And the Stamp Winner is…..

…Jennie! Congrats, you have won some stamps from About Art Accents! Check your email for instructions on how to get them:) Don’t worry if you didn’t win, you can use my coupon code Lindsay10% to save 10% on your non-sale rubber. Here is another card I made using some fishy stamps from About Art Accents:

I think this is my new favorite set of stamps! The background of the card was made by pressing plastic wrap onto a scrap of Yupo paper that was painted and flicked with watercolor. I let the paper dry with the plastic wrap on it and got a cool texture. You can do this technique with cardstock, glossy cardstock and photo paper as well, it is a neat look! At first I was going to stamp the octopus on the background paper but the inked stamp removed the watercolor from the Yupo and not in a good way, so I stamped it on a scrap of cardstock and colored him with metallic colored pencils. I was not happy with the white background so I inked up the jellyfish with clear embossing ink and stamped the swirly bits all over the image then dabbed chalk over it, I repeated that with a couple other stamps from the set to add subtle texture. I still wanted more texture so I ran the panel through an embossing folder. The best part of stamping with clear ink then chalking it is that you don’t have to wash your stamps after! The glycerin I use to re ink my stamp pad conditions the rubber! To embellish I added strips of painted drywall mesh and some clay sand dollars I made ages ago. Here is a look at the gorgeous stamps in the Marine 1 stamp set:

I hope you have some creative time planned this weekend, if so, tell me, what are you going to make? Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Pretty Ruffled Hair Clips!

Howdy friends! Today I have a fun simple hairbow idea that is also a beginner sewing project. You can use a sewing machine or a needle and thread to make gathers in 1 1/2″ satin ribbon and that is all there is to making a ruffle. I turned my ruffled ribbon into hair clips. These would be great to make for quick gifts or items to sell at a craft fair or hairbow business. See how easy it is in today’s video:

Remember you may use any of the tutorials on my blog to make stuff to sell. If you are crafting to sell you need to get the best price on the best quality materials and that is why I urge you to check out Papermart. I have found that if they sell it then they have the best  price and I have never been disappointed with the quality. I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy project and til next time happy crafting!

Ask a Crafter 26: Stamping, Mixed-Media and More!

Happy Wednesday folks! We are now up to 26 episodes of Ask a Crafter, can you believe it? and I am still getting new question every week, you guys think up some good ones too! So, without further ado let’s see what was on viewers minds this week:

Ha! And I got my pumpkin scones! And they were delish, thank you Kathy! If you have a question for us just leave a comment and we will either type an answer or read it on the next show! If you haven’t checked out the Frugal Crafter Community on Facebook yet please do and share what you have been working on, we have some wonderful friends over there, it has been 2 days since I opened it and we already have over 700 members (it makes me feel kinda famous LOL!) Before I forget I mentioned a couple links in the video:

Clear bags for cards at Papermart

The DIY marker spritzer instructions submitted by Lindz Brewer is in the comments section of last weeks AAC post.

Thanks so much for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Easy Drawing Tip: Use a Grid!

Hello friends! First of all let me say how overwhelmed with gratefulness that many of you went over to the Frugal Crafter Community Facebook page and signed up last night. There were only a few when I want to bed and when I woke up there were over 200, it was such a nice feeling! And I just checked and it was over 500…awww, you guys…((hugs!)) 😀 Thanks so much! OK, on the the tutorial. I had an “Ask a Crafter” question from a lady who wanted some ideas on how to re-size drawings, she had thought about a projector but she wanted to know if I had any ideas. I thought this questions would be better explained in it’s own video so here it is:

The best thing about this technique is anybody can do it, even if you say you can’t draw a strait line you can do this and it will look very close to the original because you are just copying lines in a small box.  I got a great tip from a YouTube viewer who suggested that I cover the squares I was not working on to trick my brain into not looking ahead, great idea, you could cut a square the same size as the grid and lay it on top and shift as needed. I also heard from a math teacher who cuts up coloring pages and has the kids draw the contents of the square on a larger paper and they the class put the “puzzle” together. Ain’t learnin’ fun!?! This is a good exercise for me because I have drawn for so long that I start with the basic shapes then start refining but if I’m not careful I just make it up and stop looking at my reference so this makes me really look.

Before I forget, here is the link for the printable graph paper. I used a 1/2″ grid in black for my transparent sheet. I drew my picture on a 1″ grid therefore doubling the size. You can make the drawing grid as big as you like, and make it however large you want. It’s really like designing a vector…hmmm, maybe that is why it is good for math teachers, and art teachers, let’s cross curriculum this technique!

I hope you found this useful, teach it to yourself and your kids! thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Thefrugalcrafter on Facebook and a Fun Technique!

Well, there I took the plunge and make a facebook page for frugalcrafter fans…you can check out The Frugalcrafter Community here. I have been getting a lot of comments lately by readers who want to share their paintings, cards and crafts that were inspired by my tutorials and i love seeing them, problem is not everyone has (or wants) a blog but a great majority are on Facebook so I hope it is a place you can all enjoy. Feel free to share crafty tips, photos of crafty projects, ask craft questions and socialize with other frugalistas (that’s what Kathy thinks we should call ourselves) 😉 Many YouTube viewers have told me how isolating it can be when you don’t know anyone who crafts, well, let this be a cozy place to craft and chat no matter what side of the globe you are on! So feel free to go “like” the page and introduce yourself, don’t be shy, we a re small in number now but who knows, we could be dozens by tomorrow:)

I also wanted to share a bit of messy crafty sciency fun with you. All you need is cornstarch, white glue and food coloring, rubbing alcohol (or liquid watercolors) and some cardboard (open up boxes from your recycle bin, lots of the prepackaged food boxes have nice white chipboard on the inside!) The kids will get a kick out of the way the ink flows and if you make this on some nice paper, matboard or canvas you might have the perfect background for your next piece of art!

