A New Camera & Watercolor Wash 3 Ways!

Howdy folks! I thought you might be tired of the non zooming out of focus videos I have been sharing since I dropped my good video camera so yesterday I bit the bullet and bought a new one. I agonized over the choices, decided on one, but was still hesitant to buy thinking maybe shooting video on my daughters point & shoot cyber-shot was OK, and it was OK but not really what I wanted (plus, hello, I certainly did not want to drop HER camera!) So I decided to go with a Samsung H90, it had everything I wanted (and stuff I didn’t know I wanted until I read about it LOL!) and it was what I wanted to spend (about $150) and I am pleased as punch with it. Here is a still picture I took with it:

Examples of Open Drip, Wet in wet and controlled wash.

And here is the video, testing out the camera and showing how to do watercolor washes, 2 birds, one stone;)

I didn’t edit the video, I uploaded it straight to you tube using the intelli-studio software that came with it. You can edit with the software too but I wanted to see what the raw video looked like, good enough for me! BTW I took it to my sons Little League game last night (he pitched the entire game-a shutout!!!) and I could zoom right in and get a great shot of him pitching, the camera has 52x optical zoom! Not bad for $136 including sales tax! The camera also happens to be on sale until tomorrow at Best Buy and my store had a promotion that let me save $20 more so I am one happy videographer! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Save Money, Cut Your Own Picture Mats!

Happy Monday Folks! Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to enter to win a free stamp from About Art Accents, you just need to leave a comment on last Tuesday’s post for a chance to win and I will pick a name tomorrow! Now on to today’s tutorial! Have you ever purchased a mat for a picture at a craft store and wish you could have had a more custom size or paid a framer an ungodly amount to cut one custom for you? If so watch my 5 minute video to see how easy it is to cut your own picture frame mats:

All you need is mat board, it comes in 20″x32″ or 32″x40 sheets, you can buy it at a art/craft sore or order in online and save a couple of bucks per sheet. A Logan 2000 push style cutter (about $20, buy a pack of blades while you are at it), a craft knife for strait cuts, a metal yard stick ($2 at the hardware store),a pencil and a scrap of cardboard to cut on.

The best thing about cutting your own mats is that you get just the size you want. Also you can cut smaller mats from the scraps! If you are selling your paintings or photographs or storing them for a long tome you can slip them into clear acid free bags like I did here, then they go right into my print rack for art/craft fair sales. cha-ching!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Inspire your kids! {Make a painting inspiration file}

Happy Saturday folks! About 3 weeks ago I undertook the daunting task of helping my children clean their rooms. It was a major production. Well, in the midst of cleaning out bins, baskets and boxes I came across a stack of Ranger Rick magazines. The girls said they could be recycled. I remembered when I was a child my art teacher having files of pictures from magazines so whenever I wanted to paint or draw something she had a few pictures I could look at. I have always done this myself too. I tear out interesting photos, or flowers mainly, from magazines and I print photos I have taken and they go sorted by color in a  large accordion folder. If I want to paint and I don’t know what I just sift through my file. It usually takes a few photos melded together to get what I want but that is part of the fun!

My daughter and I each used water-soluble oil pastels to paint this parrot from Ranger Rick.

So, you are probably thinking “hey Lindsay, it’s not 1985, we have the internet and we can find any image in 10 seconds.” That’s true, you can probably find just what you are looking for, but, having to think about how to change the photo you have to paint what you want is a fun challenge! Also, I don’t know about you but the minute I sit in front o the screen I lose time, get distracted and often forget what I came for in the first place. That kind of defeats the purpose of creativity. So, before you  toss those magazines in the recycle bin clip out the good ones and file them away for future inspiration  Here are some category ideas:

Animals (jungle, farm, fish, birds)

Flowers (by type or color)

Still life

People (keep the sports illustrated figures for comic book art inspiration!)

Landscapes

Architecture

Fuel your child’s creativity! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Video Tutorial by Request: Making Rubber Stamps with Bake & Bend Clay!

Howdy folks! Woah Nellie is it cold today! Looks like it will warm up a bit tomorrow just in time to get 1 or 2 feet of snow, ahhh, Maine weather, I think I will stay inside and craft! Here is a box I painted a while back and then stamped with a homemade honeycomb stamp I made with Sculpey bake and bend clay. I used it last week to create flexible molds with and I have to say my mind is spinning with all of the creative possibilities of this stuff.

