I've never really collected anything — that is, until I recently rediscovered paint-by-numbers. At a family yard sale last summer, I picked up two forest scenes that I remember hanging in my cousins' house when we were kids. It turned out that my aunt had also got them from a yard sale (so who knows how old they are), but with a bit of dusting and fancy new frames, they oddly fit into my dining room decor. And then, on a jaunt through a local antiques market, I scored two more, circa 1950s. You can still buy paint-by-numbers kits, or you can create your own as a gift for a crafty kid or nostalgic adult. You'll need a very simple image (illustrations or colouring book pictures work well), a canvas or heavy card stock, various paints, and a couple of small paint brushes. Number the paints and, using a pencil, clearly label each and every space in the image (and ensure that they correspond to the right colours). If there's a small space that you can't fit a number into, write it in nearby and use and arrow – since the whole canvas will be painted, all of the pencil will be covered up. Here's some more paint-by-number inspiration. Not sure how my husband would feel about it, but I'm thinking a complete stairwell, wall (or house!) of vintage paint-by-numbers would look amazing.

• Paintings repurposed into other art
• A wall mural to make (or pre-printed border to paint)
• An artist who clearly loves paint-by-numbers
• Fab fabric (not sure if you can still get this...let me know if you've seen it!)
• Feist's new album cover