Cat Fight! Craft Fight? Online Selling vs. Craft Fairs

Hi Friends! Renae from Rich Mom Business and I had a fight the other day over what was a better way to sell handmade items. I think craft fairs and craft booths are better and she thinks selling online is a better plan…

…you can see the other half of our disagreement on her channel. All kidding aside Renae is a brilliant businesswoman and a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to start or improve their handmade business online. I still lean more toward the brick and mortar method for selling tangible goods. Actually, on that front I stopped by the Schoolhouse Antiques Mall to drop off some product and pay my rent for February thinking there is no way I could have sold anything let alone enough to make rent and the owner gave me money, I made a profit! Woohoo! And the funny thing was that is was all done with handmade greeting card sales. Every sale! That will motivate me to package all the cards I have in my craft room! My plan is to sell my physical products in a shop or craft fair but my digital product online. What do you think? Craft fair or Online? Let me know in the comments! Happy crafting!

Rubber Stamp Giveaway & Cardmaking Tutorial!

Hi Friends! Today I will show you how to make a lovely thank you card using the new Year of the Ram stamps from Art Neko. I will share a few techniques including watercoloring, embossing and tips on using new unmounted stamps. So, grab a cuppa and spend 15 minutes in the craft room with me while we make a card!

All you have to do for a chance to win the stamps I used is leave a comment on this blog post. This giveaway is open to everyone in the world!

Supplies:

• Ram and Heartfelt Thanks stamp from Art Neko
• Embossing folder
• Patterned paper (So Sophie/My Minds Eye)
• Die (Darice)
• Cardstock (110# Recollections from Micheals)
• Floral gems
• Watercolors and brush
• Hot pressed Watercolor Paper (Fabriano Studio #90)
• Waterproof black ink (Ranger Archival)
• Alcohol Markers
• Adhesive

Follow along with the video for full instructions! Many of you have told me that you prefer the casual “craft with me” videos to the short edited ones so I hope you found this one fun and I hope it was not long and boring to everyone else. 🙂 Good luck in the drawing and til next time happy crafting!

How to store pastels and blending tools!

Happy Saturday friends! I still have a couple requested storage videos to shoot for you guys, hopefully tomorrow, but tonight I will share how I store my pastels, gelatos and blending tools. This video feels really long to me. I filmed it last week on a snow-day (hence I am talking about the snow) but heck, it’s Maine so every day is a potential snow-day! There is a winter storm watch from 1pm tomorrow through 1pm Tuesday so I guess it is still a timely video.

I have mentioned it before, the cool thing about making this storage video series is that I have tweaked my storage a bit so it is better for my workflow. I worked downstairs for a bit this morning and it seemed more streamlined than it was before the storage tweaking. I have some critics that say “You’re a hoarder!” or “This is not organizing, you are just showing piles of stuff!” and I can’t say that I disagree with them but I use my stuff, I have a place for everything, I have duplicates because I teach and work for companies where I have to design with their products and I can afford the items I buy. No one has exactly the same stuff but I think that you can get ideas from seeing how others store their stash. i love seeing art rooms packed to the gills with creative goodies because I can imagine the potential of what those supplies will become in the artists capable hands.  My studio is not the prettiest but it is hard-working and I love it! I need to see my stuff to use it and I love to have many options. My sister is the opposite, everything is neat and tidy and she only keeps what she needs (it works out great because I gladly take her leftovers!) everyone is different. It’s OK to have less, it’s OK to have more as long as you bills are paid, you are not getting into debt, and nobody’s going hungry. Enjoy your supply stash no matter what size it is and as always happy crafting!

How to Paint a Rose for Valentines Day {and a Giveaway!}

Hi Friends! It’s Friday and I am looking forward to a calm weekend and ignoring all the posts on Facebook about the possible feet of snow that may roll in from Saturday night to Tuesday! Ah well, winter has got to end sometime right? One nice thing about winter is Valentines day! Today I will show you how to paint a pretty rose in watercolor for your sweetie! I also have a giveaway for you from the folks at Spoil! They have unique hand-picked surprise gift boxes to spoil the ones you love, you can even spoil someone for Valentines day, just be sure to order before February 10th to have it delivered on the 14th. Now, let’s paint a flower!

Giveaway Details!
1. You must share this video on your favorite social network or blog. (You can click the icon that looks like a sideways “v” at the top right hand side of the video to share it to your favorite social network.)
2. You must visit the Spoil website and tell me what kind of gift you would like to receive (artsy, tech, warm & cozy etc)
3. You must leave a comment here on this video with a link to where you shared the video and letting me know what kind of gift you would like.
4. I will pick a winner on February 10th 2015, please be sure to check your YouTube messages to see if you have won.
5. This giveaway is open to US residents only.

For today’s watercolor project you will need:

• 140# watercolor paper (I used a 5″x7″ watercolor greeting card)
• a #8 round brush or a waterbrush
• watercolor paint in crimson, pink(opera), lemon yellow, sap green and ultramarine blue. *Feel free to substitute for the colors you have. You can see my homemade palette tutorial here.
• Paper towel, water bucket, masking tape

You can find the reference photo by Debra Babcock here at Paint my Photo.

