Hi friends! Today I have a fun card you can make for a friend who just adopted a puppy…
You can also adapt this idea for any kind of “shower” card like a baby or bridal shower, just change-up the theme with different peg stamps! Watch the tutorial to see how!
This video is sponsored by Rubber Stamp Tapestry Use coupon code: LINDSAY and receive 15% off your retail order of $10 or more of peg stamps, peg stamp sets, and unmounted stamps! Coupon expires a week from this video publication. Continue to receive great deals by becoming a PegStamp VIP here. As a PegStamp VIP
you’ll get a weekly deal via email plus links to fabulous tutorials by me, Lindsay the Frugal Crafter and other designers.
***Big retirement stamp and supply sale: Rubber stamp Tapestry is clearancing some craft supplies and retiring some stamp sets to make room for new stuff. Save 30% on some of your favorites through Monday August 13th here!
*you can use the coupon code LINDSAY on top of sale prices! Woohoo!!!!!
Hi friends! I have been putting a lot more time in preparing for my weekly live streams and this week I got some prep time in on Tuesday. After the initial painting was “done” I set it on the easel in my office where I would walk by it several times a day. I also left my supplies out so I could add a touch here or there if I thought of an improvement. Let me tell you it’s a great way to work!
Tuesday night when I thought my painting looked done I asked my family what they thought of it…
“It’s pretty but the background is ‘meh”~Maizy
“Nice basket of apples” ~Jackson
“Are those peaches?” ~Jason
Clearly there was work to be done. I added colored pencils to punch up the color and detail and added pastel to make the woodgrain in the background and add the sun dappled texture and light in the background. I also added some yellow pastel over the cherries to smooth out some unwanted texture on the skin. I wish I took a photo of it when it was just watercolor but you will see that stage in today’s livestream. Before I liked the painting and now I love it! My family approves too! You can watch the live broadcast or reply in the player below but if you want to chat with fellow painters or ask me questions live be sure to watch at 12:30pm ET today on the YouTube watch page.
Supplies available at sponsor Jerry’s Artarama! Use coupon code: frugal20FS49 for 20% off $49 + Free Shipping (Excludes: Sale, Super Sale, Egift Cards, Buy It Try It’s and Vendor restricted items. Look for the green coupon eligible icon on the product listing.
I really love mixing my media but if you prefer to keep this as a watercolor only painting you totally can. The only thing you will want to do is watch your white areas, You can use masking fluid for sharp highlights and blot out paint when it is still wet to preserve the white of the paper. I will be painting this as a watercolor and then adding on, you can choose to add more glazes with watercolor or bring in colored pencil and pastel. Make it yours! I’ll see you for the live stream today at 12:30pm Eastern Time and til then Happy crafting!
Howdy friends! I have seen bursting with excitement to share this project with you today! I have had a lot of requests lately to use watercolor pencils more. Watercolor pencils are versatile, portable and you can get an almost endless array of colors from just a few pencils! Today I will share a real time tutorial for painting this lovely long-haired cat (I think it’s a Maine Coon Cat) and share 25 tip to improve your watercolor pencil paintings!
Grab your supplies (or a nice cuppa) and enjoy the show!
Tutorial
Sponsored by Amazrock! Amazerock is giving 3 lucky viewers a set of 36 watercolor pencils in a beautiful fabric storage roll. Click here to enter their giveaway!
Here is the product page where you can learn more about these pencils and purchase them on sale (there is even an extra coupon you can get if you scroll to the bottom of the page!)
Use watercolor paper or a robust mixed media paper for best results.
Choose the right surface for your project. Hot press paper is smooth like drawing paper but will withstand lots of water and aggressive techniques. Use this paper for botanical, portraits or any time you want a smooth line and lots of detail. Cold press paper is the most common paper with a bit of tooth or bumpy texture. Choose this if you want to add lots of layers. Rough paper is the most textures (as the name implies) and it great for landscapes and other subjects that have lots of rough texture where you want a more grainy or expressive look.
Tape your paper down to prevent warping and it will give you a beautiful white border when you are done if you paint to the edge.
You can tape your paper to any drawing board you have or use the cardboard backing from an old paper pad or use inexpensive lightweight foam core board for a lightweight option. You can also use plywood, Masonite or a free recycled paneling sample like I do! The plywood/Masonite boards are also good if you prefer to work at an easel as the extra weight will keep your painting from rocking as you work!
Always test out new techniques or colors on a scrap of paper (use the backside of failed painting or cheap paper you want to use up for this!
Start with an accurate sketch. Watercolor pencil (like watercolor) is transparent so you can’t simply cover up mistakes and erasing on your watercolor paper can damage it so you want to make the mistakes and corrections on your scratch/drawing paper. After your drawing is good you can transfer it to your fine watercolor paper with graphite paper or a lightbox/window.
Make a palette for your watercolor pencils by sanding a cheap plastic palette. Color the pencils on the plastic and then wet the swatch of color with a brush and paint. You can also save broken lead on the palette and add water to make paint. No more tossing broken points in the trash!
