Month: March 2020

Creative Blahs?

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! How are you holding up? I know many of you are staying home during this pandemic and feeling lost. I also know many of you still have to go to work as you provide an essential service to the community. Thank you to ALL the workers keeping our world going at this scary time. You are risking your lives and health for the rest of us at home and I truly appreciate that. And here I am at home and I can’t seem to be creative. Talk about first world problems. I think one of the reasons I have a hard time being creative is that I feel guilty. Guilty that I get to work from home in a profession I love when others have to risk their lives and health of their families each day and that people are losing their jobs and facing insecurity. How dare I enjoy myself at a time like this right? But then I realized that being miserable isn’t doing anyone any good.

Video!

I think spreading joy and light is also important at this time. I can’t solve any of the big problems of the world right now but I can make it a bit brighter to the few of you who enjoy my videos and blog posts. So I’ll so that, OK? Take care of yourself and each other and til next time happy crafting!

How many roses is this woman going to paint?!?

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

OK, the social distancing might be getting to me. I have apparently only been painting roses this week! Let’s call it “Working in a Series” and not “Lindsay’s Lost her Mind”, does that sound good to you?

This painting took quite a long time to paint (About 2 1/2 hours) and to be honest, I’m not totally happy with it but I am going to set it aside and look at it in a few days. There is a real time tutorial of this in Critique Club (we edited out the repetitive bits so it’s a mere hour and a half) if you are interested. For those of you who are not members, Critique Club is a group that allows you to upload 2 paintings a month for an in-depth critique from me. You also have access to dozens of long, more advanced tutorials in a variety of medias with 2 new tutorials every month. You can learn more or join here. Now, on to the time lapse!

All of the supplies I am using are in my new signature set from Jerry’s Artarama. I am kinda excited to have my own signature sets and I will share more about them later this week! Here is the reference photo I used today.

I hope you are safe and healthy. Happy crafting!

Make this cute sketchbook!

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! There is something soothing about making a book. I don’t know why, I just like it. I love little notebooks and watercolor sketchbooks. This book takes 3 sheets of 12″x18″ pieces of watercolor paper.

Watch the video to see how!

This video is sponsored by Smart Art. Smart Art is a monthly subscription box that delivers a unique surprise assortment of full-size art supplies to your door each month so you can learn and try new media! If surprise art supplies aren’t your thing you can also purchase past boxes while supplies last or beginner bundles of supplies. Each box comes with a project booklet too. Smart art ships to many countries. Learn more today!

Supplies:

  • Watercolor or drawing paper, you can use any size but mine was 12″x18″ and made a 4″x4 1/2″ sketchbook.
  • Thin, sturdy cardboard for cover and spine (I use matboard scraps but you can also use the back of an old paper pad)
  • Craft knife
  • Cutting mat
  • Metal edge ruler
  • In the sketchbook for art media I used:
  • Vivia Color sheet book (watercolors)
  • Waterbrush (mini)
  • Headband for elastic closure (dollar store)
  • For decoration, I used the supplies in the March 2020 Smart Art Box Stencil Textile paint Fabric Paintbrushes

Here is the folding diagram. The black lines represent folding and then cut on the red lines. You can use any size paper you like, just remember you are folding one side in quarters and the other in thirds. You can use as many sheets of paper as you like, each sheet you add will give you 12 pages on the front side and 8 on the back side if you are making a dual sided book like I did. Just make sure the spine of your book can accommodate the thickness of the pages.

I hope you enjoyed this fun project and maybe you will make these with your kids. Making the book is a fun activity and using it will lead to more fun activities and that is just what we need right now. Take care of yourself and each other than til next time happy crafting!

Relax and Paint this Pretty Rose! (Great for beginners!)

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! If you find yourself in need of some relaxation today why not try this easy project!

It’s a postcard sized painting so you can paint it and mail it to a friend of loved one. It would be a great way to brighten the day of anyone stuck at home. Even if you’ve never picked up a brush before you can do this!

Supplies (affiliate links used)

Don’t let the learning stop here! My friends at Bluprint (formally Craftsy) are offering a 2 week all you can watch buffet of classes on their website and best of all no credit card required to watch! Just make an account and watch all of the craft, cooking, art and DIY classes you like from 3/26/2020 through 4/9/2020. While you are there you can check out my mixed media class I filmed a few years ago. It’s fun and for the next 2 weeks it’s free! Sign up here. I hope that eases some boredom and anxiety if you and your family are stuck at home during these strange days. Crafting provides stress relief and learning is good for our soul. Have a calm day and til next time happy crafting!

Topflight Birthday Blog Hop Giveaway!

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! This video is part of the Topflight Stamps Birthday Blog hop, You can find a list of other hoppers further down in this post and learn how you can win some exciting prizes! Also Topflight Stamps has 25% off everything in celebration, no coupon code needed!

This birthday card has a fun fold and interactive elements but it is fairly quick to make and it fits in a standard 5″x7″ envelope.

The majority of time on this card is the coloring of the stamped images so feel free to color them as you choose!

Learn how I made this card in today’s video!

Supplies

Want more inspiration?

Check out all of the stampers on the hop! Make sure to comment on this blog post for a chance to win a $15 gift card to Topflight stamps and then visit the other stops on the hop for more chances to win and get a chance at the $50 gift card grand prize!

