Let’s Paint Garlic in Oil Pastel!

Hi Friends! I loved seeing all of the garlic, gourds and pumpkins freshly harvested at the Common Ground Fair last week. A friend recently gave me 2 heads of garlic from his garden and I really wanted to paint them. I decided to use a cheap ($5) box of oil pastels for this. Have a look at how they turned out. You can follow along and paint with me using oil pastels, soft pastels or crayons, it’s all good!  Watch the video to see how!

Whenever I use oil pastels I am transported back to being in 2nd grade.
I loved it when out teacher announced it was cray-pas day! In grade school our homeroom teacher did art projects with us, there was no “art” teacher and my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Poulin,  was really gifted in that department. I have even done some of her projects in my kids classes. Thanks so much for stopping by. If you like in New England (or someplace else with gorgeous leaves) make sure you get out and paint them or at least take a photo! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

I need a cupcake…..

Howdy friends! Well, if today isn’t a Monday I don’t know what is! I got the kids off to school and hubby off to work then I went to walk the dog and promptly locked myself out of the house. Every door was locked. I knew it as soon as I heard the click. I did not even have a cell phone with me.  I had to stack up lawn chars to climb in a window which luckily by some divine luck was not locked.I am inside now none the worse for wear, obviously or I would not be blogging. It is definitely the kind of day where I could use a cupcake.

I made this journal page the other day when I was feeling rather blah, I needed some fun, whimsical, bright color art therapy and this page fit the bill. Watch the video to see how it was made:

I used supplies from Oriental Trading Company on this Art journal Page. If you shop there please thank them for their support and don’t forget to tell them Lindsay The Frugal Crafter sent you!

• Canson XL Mixed Media Journal
• Bombay india Inks (set 1)
• Micron Pens

Well, I better get back to work. The house is in desperate need of a deep clean and I have the grand idea to re arrange the living room. Wish me luck. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Halloween Stamp Giveaway from ArtNeko!

Howdy friends! Can someone please tell me what happened to September? The weather today is like summer except for the beautiful fall leaves. It does not feel like it should be October in a couple of days…but, alas, it will be. And since I have not given away any fabulous stamps this month I thought I might as well choose some Halloween ones because by the time the winner gets them it will be just right for Halloween! All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment on this blog post. I will draw a name at random next Sunday {October 5th.} Up for grabs are the 3 Halloween stamps I used on this project as well as a $10 gift certificate to Art Neko. Not feeling lucky? How about this, you can save 10% on non sale rubber with my coupon code Lindsay10%

I hope you had a great weekend! Good luck in the prize drawing and as always happy crafting!

How to Make $$ With your Art by Teaching Classes!

Blog? what Blog? LOL! Hi friends! Man, it was so nice out yesterday I got completely distracted and forgot to post! I had errands to do and as a treat picked up Chinese takeout for lunch and decided to enjoy it on the beach. I was the only one on “my pond”, the leaves are just starting to turn and my dog got to have a nice swim too! It was nice to enjoy a bit of a break. Behind the scenes I have been super busy with lots of projects in the works. I love having work, it means that people appreciate what I do. I want to thank you for reading my blog and watching my videos because without that I would not be enjoying the opportunities I have. To hopefully pay you back I have been filming some art/craft marketing videos to help you make some money off your skills as artist and crafters. Hopefully it will help you avoid some pitfalls I had and help you earn a living from your passion. I think the most sustainable way to make a living from your artistic talents is to teach classes and I will tell you how in today’s video:

If you like these art marketing videos please “like” this post and if you have any questions just leave them in the comments section. Thanks again for your support and til next time happy crafting!

Frank ‘n Friends Favor Boxes!

