One of the most persistent myths about painting is that you need to spend a lot of money before you can start. With acrylics, this simply is not true — and this guide proves it with two complete, accurately priced beginner kits built from our actual stock at Craft and Canvas, both coming in comfortably under £50. We cover the difference between Sennelier Abstract (£3.95 per tube — creamy, vibrant, and surprisingly affordable) and Daler-Rowney System 3 (£4.70 per tube — a reliable UK staple), which eight colours give you a complete working palette, why Seawhite canvas boards from £1.35 are the most practical starting surface, and how to choose between the Pro Arte brush sets we stock. We also cover what to completely ignore until you are much further along, and when the step up to Wallace Seymour artist grade acrylics starts to make sense. Read on, then come and find everything in store or at craftandcanvas.co.uk.

Happy Valley Pride is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year — and we wanted to mark it with something that could only be made by many hands. One Patch, Your Pride is a community quilt project open to crafters anywhere in the world, celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and Pride through textile craft. Knit a rainbow. Crochet a Pride flag. Embroider a name. Felt a symbol. Sew something that means something. Your patch just needs to fit a 15cm grid — 15x15cm, 15x30cm, 30x30cm, or any multiple — and it needs to reach us at Craft and Canvas, 3 Carlton Street, Hebden Bridge by 30th June 2025. Every single patch will be incorporated into the finished quilt, which will be displayed in our shop window through July and donated to Happy Valley Pride on 26th July. No experience needed, no charge, no theme imposed beyond celebrating Pride and the LGBTQ+ community. Just make something and be part of it.  https://happyvalleypride.co.uk/news/100/one-patch-your-pride

If there is one subject that draws beginners to watercolour more than any other, it is loose florals — those free, atmospheric paintings where flowers seem to bloom spontaneously from the paper with barely a brushstroke in sight. The secret is not talent or years of practice; it is understanding what loose painting actually means and deliberately working in a way that allows watercolour to do what it does naturally. In this beginner's walkthrough we cover the full process: how to think about composition before you start, why your brush size matters more than your drawing ability, how to work wet-on-wet to create the soft petal blooms that define the style, how to paint leaves and stems that anchor the composition, and — crucially — how to know when to stop before you overwork it. We include four colour palette suggestions for different moods from soft and romantic to bold and vibrant, a guide to painting roses loosely, and a straight-talking list of the mistakes that trip up almost every beginner at this subject. Read on, then find everything you need in store or at craftandcanvas.co.uk.