Month: October 2020

When Wax Goes Wrong (how to fix messed up wax seals)

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! Today I have a live narrated real time cardmaking tutorial!

I have heard from so many of you that you prefer the live narrated cardmaking videos (verses shorter voice-overs) so whenever possible I will strive to do that! So play the vide, craft along or grab a hot cuppa and relax for a bit and watch me make a mess! However you like to enjoy these videos is up to you. 🙂

This video is sponsored by Top Flight Stamps! SAVE 10% off your next order with coupon code: thefrugalcrafter10 *USA orders of $50+ ship free!

Supplies:

You can also use the wax seal technique for decorating gifts!

Being able to use my rubber stamps as wax seals has really saved me a lot of money during my current wax seal obsession LOL! I think I will use them to wrap my Christmas gifts. I have some pretty snowflake rubber stamps I can use. Just remember if you are going to use your rubber stamps in sealing wax (or colored hot glue) to ink them up in pigment ink first to protect them. I love to use metallic pads for this because they offer a lovely contrast and elegance to my projects. The other thing I love about wrapping presents in kraft paper is that you can use the brown paper bags from the grocery sore, the inside is plain and perfect to reuse! I hope today’s project sparked some ideas and til next time happy crafting!

Do these watercolors look familiar to you?

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! Man there are a lot of new watercolors springing up on Amazon these days! I feel like I’ve tried all the watercolors by now and to some extent I have as many companies have their paints made from the same factories overseas. That doesn’t mean that they are bad but it does mean that you can end up buying virtually the same paints twice. I had a viewer request to review the new Phoenix half pan watercolors that recently popped up on Amazon. They were on the pricier end of the budget paints with a 12 set going for $16 and the 48 set at about $38. I was set to ignore these newcomers to the scene but after several viewers asked about them I decided to order a 12 color set to try as it looked to have a nice range of colors and I am cheap LOL! Watch the video for my full review!

So, what do you think? Do they remind you of Cotman paints?

Pros of Phoenix Watercolors:

  • Price
  • Nice tin in a pretty metallic blue
  • Tin has room for more pans down the center (12 set anyway)
  • Colors rewet well Layer well *Be careful because you might end up lifting if you are too aggressive.
  • Lifts well
  • Pigment info available transparent Decent lightfastness
  • Student grade
  • A more affordable equivalent to Winsor & Newton’s Cotman paints

Cons:

  • The color selection in the 12 color set is lacking, it has 2 warm reds, one of which is fugitive, a burnt umber which is a mixed pigment, and 2 greens that are not very useful. A 12 color set should feature the most useful colors and this is lacking. !he 24 color set is much better.

Bottom Line: If you want more Cotman quality paint give the Phoenix watercolors a try. These are a traditional watercolor of a student grade quality. They are not bad at all. They area bit more expensive than other “private label brand” paints but they are a bit better than many of those budget brands. I think the Pretty Excellent watercolor is still the best bet in the budget/student range but you don’t get pigment info with those so if lightfastness is important this would be a better bet.

I hope you enjoyed this review and it provides the information necessary to make educated art supply purchases. FYI I used Amazon affiliate links in this post so if you make a purchase via those links I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Have a great day and as always happy crafting!

Woodless Watercolor Pencil Techniques & Giveaway!

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! Today I am going to share many ways you can use watercolor pencils. I am using the new woodless watercolor pencils from Altenew but you can use what you have. This post is part of a blog hop. To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog by 10/28/2020 for a chance to win. We’ll also draw a winner to receive a $15 gift certificate from the comments left on each designer’s blog on the blog hop list under the video. All winners will be announced on the Altenew Winners Page on 10/30/2020.

In today’s video I am using the new Woodless Watercolor Pencils set of 24 from Altenew and the Paint a Sunflower stamp. They are available in a money saving bundle as well. (affiliate links used)

Woodless watercolor pencils are easy to use and versitile and I will show you 3 ways to use them for differnt effects.

The neat thing about woodless watercolor pencils is that there is no waste, you can use every bit of the pencil!

Watch the video to learn how to use these pencils!

Now that you have seen my project with the Paint a Sunflower stamps and Woodless watercolor pencils check out the other designers in the blog hop and be sure to comment on all of their blogs for a chance to win!