Follow along here and if you get lost you can always start at the Topflight Stamp Blog. 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS Of course, it wouldn’t be a birthday celebration without prizes!  Topflight Stamps is giving one lucky winner a $50 Gift Certificate to the store. But wait, there is more, each stop on the hop has an additional $15 Gift Certificate up for grabs for some lucky commenter.  For a chance to win, make sure to visit every stop on the hop and leave a comment by March 28th. Winners will be announced on the Topflight Stamps blog on March 31st.  Good Luck!

Thanks to Topflight stamps for sponsoring this post and thank you for visiting my blog and the other artists on the hop. Happy Crafting!

Expressive Roses Sketchbook Sunday

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

How’s it going, friends? We are all good here. I just got back from a long, cold, sunny walk with the dog. I am glad at these times to live in a rural area with lots of space outside because with school closed and social distancing in effect the house can feel extra small. I encourage you to get outside if you can, it can really improve your outlook. I also think this is a good time to make things. I have seen many people online making bread. I love that people are taking their quarantine time to learn this art. I learned to make bread around the time we bought out house (20 years ago!) and there is always new things to try. I love the smell of bread baking and this comforting aroma is welcomed at times like these. I hope the smell of bread baking always gives my kids happy memories of home. Baking bread is like painting, for me at least because I rarely use a recipe. I know the rough proportions of Flour, water and yeast I need and to that I add seasonings, other grains and goodies until the dough feels “right”. Painting is like that for me too but it takes practice (not talent) to build the instincts.

You need to put in the time, try, experiment, make some bad bread, and even waste ingredients before to you become proficient and even then you might make a dud. It’s all part of the learning process. If you have the luxury of being at home for a few weeks why not give something new a try. We are in a challenging time and it can feel as if we have no control but you can control what you create. See how I created today’s painting in the video below.

I am still experimenting with Open Acrylics and this time I tried them with Aqyla waterbased alkyd resin paint to see if they were similar or compatible because the open acrylics remind me of the Aqyla paint. After this painting, I realized that they were not the same paint but they still worked alright together. Here is the review I did of Aqyla in the past. You can find out more about Aqyla here. Back when I reviewed the paint they gave me a coupon code to share (thefrugalcrafter) it might still work.

Other Supplies (affiliate links used)

I hope you learn something new today. Happy crafting!

Serene Watercolor…

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! What a week! I actually tried to blog some projects earlier this week but my blog kept crashing. I’ll catch up sometime but for now I thought I post a relaxing watercolor tutorial.

Watch the video and follow along!

Supplies (affiliate links used)

How are you doing? I feel adrift this week with everything going on in the world. Art is so important during these times because you can turn off the worry side of your brain and get lost in the flow of creativity. If you are having trouble relaxing and getting started just pick up a pencil, brush or crayon and start drawing. Maybe swatch a supply or organize your supplies while listening to music or an audio book. If you have kids at home you can make a coffee table craft kit so you can create together while watching a happy movie. These times can be special if we use the time to be creative and spend time with the people we love. Take care and happy crafting.

A Silly Bit of Fun (Much Needed These Days…)

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! I know many of you are at home waiting out the Covid 19 scare. My kids school is closed and it is all very surreal. This winter I have been sharing a few storage videos and I figured if you are stuck at home with nothing to do you might want to tackle a few areas of your craft storage. I had several people ask me how I stored my large pegstamp collection so that is what we are going to look at today.

I hope this blog post finds you well. I don’t have much to offer the world at a time like this except a happy distraction so here it is. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other and til next time happy crafting.

Forgot to post this yesterday… Hyacinth in Acrylics… Strange Days, huh?

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! I hope you’re well. This is weird, my kids schools have closed, supermarkets have empty shelves and at a time where I most want to invite friends over and commiserate we are told to keep to ourselves. I worked on a serious couch dent this weekend flipping between CNN, local news and Facebook to see what was canceled and how many confirmed cased were popping up in Maine and I have decided to turn off all the screens and work in the studio today (that is after assigning chores to my surly teens who will no doubt badger me to go somewhere or see friends.) I am lucky, I work from home so my disruption will be limited. I feel for families who are struggling to find childcare or miss work and risk losing income. I feel bad for small business like restaurants who will lose business or be forced to close. These are strange times. Take care of yourselves and each other. We will get through this. How about a fun distraction? Let’s paint a Hyacinth in Acrylics!

The real time version of this lesson is in Critique Club which is a $5 a month membership group which allows you to upload 2 paintings you are working on for an in depth critique. I don’t feel right promoting something for sale today so I am making the real-time version lesson a free preview for now so anyone can enjoy it regardless of your ability to pay. Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the lesson “March 2020 Bonus Lesson #1: Hyacinth” and you can watch it free of charge. Please share this with anyone who need a distraction during these strange times. Below is the sped-up version.

Supplies (affiliate links used)

It’s normal to feel “off” during these uncertain times. Art is a wonderful antidote, it will take your mind off worry and help you relax. If you have kids at home share the crafty love. Remember all of the tutorials on my blog and YouTube channel are G-rated and safe to have on with little ones around and a heck of a lot less stressful to listen to than the news. Stay informed and be safe of course but take care of yourself mentally too. We are all in this together. Happy crafting!