You asked for it! {a very long painting tutorial}

Edit: My good friend and expert Cindi told me that this painting is of a bridge in Southwest Harbor, just “up the road a piece” from Somesville. Thanks Cindi! (and you CAN get there from here! LOL-Maine joke!)

Hi Friends! I have to thank reader Jamie Evens for requesting this tutorial and allowing me to use her beautiful photograph she took of the Somesville bridge for today’s very long watercolor tutorial. Today I will show you paint this lovely scene from my beautiful state of Maine!

Watch the video for a relaxed step by step tutorial. I had several viewers on YouTube who said they enjoyed the longer video because as beginners it helped them understand the process of completing a larger painting better. I hope you find it useful too!

Supplies for this tutorial:

• Art Masking Fluid (also called liquid frisket)
• Soap and a cheap brush
• Watercolor paint, below are the colors I used, you can use these or similar colors:
  Cad Yellow light or Lemon yellow
  yellow ocher
  magenta or alizarin crimson or rose madder
  ultramarine blue
  sap green
  permanent green light
  burnt sienna
• Brushes: 3/4″ flat wash, #10 round, #5 filbert, #12 flat You can go up or down a size and be fine though:)

Here is the photograph by Jamie that I have posted with her permission. Thanks again Jamie!

Somesville Bridge photo by Jamie Evens copyright 2014 used with permission. Click on the photo to see a larger image suitable for printing.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to help you out. Please use the hints and techniques I shared with you in the video to paint your next watercolor. Nothing is more difficult to paint than anything else, just break it down into small steps and go for it and most importantly have fun! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

 

 

 

I didn’t fall out of the canoe!

Hi Friends! I’m back from vacation! We had a wonderful time. It was the first time we ever took a week off as a family. We rented a cabin on a pond. It was tranquil and relaxing with lots of swimming, canoeing and just enjoying life! I made sure to bring some art supplies (you can see what I packed at the end of this post) so I could do some nature sketches because this vacation was all about downtime. I really needed to relax and I think my kids did too because we all had a great time and I did not hear “I’m bored” once! That say’s a lot because there was no internet or cell phone service there…I was surprised at how easily I could do without the internet…I just might become a recluse one of these days LOL! So, do you want to see what I painted? Have a look at the video:

Here are close ups of a few of my favorite vacation paintings:

This painting was done from the canoe, I really like how the rock turned out thanks to my credit-card scraper!

This is a quick colored pencil sketch on blue paper of the view from our deck.

A watercolor postcard painting of the view from our dock.

Waterlily in pastel the day it bloomed.

Waterlilies in watercolor the day after the first waterlily painting, another one bloomed! The flowers only opened in the morning. I sat on the dock with my coffee and paints. My dog shook all over this painting after she went for a swim, I think she helped it LOL!

I’m calling this the “moonlight paddle painting” because I painted it from the canoe in the middle of the pond.

And here is what I packed for creativity:

Thanks for keeping everything running while I was away. I was happy to see folks helping one another out with their crafty questions here, on facebook and on youtube. I really appreciate that! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

 

 

 

Quick Tip: Fetch those buttons!

Hi Friends! I hope you enjoyed scrapbook week while I was on vacation! I admit this is a bit of a stretch for a scrapbooking video but we all use buttons on pages right? Here is a quick tip for dealing with them, beads too!

Here is the beaded stone tutorial I mentioned in the video.

I will soon be back online reading though the comments you have left during the week (My favorite!) I am wondering, did you get any scrapbooking done this week? Have you taken so  great summer photos? Let me know in the comments and til next time happy crafting!

DIY Scrapbook Supply!

Scrapbook week is winding down and I want to share a quick supply you can make that would be pretty as a page border:

Boy, that brings back memories of magic mesh and the fun we had scrapbooking at out local scrapbook store! Thanks for stopping by and as always happy crafting!

Scrapping baby’s first year!

Hi Friends! Life gets busy when you have a new baby! When I was pregnant with my twins I pre-scrapped their first year so when the babies arrived all I had to do was place photos on my pages and add the stories. Watch the video to see how I did it!

An album like this also make a wonderful gift for a new mom-to-be. Just include a nice pen and roll of double stick tape. For a simpler option you can check out my scrapbook calender tutorial. The free calender software I mentioned can be found here. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Vlog: Avoiding Cliches in Scrapbooking

Hi friends! When you make a scrapbook page do you use tried and true themes and titles or do you reach beyond the obvious to get to the real story?

Your stories are unique and probably not reflected in scrapbook products all the time. Make sure you tell your unique story on your one-of-a-kind pages. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Paddle & Swim Scrapbook Page

Let’s make a scrapbook page!

Today I will show you how I made this scrapbook page from photos I took over the 4th of July. I hope you find some of the tips and techniques useful in your next layout!

I want to take a moment and thank the companies who donated some of the supplies used in this page:

Oriental Trading Company (Stencils, templates and pens)
Local King Rubber Stamps (Kayak stamp)
Tombow (Dry Adhesive)

If you make purchases from these companies please let them know that you appreciate their support of these tutorials! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Doh! I forgot adhesive!

Hi Friends! I hope you are enjoying Scrapbook week! Today I am going to share what I think are the 4 most important supplies you will need for scrapbooking except for photos and an album (because we already discussed those thoroughly) and apparently adhesive, yes you will want adhesive LOL!

Really the most important parts of a scrapbook page are the photos and the story. Here is a recap of the basic supplies:

• cardstock
• pens
• page protectors (I dissed the Project Life Album yesterday but their page protectors are a wonderful value and I recommend them highly)
• cutting tools: mat & knife or paper trimmer, scissors
• And yes, adhesive, really I can’t believe I forgot that, geeze! I like 3M photo safe double sided tape.

Don’t get me wrong, I love decorating a page as much as the next scrapbooker but the essentials are listed above. Everything else is gravy and totally optional. Scrapbook the way you want, you do not need to spend hundreds of dollars to get started, use what you have and record those memories! Til next time happy crafting!

Scrapbooking 101: How to pick an album

Hi folks! Scrapbook week continues with albums! I am picky about albums, I actually just ordered a WeRMemory keepers 12″x12″ binder because I just can’t accept the quality of the Project Life one I purchased. I don’t think the PL one is going to fall apart or anything but the plastic-coated cardboard looks a bit cheesy in real life and it was a replacement because the first one I ordered arrived damaged. I ordered a pretty Aqua one for 2014 and the PL one will go to the kids. It is sturdy enough and better than the post bound ones they have been using so win-win. That said there are many quality album choices on the market today. In this video I will tell you about them so you can find the perfect scrapbook for you, it is not a one-size-fits-all decision and you have to live with the album until it is full (or in my case give it to the kids and get the one I knew I should have bought in the first place LOL!)

Do you have a favorite kind of album? Leave a comment and tell me what album you like best and why. It will be helpful info to those just starting out! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!