Alternatively you can pick up color from the tip of your pencil with a wet brush and create wet washes and watercolor effects that way.
Remember anytime you wet the pencil lead you weaken it and it will break more easily so let it dry before trying to sharpen it.
Sharpening tips! For a sharp point for drawing details use a handheld or electric sharpener. Turn the sharpener, not the pencil, to avoid breakage. To conserve lead for painting large areas use a craft knife to whittle away the wood and leave the lead intact for painting.
Texture tips! You can add beautiful texture to watches you create with watercolor pencils, you can spray water in a wet wash,
Add salt to a wet wash or
Grate dry watercolor pencil lead into a wash.
For a dark like thinner and darker than you can get with a pencil try scraping into the wet paint with the edge of a cut up credit card or gift card. Great for fur, hair and veins on flowers!
Try not using water! You can draw and color with dry pencils on dry paper for a traditional colored pencil look! Try the hatching technique for fur, cross hatching for shadow or scumbling (aka scribbling) for textured effects.
For darker details that won’t easily dissolve with water try drawing with a sharp dry pencils on wet paper, that’s called dry on wet.
Use a wet on dry technique for stippling. Simply dip the tip of the pencil in water and dot on details (like the dots on the muzzle the whiskers protrude from.)
You can also draw with a wet pencil on wet paper for bold expressive marks that will not easily dissolve.
Build depth and dimension with glazes! Simply layer up veils and veils of color and shadow for realistic paintings full of depth and interest.
Details are best on dry paper with a sharp pencil.
Burnishing can be used to build up colors and create a smooth glassy look. To do this in watercolor pencils I suggest coloring dry on dry and liquefying the pigment with water. Then after that first layer is dry keep coloring with dry pencils until the grain of the paper is full of pigment and the color is rich and vibrant.
Create highlight by scratching off the top layer paper with a craft knife. Just be careful not to cut too much paper away or cut through your paper! And don’t cut yourself!
Mix your media! A white paint (or gel) pen will make quick work of bright elegant highlights!
You can also add traditional colored pencil over a watercolor pencil painting as a final layer but be aware that watercolor pencil will not stick over traditional colored pencils.
When your painting is done and it is time to remove your tape peel it back flat at a 45 degree angle to discourage paper tearing or heat the tape with a hair dryer to make it easier to remove.
I hope you enjoyed these 25 watercolor pencil hacks and apply them to your next watercolor pencil project! If you liked this be sure to share it with a freind or pin it on pinterest using one of the handy sharing links at the bottom of this blog post. 😀 Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!
Hi friends! Today I’m reviewing a few cold pressed watercolor papers from Hahnemuhle. I have been hearing about this line of papers from my European viewers for years citing their availability and affordability so I was excited to test them out.
American viewers can find some of these papers on Amazon. These papers are common in Europe in shops and online retailers. Find out more on their official website.
I had a few question on the video on the difference between the Cezanne and Expression paper as they are both #140 CP cotton paper and the only difference I could find was in the texture. The Cezanne is mould made which yields a lovely random natural texture where the expression has a more uniform machine-made texture.
I was really pleased with the cotton papers by Hahnemuhle. The sketchbook and post cards were a bit thin however they still preformed nicely. This brand has other papers too but I was very impressed with the assortment of cold pressed papers they sent. I was sent these papers for free for review purposes but I was not paid to review them, this is not a sponsored post. I hope you found this overview useful. Thank for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!
Hi friends! A couple of months ago I bought some wedge brushes and did a fun rainbow design in one of my sketchbooks and many of you asked for a tutorial, well, today is the day!
Watch the video to see how this is done. The wedge brush can be a bit tricky so if you have one but got frustrated try it again! After a page or two of these you’ll be all set!
Hi friends! Today we are going to make a whimsical topiary card using small stamps from Rubber Stamp Tapestry!
Watch the video to see how! Oh! BTW Rubber stamp Tapestry has 30% off retiring stamp sets and supplies, check out the sale here and you can also use the coupon code LINDSAY for an extra 15% off! Sale ends 8/6/18
This video is sponsored by Rubber Stamp Tapestry Use coupon code: LINDSAY and receive 15% off your retail order of $10 or more of peg stamps, peg stamp sets, and unmounted stamps! Coupon expires a week from this video publication. Continue to receive great deals by becoming a PegStamp VIP here. As a PegStamp VIP
you’ll get a weekly deal via email plus links to fabulous tutorials by me, Lindsay the Frugal Crafter and other designers.
Supplies: *note, all stamps are linked to peg stamp sets but individual stamps are available if you just want one design:)
Howdy friends! I am very excited to paint with you today, after a project I was not happy with I came up with this for today’s tutorial:
Originally I planned to paint 3 donuts on a board. I was using a few reference photos and it started off strong but in the end the result was flat and I was frustrated.
I wondered if it was just me so I asked a few trusted friends what they thought and the word “flat” was mentioned several times so I knew I had to go back to the drawing board but I had no big desire to paint this again and if I am not excited to paint it again why would you be?
