Add A Personal Touch With Glass Block Crafts & Gifts This Season

If you're a craft professional looking for something unique to sell, a non-profit fund raiser working to secure donations in exchange for a unique gift, or just an individual looking for a personalized present for Thanksgiving or Christmas there is something new and different to consider - glass block lights, banks, and vases. Below you can learn more about these products and their benefits and features for your project or gift.

 Pre-drilled Glass Block Lights for Crafts & Gifts

 If you're looking for a cool nightlight for a bedroom or bathroom, a lighted block for a cake or table at a wedding or convention, or a Christmas decoration to put on your kitchen counter, a lighted block can be perfect for you. Here are some key features and benefits of this product:

 1.Available with pre-drilled holes  Cutting and cleaning out the inside of a block is not the easiest or safest thing in the world to do. With pre-drilled  to 5/8 holes the block units are craft-ready without needing to invest in a drill press or expensive diamond drill bits. The 5/8 holes are create a snug, secure fit for lights. The holes can be put either on the face of the block for upright projects or the side of the block for flat gifts.

 2.Any size or pattern of block can be pre-drilled and illuminated  The block can be ordered in 4 x 8, 6 x 6, 6 x 8, 8 x 8, or even 12 x 12 sizes with any pattern of block. The different sizes can actually be quite helpful. One crafter looking to save on the ribbon cost going around the block unit chose to work with 4 x 8 and 6 x 6 sizes to save money. A homeowner in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania was looking to finish off his man-den with two yellow colored 12 x 12 blocks to support shelving in Pittsburgh Steelers themed basement.

 3.Several blocks can be put together for unique gifts or home accessories  Glass block lamps, furniture, telephones, and Christmas decorations have been created by assembling more than one pre-drilled block together. One woman in Cincinnati Ohio creates block snowman with lights running through multiples blocks. Glass shapes and images can be purchased at crafts stores and put onto the faces of the block with contact cement to make a stylish paperweight or book end. You might also consider cementing several blocks together to make a spice rack or bookshelf. A rub on appliqu can be put on the block face for a unique design as well.

 4.Nationwide shipping for craft enthusiasts  Since the block are a very solid 3 1/8 or 3 7/8 thick they can be shipped from Maine to Oregon without a problem, allowing you to source hard to find block patterns and sizes that are professionally drilled and ready for your project.

 Glass Block Banks For Fundraising and Christmas Gifts

 Theres nothing quite like a glass piggybank where you can watch your money grow. The following benefits and features of the product have expanded the block specialty sales greatly.

 1.Available with pre-drilled coin slots at the top and plugs at the bottom  Older style block banks only had a slot at the top of the block  making it a tough exercise to get the money out! Now block banks come with slots at the top and plugs at the bottom making coin removal painless.

 2.Sizes and patterns for unique looks  Most common glass block banks come in 6 x 6 x 3 1/8 and 8 x 8 x 3 1/8 sizes in a Wave pattern. There are also some availability of 6 x 8 sizes and Icescapes, Mist, and Bubble patterns.

 3.Personalized engraving for a unique touch  The faces of the block units can be personalized with any type of image or logo to make a unique gift for a family member or donor to your organization.

 Glass Block Vases for Floral Shops and Home Decorating

 If you're looking for a cool, contemporary, and sturdy vase all wrapped into one a glass block vase is for you. Here are some of its key features and benefits:

 1.Multiple sizes for square and vertical vases  Available in 6 x 6 and 8 x 8 square sizes or 4  x 9  for a vertical look.

 2.Can be safely shipped  Since the blocks are sturdy with thick faces on the glass they are safe to ship anywhere in the nation.

 you're cat will have a hard time knocking this vase over  Ever come home and find your cat sniffing the flowers from a vase they've recently knocked down and broken while you've been away? Block glass vases are more sturdy and heavy than traditional vases and much less likely for your pet to knock down.

 If you're ready for something new, fun, and personalized for your crafting business, fund raising events, or gift for a family member consider pre-drilled glass block lights, banks, and vases this upcoming holiday season.

Add Wallpaper to your Interior Design Project

Open any interior design magazine these days and you are sure to spot wallpaper as the latest trend in home design. Decorating today is all about the layering of texture with wallpaper and is replacing the painted feature wall, and its not expected to go away anytime soon.

Some of this is partly due to the recent revival of Florence Broadhurst designs, the eccentric and talented Australian designer famous for her handprinted wallpapers. Her designs can currently be found in the Glamour, Flora, Blueprints, and Concepts Collections, and are matched by no other designer. Her furnishings and wallpapers are also in high demand worldwide at the moment due to their unique and luxurious patterns.

Broadhurst combined fuscia pinks, lemon yellows, lime greens, vivid oranges, turquoise, blacks, metallic silvers and gold  all perfectly matching her own flamboyant personality. She was also well known for printing onto transparent mylars, foils and metallic papers. She called her revolutionary handprinted creations ;Vigorous designs for modern living.

Adding wallpaper to your home is a great way to create atmosphere in a room, often all it takes is one wall of an interesting and vivid design and it will prove to be a talking point for anyone visiting your home.

Wallpaper also has the added advantage that if your walls are far from perfect then a thicker textured paper can be a cheaper option of covering up the bumps and cracks that normal paint just cant hide.

There are some particularly interesting wallpaper patterns and textures at the moment. Retro prints have made a comeback but in a classier and subtler style than the first time around, whilst for the more adventuress amongst you then how about fake fur? Oriental prints, metallic geometrics, flocked wallpapers are available, and for the natural look there are papers that mimic the look of natural grasses and botanical prints. Some totally new ideas feature metal sheeting and wood veneer.

You can add wallpaper to a room to lift an outdated look or give it a splash of colour. Decide for yourself whether to use it as a feature, or on all the walls to create a theme within your home. It can even be hung as you would a piece of art. It is all down to your own personal taste and likes.

Metallics have made a return for winter 2009, try teaming them with cream, black and silver for wall finishes such as wallpaper, as well as upholstery and bed linens. Greens and browns are firmly established but watery hues will be the colours to watch for, having made their mark on the fashion scene. For a chic take, try down grey with powder blue and crisp glossy white.

If you have scoured the shops and searched online but cant find anything you really like then its always possible to get wallpaper custom made to your own design. Just look online for wallpaper companies that will work with you on your design idea and transform it into wallpaper; you can be creative and combine latest trends and upcoming design with your own personal ideas.