Here’s how I painted the box with acrylic paint:

1. Paint the box light green. Let dry
2. Mix cream with glazing medium and paint over the green then press plastic wrap in the wet glaze and smoosh the wrap around to create cool texture. Let dry.
3. Tear some paper and tape it to the box to mask off an area that will be honeycomb.
4. Use a sponge to dab yellow ocher, cream and brown in the masked off areas. Let dry.
5. Use a sponge brush or make-up wedge to apply brown paint to the rubber stamp (watch the video to learn how to make the stamp) and stamp in the yellow areas.
6. Remove the paper mask and use a small round brush to outline the yellow honeycomb sections.
7. Use a liner brush and watery brown paint to paint the lettering on the box. Let dry.
8. Mix some brown with glaze medium and sponge around the edges and corners to antique it.
9. Cut bees (Anna Griffin I think) from pattern paper and decoupage on with water-based varnish or decoupage medium and give the whole box a coat of varnish while you are at it.
10. Don’t forget to paint the inside of the box for a professional look!

Tip: Lay a piece of waxed paper between the top and bottom of the box when closed for the first week after it is painted so they won’t stick together, this gives the paint a chance to fully cure.

Now, on to the stamp making video!

If you have any questions just leave a comment and I will get right back to you! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

An easy watercolor card to paint…

Happy Monday folks! I think this is going to be a good day! We seem to be in the midst of a spring thaw and my kids all seem to be mostly over that cold that has been going around. Let’s hope they don’t catch anything new at school LOL! Here is a quick and simple watercolor card I painted last month:

You can easily recreate it, you will need a#140 watercolor card (I use Strathmore pre-folded watercolor cards) and a #8 round brush. here’s how:

1. Wet the card front leaving a rough border around the edge dry. It should be quite wet and look shiny if you tip it to the light,
2. Add sap green, cad yellow, mauve and purple, just loosely dab it in the areas shown. Let dry.
3. Paint the detailed lupine in with purple and mauve paint. Add grasses with green.
4. If you like you can splatter some of the colors you used onto the card.

Easy Peasy! You can find more painting projects in my shop and they are all on sale 50% off right now!:

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Snow! {better late than never..}

Wait, did I say better?!? The kids were disappointed that we did not have snow for Christmas (I secretly was glad the roads were clear for those traveling!) but boy, mother nature made up for it this week! We got about a foot on Thursday and I awoke to what looks like another 6″ this morning! I’m thinking this would be a good day to stay in my jammies, bake some bread and pick away and my annual craft room reorganizing project. Here is a watercolor sketch I did a few weeks ago of lobster buoys pulled in for the winter:

Time for another cup of coffee, fist I think I will visit my chickens (who, by the way, do NOT like the snow) and see if I have any goodies to bring them…I think I should make them some chicken booties so their feet won’t get cold in the snow. We put more savings down in their covered run yesterday to keep them off the snow but it must have been windy because it looks like there is more snow in there today, poor chickens. Has anyone ever knit for a chicken before…wow, I am Turning into “crazy chicken lady!”

Have fun in the snow (if you have some) and til next time happy crafting!

2 Days ’til Christmas! {you can panic now…}

Ha ha, just kidding. I don’t want you to panic, Christmas will come whether or not you bake that extra batch of cookies or hit the mall one last time. People will enjoy gathering together even if there is a layer of dust on your mantel or you burn that apple pie. We don’t look back and wish we spent more time shopping, cleaning or baking. we wish we spent more time with the people we love…let’s do more of that! Here is a painting  I painted it a couple of weeks ago. It is a peaceful sunset in Maine:

Since all of our snow was washed away by rain this weekend it looks about right.  So, don’t stress out today trying to finish everything on your to-do list. Snuggle on the couch and watch a Christmas movie or decorate a gingerbread house with the kids. As for my stress free day the Schwanns man is scheduled to stop by today so I have Christmas dinner all set LOL! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Paint with me!

Howdy folks! I have had fun this week painting with watercolors and I posted 4 new lessons in my shop Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff. These new lessons are intermediate level. I don’t think they are any more difficult than the beginner projects but they do not have the in-depth explanation of each technique because if you painted my beginner projects (also in my shop) you would already know how to do them. Also if you have painted with watercolors before the intermediate projects should be easy. They are like a traditional painting packet you would buy in a tole painting shop or read in a decorative painting magazine. So basically in the beginner lessons I assume you have never picked up a brush in your life and in the intermediate kits I assume you know basic techniques Here is what you can paint!