I let one of my girls run wild with supplies and she created piles of art and even more impressive she cleaned up afterwards! Well, that’s it for me tonight, one side of my neck is still sore, thank you for the notes of concern but I’m sure I’ll be fine in a couple of days and thank you Sue Cole for the tip on making the alcohol/water ice pack, I am doing that tonight!) Thanks so much for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Let’s paint snowdrops!

Hello friends! Today was the last day of February vacation for the kids so I took them to the pool, they love to swim and we stay for hours! We usually meet up with friends and us moms chat while the kids swim. Today the kids swam for 6 hours and they wanted to swim more! I guess it is a treat to swim in February, especially in the north. Well, today while they were swimming I walked around the pool to throw out some of their snack wrappers and right in front of two 20 year old lifeguards I stepped in a puddle of water and down I went! One second I was walking, the next, on the ground! They were fussing over me, offering me ice packs, it was such a riot, meanwhile I am quickly righting myself as gracefully as possible as not to embarrass my self or my children LOL!  “nothing to see here folks…” and the funny thing is I made sure not to wear my slippery shoes this time! And the strange thing is that my neck is sore (not my rear) I must have gotten a bit of whiplash…or I am just tired from all of the gabbing i did with the ladies, who can say, I have a heat pack on my neck tonight, some Advil and I’m sure I’ll be good in the morning. Oh yeah, you are probably here for the video tutorial…well, without further ado let’s paint snowdrops! (Heck of a segue, eh?)

I hope you have made it through your weekend without injury. I think there is a cup of sleepytime tea calling my name and maybe I will take another stab at the book on my bedside table but i think I will be in dreamland before I finish a page. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Tutorial: How to Blend Colored Pencils with Baby Oil

Hello friends! Check out this fun card and bookmark set. The neat thing how I blended the colored pencils on the bookmarks, not with stinky solvents but with baby oil!

Not only does it work but it is quicker and uses less pigment than blending with dry pencils. See how in today’s video tutorial:

I hope you give this a try, it will work with any regular wax or oil based pencils, even the inexpensive children’s brands. Have a great night and til next time happy crafting!

Wanna win some fishy stamps? It’s giveaway time!!!

Hello friends! What an awesome night, we just got back from watching the Penobscot Theater’s presentation of Narnia, it was a delight and the play was done entirely by children, well done kids! My kids loved the performance and it is inspiring to see other children work hard and accomplish things I think, a better accomplishment that beating a high score on a video game anyway. 😀  So now I have another fun thing to do tonight, give away some rubber stamps, yay! Check out the beautiful stamps from About Art Accents I used on these cards and envelopes:

All you have to do is leave  a comment on this blog post for your chance to win. I’ll pick a random winner next Friday. If you don’t want to wait you can buy them here, be sure to use my coupon code (Lindsay10%) to save 10% on your regular priced purchase. I have to confess, I’ve had these stamps on my desk for about 2 months. I really loved them but I wanted to do them justice. “Enough!” I said this week, I’m just gonna play with them, and so I did! Watch the video to see how I made the stamped panels for these cards. We are going to have fun with glossy cardstock.

I had a viewer ask if photo paper can be used in place of glossy card, well sometimes it can, I always say give it a try and see but for the techniques I showed you tonight you need glossy cardstock like Kromecoat because it had a plastic coating that repels the ink a bit rather than glossy photo paper that promoted quick drying. Don’t despair if you don’t have glossy card, be resourceful, look through the magazines and junk mail in your recycle bin. Find ads and glossy pages that are mostly white and experiment! You would not believe the amount of “art supplies” we routinely toss away! Another tip, if you have a copy shop or printer nearby you can purchase Kromecoat for about 25 cents a sheet. Don’t let lack of money stop you from creating, it just means you need to be more creative! Here is a close up of the cards:

I used a Ranger resist pad of the jellyfish, you might be able to use your embossing ink-pad for this too as long as you don’t get too much ink on the stamp, embossing pads are spongy while the resist pad is firmer. Either way make sure you dry the paper well before inking. The pattern paper I used on both cards are from the Taj-Mahal mat stack from DCWV, I like the mat-stacks because I don’t waste any paper, they are perfect for layering on a 5″x7″ card.

I hope you found my creative play today inspiring. I hope you try these techniques and I really hope you leave a comment to win these fab stamps from About Art Accents! Have a great night and til next time happy crafting!

A Colorful Card for Saint Patrick’s Day!

Hello Friends! Tonight I am sharing a card that is easy and fun to make:

I love all of the cheerful colors available in corrugated paper from Papermart. Each package has ten 20″x27″ sheets for only $3.20 making it a great value for seasonal crafts and crafting with children. The most surprising thing about it was that I could use it with my paper punches! It adds great texture without extra weight and bulk so these greetings are great to mail.  What’s more the design is so simple you can change up the stamping and sentiment and use this idea for birthday invitations or everyday greetings. So, do you want to see how I made it? I’ll show you in this video:

How easy was that, the hardest part of that project was finding the box of eyelets I dropped LOL! Think of all of the crafts and decorations you can make with this versatile corrugated paper and other wonderful supplies from Papermart, the options are endless. Thanks so much for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!