, wand, glass slipper, crown


Now I will show you what the regular craft box looks like and give tips and tricks along the way.  Once again the kit contains everything you need to make the craft.  This one came with the wood pieces, paint, wood glue, decoupage glue, glitter, scrapbook paper, and once again a sponge brush (not pictured). 

wood crafts, paint, brush, glitter, wood glue

Here is some progress of the kit.  It is perfect for Spring.  

wood crafts, paint, brush, glitter, wood glue

Look how cute they are when they are finished!  



Here are my tips and tricks that I have found over the years:

wood crafting, tips, tricks

Tip #1

wood crafts, TruLuv Crafts, paint

In this kit I either didn't paint it quite right or there wasn't enough paint to cover it evenly on the leaves.  I thought about having the back be bare wood, but I did not want to do that.  So I painted the back and front.  If you can tell in the picture there were streaks and uneven parts in the paint.  I was not happy with how one turned out (one of them turned out fine).  

So I decided to sand the paint down and distress the edges.  When you sand the paint down it ends up making the paint more even.  See picture below for the after picture.  There is some wood grain showing but it looks more even and natural when the whole thing is distressed.  

wood crafts, TruLuv Crafts, paint

Tip #2

wood crafts, TruLuv Crafts, paint

If you will be covering a wood piece with paper that is similar all around the shape (like a flower) then you will want to make sure that once you trace it out you will match up the paper and the wood exactly.  Because the petals will not be perfectly cut out in the wood and the paper.  Each petal will be shaped slightly different.  I like to put a symbol on the back of the paper.  I put "B" for bottom because that is where the hole for the stem was on the wood flower.  I will match up the bottom of the wood flower to that "B" on the paper.

Tip #3

wood crafts, TruLuv Crafts, paint

When putting paper on part of a wood piece you do not have to paint behind it.  However, I like to paint a little bit behind the paper where the edges are.  This way if you see behind the paper AT ALL then see color there instead of the bare wood. 

Tip #4

wood crafts, TruLuv Crafts, paint

Once again if you are putting paper on wood then this tip is for you.  I like to file the edges down so that the transition is more seamless between the painted wood and the paper covered wood.  It looks so much better if you do this.  I like to use a nail file for this because it is small and easy to get into the small parts of the wood.  

Tip #5  

HAVE FUN!  It does not have to be perfect.  Please don't think that if it isn't perfect then it isn't good enough.  You will get better and better with practice.  I promise, promise, promise.  Find pride and joy in the fact that you created it!  Just have fun! 

TruLuv Crafts is a great way to get your feet wet too.  You don't have to go to the store and pick everything out.  It will be provided for you.  Also, the price point is phenomenal.  You can't beat it.  Oh and you don't even have to leave your house to get it.  It will come to you.  To me...that is priceless.  

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