I wanted to take a moment and talk about self-doubt and criticism.
We all want to improve and the longer you paint the easier it is to slip into a plateau. Every so often you enter a pocket of growth and things are wonderful. It’s that feeling of learning something new and advancement that keep us addicted to our craft. The dark side is when we level off or even back slide on a project that can make the nasty inner critic come out to play. One thing that helps me be gentler on myself is to pretend I didn’t paint it. I can let the time I invested in a painting or the frustration I felt (I used masking fluid on this, y’all know my thought on that!) while working on it and it can really alter your perspective. if a student of friend showed me this panting I would see the all of the good stuff, the rich color, the joyful spirit and the rustic texture on the wood. I’d like it if I didn’t paint it LOL! I look at it and start Monday-morning-quarterbacking it:
Ack, why did I use masking fluid, it would have looked just as good to use an acrylic paint pen or gouache for the sprinkles!
Why did I paint the background so light? Now I can’t have a chocolate donut.
For goodness sake, sharpen your pencil, you have a sharpener right there, look at those messy lines!
I would NEVER allow a student to be so hard on themselves and when I think that if I criticize my art a student could see this and think “well, if that painting isn’t good enough then mine isn’t either.” Now, that my friend is a sure-fire way to shut up that nasty little judge in my mind for good. It’s important to improve and grow. There are several things I am changing to the painting we are doing today because it will look better and be quicker. We should only criticize our work to help up improve, not to berate ourselves. We can honestly look at our work for what it is without taking it personally but let’s not be mean to ourselves because other people are watching. If you are painting and you say it’s not good and your children or grandchildren hear you they may be discouraged from trying, especially if it looks great to them! When we are kinder to ourselves we are also kinder to those who we love and are influenced by us and I think that is a great reason to fire out inner critic and retrain him for work in quality control.
And now, Let’s paint!
You can watch the live broadcast or the replay in the player below but if you want to chat with other fun painters in the community or ask me questions during the live stream be sure to tune in at 12:30pm ET on YouTube.
Supplies (affiliate links used)
Watercolors: SHINHAN I recently bought these paints after several viewers asked me to review them and I really like them, I did both donut paintings with them and they are a steal! I will post a review once I have used them more and investigated some of the pigments I am not familiar with. I used colors with pigments known to be lightest in this painting. Colors used: Red, Brown, Ultramarine, Permanent yellow deep, Raw Umber, Viridian, optional-white. I have the 30 color SHINHAN set $25.73 but the 13 color set for $13.91 can be used if you substitute raw umber for yellow ocher so you can try out these paints for even less money. Per tube the 30 color set is the best deal tho.
I also wanted to let you know that it’s August (in case you don’t have a calendar hahaha) and that means I have new original art for sale in the shop. Prices start at $40 and USA shipping is included ($10 for international) and is available for the month of August on a first come, first served basis. Click here to see this months paintings!
I hope you will paint along with me at 12:30pm ET! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!
Hi friends! Creativity is a funny thing, the more you use it the more you have! If you don’t create often it can be hard to think of things to make when you sit down to craft. I am like that with jewelry if I haven’t made any in a while but I had the urge to play with beads the other day so I decided to get inspired from a kit! The necklace and earrings below can from the “Jaded” Annie’s Simply Beads Kit-of-the-Month Club. Everything I needed was right in the kit so I grabbed my 4-in-1 pliers (they send you those pliers, a bead mat and beading guide booklet for free when you subscribe to their kit club) and I sat on my porch on a beautiful summer day and beaded this! By the way this video is sponsored by Annie’s Simply Beads Kit-of-the-Month club! Click the link to get first kit for $9.99 (that’s 50% off) and the three free gifts I mentioned above! Use coupon code “FRUGAL”.
After making this project I decided to dig through my bead stash and come up with something similar using the basic layout of the pattern in the kit and I made this:
I like sparkly, chunky, glass beads in crazy colors so I went with those! I kept my earrings rainbow themed but didn’t put the on the chain because I thought my chunky chain would be too heavy. I also had a kit with 5 pairs of earrings that were great for quick fun projects and gifts and I also decided to use them as a jumping off point to create more earrings with my stash. Watch the video and then grab your beads to see what you can make!
If you would like a beading kit delivered to your door every month consider the Annie’s Simply Beads Kit-of-the-Month Club. You will receive all of the supplies to make beautiful projects each month for $19.99 plus shipping and handling. If you don’t like a kit you can send it back within 21 days and owe nothing. Sign up today and get 3 free gifts: 4-in-1 beading pliers, a velour beading mat and a beading guide as well as half off your first kit! Just remember to save all of those patterns that come with your kit to use with other supplies in the future, it’s the best way to get the most value of your Annie’s Simply Beads Kit-of-the-Month Club subscription. I hope you try some of the projects I shared with your bead stash and if you need any help with basic beading techniques you can refer to my basic beading techniques video here. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!