Winter chickadee (this would be cute on Christmas cards!):

Magnolias:

Blue Bunting:

Crocus:

Don’t worry, it is really easy, I like to have several paintings going at once so I have something to work on while I am waiting to parts to dry. One change I made to the intermediate painting kits is that the pattern is a re-sizable jpg so you could print it small to go on a card or larger if you like. Keep in mind that you can change colors and leave out (or add more) spattering because they are YOUR paintings, have fun! All the kits are $3 and think of how much you can learn and the fun you will have! Thanks for stopping by and til next time Happy crafting (and painting!)

WOYWW: Random Painting & Projects

Howdy folks and happy Wednesday! You (hopefully by now) know what it is time for…What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday! I have had a plethora of projects on my desk this week…well, just have a look:

I have been painting! I am happy with the bird and lily painting but the one at the bottom of my desk is an epic fail…it was looking a bit too stark so I decided to use some spray mist and stencils however I was too impatient to wait for the paint to dry and ended up with a big ugly blob which I dumped some glimmer eye-shadow on and then smooshed some plastic wrap into the puddle. It’s like I ran out of bullets and I threw the gun. I thought about pitching this in the trash before I took the picture but I didn’t want anyone to think I never make mistakes…OK you can STOP laughing now…really. Stop. Oh, shameless plug, I have a couple new watercolor painting kits at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff this week!

On the other side of my mayhem I have some cleaner crafts. Some fun candy-colored plastic beads that my daughters sorted for me and some cute tags I made so I can price some of my loose necklaces and bracelets I have made for the craft fair (because I was a doof and forgot to buy the stick-on ones!)

But luckily I have a tiny tag punch (splurge from a stampin-up party last summer) and my new yummy baker’s twine from Papermart and I made my own! I think my jewelry might just sell due to the cute tags! Quick tip: This tag punch does not have a hole in it so make sure to punch 1/8″ holes first and then punch the tag upside-down so you can center the hole in the circle because you will not be able to punch the hole after you punch the tag, it will get stuck in your punch!

Well, there you have it! I do have herbal tea (instead of coffee) on my desk as I am trying to be healthier, I even took a spin on the treadmill today (highly unpleasant but being able to watch Torchwood on my kindle made it tolerable) so, yeah, woo…go health. That’s sarcasm by the way Oh, here are the two paintings I didn’t mess up…

I am going to mat them and sell them as well at the craft fair…boy don’t I sound optimistic!

You can check out more crafty desks on Julia’s blog, the home of WOYWW. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

A Painterly Playdate!

Back to the ol’ grind today! I hope you had a nice weekend! It was a mini vacation here as the kids had nearly a week off for Thanksgiving break. We are in full craft fair prep mode. My kids have been crafting stuff to sell, as have I! This year I have conned…er I mean invited some friends to exhibit at a craft fair with me. My Friend Kath who is an extremely talented seamstress is making “American Girl” sized clothes to sell and we have gotten together several times for crafty playdates to prepare… basically we drink a lot of tea, chit-chat and occasionally make some product for our tables. On Friday she invited me over to craft, I was going to bring my beads and make jewelry but I decided it would be less of a bother to bring my watercolor supplies. Here is one of the paintings I completed:

I started 6 paintings. I have a method where I start a painting and put in the background and then sketch out and paint the backgrounds on as many paintings as I can while waiting for the first one to dry. I like to work on very wet paper to start so I would have quite lot of ‘sittin’ around waiting’ to do if I did not get to work on other paintings. I started 6 and finished 3!

Did I mention we had 6 kids between the two of us. Actually we each have a set of 8-year-old twin daughters who entertained themselves playing with their American Girl dolls while we crafted and our boys wandered about playing video games and chess. You would never have know that there were a half-dozen kids there LOL!

I have quite a stack of watercolors to mat and put in clear archival bags to sell at the craft fair, my booth is going to be so schizophrenic looking with the mish-mash of craftyness I have planned but oh what fun it is to plan for a craft fair! BTW, I will be working some of the new paintings into downloadable how-to painting packets for my shop, I’ll let you know when they are available! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!