The dollar store has a lot of great fall decorations, but most of them don’t scream “upscale.” Jen from Tatertots & Jello is an amazing real-life (and blogworld) friend of mine, and she is known all over for her incredible taste. She is able to make anything look like a million bucks, which is what she did with these pumpkins she got at the dollar store. She gave them a designer look and spent only $5 to make this whole pretty vignette. I love that she chose colors that aren’t typically associated with fall. [how to make crackle painted pumpkins]

Project Estimate:

• Decorator pumpkins, $1 each
• Acrylic paint, on hand
• Crackle medium, on hand or about $2

Total: $1 and up

The post Make Upscale Pumpkin Decorations appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

We get a lot of questions here at DSC, and we do our darnedest to provide answers to every single one of them. While we sometimes have an answer off the top of our heads, we’ve found that often the best thing we can do is in turn ask YOU, our awesome readers. It’s time again to put on your thinking caps and help your fellow crafters! Reader Larry sent us this message:

Hi,

I am referring to a tutorial by Ann On May 9,2010 on how to “Crackle Paint with Elmer’s Glue”. I need help badly. Can anyone tell me how to OR what to use to crackle a clear top coat? I am trying to crackle my paintings, but if I use a colored top coat to crackle the glue, the paint covers up the painting, therefore I need some type of amber (old, old, look) tinted CLEAR coat that will Crackle.

Thank you very much,
Larry

You can see the post Larry is referring to here, with a link to the tutorial by Ann from Make the Best of Things along with some tips and that Heather previously suggested: [make your own crackle finish]

What do you think, guys? What else could you use to make an aged-looking, amber crackle finish?

The post Reader Question: Ideas for Crackle Painting? appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Wow! I love it when people hack crafts and do specialized techniques with stuff you already have at home. Ann from Make The Best of Things has done just that with her amazing crackle paint technique tutorial. You know how you have to buy special paint to do this crackle technique? Well, guess what, you don’t have to buy that special crackle medium anymore because Ann has posted a detailed tutorial about how to do it with a very special school supply. And she tested it on many different surfaces. You might just be my new best friend, Ann! [click here to learn all Ann’s secrets of crackle painting] [via]

Let me take a moment to tell you where I found this link. I found this link at a blog that is very reliable for sharing amazing stuff. You should subscribe to this blog: Someday Crafts. Do it now. I’ll wait!

And now, back to the discussion about crackle glaze. You might be a mod type of girl, and you might think “I don’t do faux finishes like crackle glaze because that’s not me.” But I know of a situation when you might want to make use of crackle glaze, even if you’re not a fan of shabby chic. Ready for it?

Crackle Glaze on Prints: Well, when making art reproductions (like if you download art from the Feed Your Soul project), you can print them on canvas art paper, and then cover them with a layer of crackle medium, and then a very light antiquing glaze. This is what the pro decor companies do to make their art prints look “like the original” and this is something you can do to make your art look more, well, art-like. This is also a technique that could be really good for making dollar store pictures and knick-knacks look more classy (hopefully NOT Klassy with a K!).

Project Estimate:

• White school glue, $.25/bottle (during back to school sales) — you probably have this on hand
• Acrylic paint, $.50/bottle or on hand

Total: FREE and up

The post Make Your Own Crackle Finish (for CHEAP!) appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.