Howdy folks! I love this time of year! I have some gourds on display in my home and pretty soon I will be putting out the corn stalks and hay bales outside for decoration. We have pumpkins on the porch already that we are so excited to carve but we don’t want them to spoil! At least we can make up a bunch of these cute boxes to decorate with:

I really like this idea because I can enjoy these sweet Halloween boxes and then fill them with candy and give them away on Halloween night or drop them off on friends doorsteps for fun! That is called “booing” or “ghosting” and I live in a community with very sneaky peeps who deliver goodies all around each others houses in October. It is a lot of fun! Of course all of the parents know who the treats are from before we let out kids have them (but don’t tell the kids that!)These boxes are made from paper take out boxes from Papermart so you know they are just as affordable as they are cute. Watch the video to see how to make them:

Supplies:

• Small Kraft Take-Out Boxes 
• Chevron Paper Straws
• Acrylic Craft Paint
• Brushes (1″ foam and #6 round)
• Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue

Directions:
1. Paint the box with the main color.
2. Paint the face details.
3. Cut two 1/2″ long pieces from a paper straw and hot glue to the side for bolts on Frankincense’s Monster.

TAKE THIS IDEA AND RUN WITH IT! Think of all of the fun things you can paint on these take out boxes for different holidays and events! Happy crafting!

Ask a Crafter! First episode of season 3!

Hi Friends! We had the first power outage of the season this morning. I hope this isn’t a sign that we are in for another rough year (thank goodness for the wood stove!) So I thought I’d get this post up early in case we have another one! Kathy, Lorraine and I started filming season 3 of Ask a Crafter yesterday. We had 250 question between the blog and YouTube! Woah! I decided I would print off the questions every week, cut them apart and put them in a big bowl and answer them as we go along…will we ever get caught up? We will surely try! Without further ado, here is the latest episode of Ask a Crafter!

FYI if you are watching this on YouTube and you see “comments are closed” it just means I have printed off all of the questions from that video so you will have to leave your question on the next one. I hope that will keep me from missing any left on older posts. Wish us luck! If you have a question for us you can leave a comment here or on you tube! I love how you help each other out in the comments too, thanks! If you want more Ask a Crafter videos check out the Ask a Crafter playlist with a full day of videos! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Cute Kids Craft! Bottle Cap Pins (or magnets)

Hi friends! A while back I asked my niece (who then asked her young and single friends) to save me bottle caps and I was rewarded with a bounty of them! I teach a monthly free kids class at the local library and I wanted a fun way to use some of them up and here is what I came up with. A fall craft for kids. Watch the video:

Fun huh? all you need is paper, bottle caps, glue, google eyes and some circle punches or small coins to trace. So…does anyone else have any bottle cap craft ideas? Leave them in the comments below and til next time happy crafting!

You say Ta-MAY-to I say Tam-Ah-to, let’s just paint some!

Hi Folks! Today I have a water media tutorial that will get the dust off of your watercolor pencils, watercolor crayons (or water-soluble oil pastels) and watercolor paints. I’ll also show you how I work through an error I made in drawing so it turns out all right in the end.  You can find the beautiful photo by Lilian Bell I used as a reference here. It is from a site called Paint my Photo and it is free to join too! The video is sped up and voiced over. the painting took one hour to complete so don’t feel like you have to rush. Remember, painting should be relaxing and enjoyable! Here is the tutorial:

I hope you try mixing your watermedia! It is fun to build up layers and you can correct mistakes more easily than with regular watercolor painting, plus, it is just plain fun ad that is reason enough to do it! I hope you have some time to be creative today. I will be at the ball field for a baseball double header so I will have my crochet bag with me. What are you making today? Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

 

DIY Paper Sequins {without a fancy die!}

Hi friends! I was asked by a few folks if I could figure out how to make paper sequins without buying an expensive die. Well, I took that challenge! Watch the video to see how I did!

Well, what do you think, do they look like real sequins? Well, then you just saved $15 on a sequin die and used up scraps too.  Grab your small circle punches and make up a batch of pretty sequins for your projects this weekend. I bet these technique would work well for making small flower sequins with your tiny flower punches too. Get creative and til next time happy crafting!