Start by taping your paper down to a board or your table. Follow along with the video to learn how to paint this!

Thanks to Spoil for sponsoring this video and giveaway. If you want to Spoil someone this Valentines day with an exquisite gift they will love based on their interests be sure to order by February 10th if you want it delivered on Valentines Day (2/14/15)

Thanks for watching and happy crafting!

Pretty Kraft Paper Envies!

Hi friends! I love me some kraft paper. That natural brown paper is so trendy right now and a huge roll of it won’t set you back too much if you get it from our sponsor Papermart. Today I will show you how to make pretty envelopes using this humble staple. If brown is not your thing it is available in white as well. Something for everyone! Watch the video to see how to make the pretty, spring inspired envelopes!

For this project you will need:

• Kraft paper *also available in white!
• Stamps and ink
• Colored pencils
• Adhesive
• Envelope template (or an old envelope to trace)
• Scissors

Directions: Cut off a piece of kraft paper large enough to make your envelope. Use an envelope template, or simply trace any envelope you have, to make an envelope. Fold and adhere the bottom flaps as shown. Flip over the envelope and stamp on flowers or whatever you like and color using colored pencils. Since colored pencils are opaque they will show up beautifully on the brown kraft paper. Tip! Use a mouse pad when you stamp for a perfect image!

Use these special envelopes for wedding invitations, thank you notes or birthday cards! They are so pretty and easy to make! Happy crafting!

Ask a Crafter S3:E20

Hi friends! I hope you are having a good week so far and if you are in my neck of the woods I hope you are coping well with the snow. Many of my neighbors have snowbanks nearly up to their roofs and when Monday’s snow finally lets loose off my metal roof my house is going to look like an igloo. I hear that igloos are really well insulated so maybe it will be a good thing, and extra layer of R-value to my home during this very cold winter would be nice! We are supposed to get another 6″-8″ of snow tonight which sounds like a “dusting” compared to the storms of the last week and a half. Luckily hubby fixed the snow blower today so we should be all set. I’m not sure how I will cope with another snow-day if school is cancelled tomorrow, we are all feeling the cabin fever around here! If you are snowed in why not grab a hot cuppa and hang out with crafty friends? Here is this weeks ask a crafter!

Thanks for stopping by today! If you have a question for an upcoming episode please leave it in the comments. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

DIY Travel Watercolor Palette! {cheap up-cycle!}

Hi friends! Don’t toss empty eye shadow containers! You can use those tiny compacts to make wonderful travel watercolor kits! Watch the video to see how:

You don’t have to use these for just travel. They are a great way to store extra colors too. The small size of the wells makes the paint dry quickly too, I made my palette last night and used it today! It worked great. If you don’t have access to old eyeshadow palettes (or a friend who can save them for you) you can use pill boxes, fish and tackle boxes, ice-cube trays or blister packages that things you buy come in. If it has little wells in it you can use it! Yay! This tiny palette is perfect for my small heated upstairs workspace too! I hope this little tip helped you. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Make this for Valentines or Anytime!

Hi Friends! I am so happy, I feel better today than I have in days! I am loving my upstairs art table in my office where I can work in heat (although I have not had much time to enjoy it with the sickness and all the darn snow days) but the other day I made this pretty set of jewelry using new supplies from Panda Hall:

I was really inspired to use the lovely beaded chain, faceted glass hearts and tiny brass star charms on these pieces. The earrings have hearts making them perfect for valentine’s day but since I added the star element and went with a non traditional color scheme they can be worn anytime and are not overly feminine. The great thing about getting supplies from Panda Hall is that you get a lot if items in a pack, I am still using those flower toggle clasps from my December haul. Buy those beautiful basics in bulk because you will return to them again and again in your designs. Watch the video to see how easily this set goes together and for helpful tips. This is a beginner project.

I know you have some great idea for jewelry making. Panda Hall would love to see what you are up to and they are having a contest too for any interested folks on YouTube! They are giving away four cash prizes to the top 4 winners and all entrants will receive Panda Hall coupon codes of $50, $20 and $10. The earlier you submit the entry, the higher value of coupon you will get. You can get the full contest details here.

Good luck to everyone who enters! Thanks to Panda Hall for sponsoring this post, if you want to see the other goodies I received from them this month you can see my haul video here. I also have some coupon codes for everyone: Save $20 on your order of $200+ with coupon code: PHYoutube20 or Save $10 on your order of $120+ with coupon code: PHYoutube10 valid at Pandahall.com through May 1, 2015. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

How I store markers and pencils!

Hi friends! I am on the mend. My voice is not back yet but I am feeling a lot better today. I have gone back and forth with different ways to store my pencils and markers and this way has worked for me the last 2 years. I used to have all of my pencils out in the clear racks my markers are in but I found that they were not as useful that way because I could not just grab a set and work with it elsewhere. My markers however worked perfectly in the rack because I would tend to pull the colors I needed from a project and it helped to see everything I had right there. You stuff is probably not the same as my stuff but hopefully this video can give you some ideas.

I hope some of these ideas helped you. You can also combine different brands of pencils into cups or jars if you don’t have complete sets of colors. Do what works for you. My storage videos are just that, how I store stuff. You do what works for you and your stash. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!