Altenew Card Blog 

Nicole Watt

Amber Rain Davis

Kelly Griglione

Erum Tasneem

Lindsay Weirich *You are here!

LauraJane

Nathalie DeSousa

Jenny Colacicco

Virginia Lu

Tenia Nelson

Lilith Eeckels

Emily Midgett

Norine Borys

Mindy Eggen

Tania Ahmed

Dana Joy

Jaycee Gaspar

Laurie Willison

Maryam Perez

Nenette S. Madero

Svitlana Shayevich

I hope you enjoyed today’s tutorial and good luck in the giveaway! Happy crafting!

Why buy the die when you can use the supplies you have for free? Cute face swap card!

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! Today I have a super cute card to share!

There is a notch on the side so you can turn the mechanism inside the cards and the faces on the doll will change. Watch the video to see how easy it is to make with the supplies you already have!

I don’t know what to call this mechanical card except super fun to make! Grab your basic cardmaking tools and let’s get started! The cards are so fun to craft using supplies from our sponsor Top Flight Stamps! SAVE 10% off your next order with coupon code: thefrugalcrafter10 *USA orders of $50+ ship free!

Supplies:

  • Build a Baboushka Stamp Set
  • White cardstock *I used Neenah Patterned paper *Pick your paper first and use that to choose markers to color with.
  • Thick cardstock for card base (I used Park Lane heavyweight from Joann Fabrics)
  • Mini brad
  • Scrap paper for templates (keep for future cards)
  • Circle cutters or dies/punches Alcohol markers in colors to match the pattern paper (I mostly used Art-n-Fly)
  • Alcohol ink safe ink pad like Memento

Now, there are fancy dies you can buy to make mechanical cards like this but if you use a little creativity you can get the same results with the supplies you already have. Happy crafting!

Learn to Draw a Sumac Leaf in Marker and Colored Pencil

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! Today I have a leaf drawing and coloring tutorial for you. We will use toned paper which reduced the look of streaks and choppy blending.

By the Way, today is the las day of my fall sale! 40% off full courses in my Teachable school with coupon code FALL40 *Offer good through 10/18/2020, On checkout click “add coupon code” and paste in FALL40 to receive 40% off the class of your choice.

Supplies: (Affiliate links used)

That’s all for today! I was sewing some masks yesterday and decided I wanted to reorganize my sewing supplies since I recently cleared out some drawers. I think that will be a fun afternoon project! Maybe I’ll film it, interested?

Til next time, happy crafting!

My DIY Desk and Sat Chat!

| thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Hi friends! I hope you are having an awesome weekend! Last Saturday I spent some time rearranging my filming/work studio. As you know I have been working in a finished room in my basement since June and I have kept the old “craft room” as basically storage for my supplies only having the daily essentials in the new space. This space is heated which his making my work so much more enjoyable (especially come winter!) The downside to a finished room is that I couldn’t use the aluminum clamp lights that I used in the old space because the ceiling was flat where the old art studio had exposed joists I could clip them to and move them around to light where I needed. Because of that I had to use my stand lights and the clutter of those stands was really annoying. The room has a a couple ceiling lights but they are not enough for filming. While I was building my table I pushed the lights out of the way and realized that my handy hubby could put mounts on the ceiling so I could use my old faithful clamp lights so that is what we did! Watch the video to see my upcycled table and other improvements.

Now, before you worry about the stability of my table let me assure you it is completely fine. There is no wobble and I don’t store things on my table and the door I am using for a top is hollow and light. You’d be amazed to see how many of those plastic carts I have loaded up and stacked and I have never had a problem. With that, let’s move on to this weeks Sat Chat.

We all know the Sat Chat is really about nothing but here are some thing I mentioned:

  • SALE! 40% off full courses in my Teachable school with coupon code FALL40 *Offer good through 10/18/2020, On checkout click “add coupon code” and paste in FALL40 to receive 40% off the class of your choice.
  • Follow me on Craftworld, I have a new free watercolor for papercrafting series coming up soon! It’s very basic but it might be nice to recommend to a friend who wants to try watercolors or cardmaking.
  • Check out my October drawing challenge art on Instagram
  • My Art of the Carolinas Classes are now open for enrollment. These are live only classes so if you sign up be sure to have your supplies ready at the class time.

Well, that about does it! See you tomorrow for Sketchbook Sunday and til next time happy crafting!