Frugal crafts - Crystal art - Diamond painting

I recently purchased a couple of kits from eBay called Diamond painting. The idea is a bit like paint by numbers but instead of painting you are using little crystal gems. I thought I would discuss these kits as they tick my boxes for frugal. They cost about three dollars with free postage. Some do cost up to eleven dollars (au) those ones are the ones they call FULL DRILL. Which means the entire picture is covered with crystals. There are more expensive ones with a better looking crystal but for now I'm happy with these ones. 

The kit comes complete with your art work. The 'diamonds' a 'pen' and you have a little pink square of 'glue'.  You also have a green tray to place your beads in. 

The picture has a protective plastic covering over the top as where the diamonds are placed it is very sticky. Try not to touch the sticky part too much as you will wear it off and the gems won't stick. Obviously you should keep pets and small children away from this project too.

The next step is to take your pen and poke it into the little pink square of glue. The pen is hollow at the tip and the glue will fill up the hollow.

The picture will have a chart. Each number corresponds to the number on the packet of diamonds.  Some people start in one section, they lift up a corner of the plastic covering and fill the entire area then move onto the next area. For this diamond painting I brought I found it easy to do one colour at a time.

When you are finished some people recommend using a brayer to roll over the diamonds to press them into the sticky surface more so that they don't fall off over time. I would place a towel over the top or something else to project the diamonds so the brayer doesn't crush them. I think too you could use a varnish over the top.

Overall these are really relaxing to do. On a vintage note my mother (in her 70's) told me how she used to do similar craft kits but with what they called crystal sands. This was in the early 70's. I remember those and I'm sure a few of you all out there might too.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening wherever you are.