Hi friends! I like making cards. I see it as a positive hobby where the fruits of your labor can be enjoyed twice: You get enjoyment making it and then you get joy sending it and another person get’s joy receiving it. I guess that’s 3 times! Many of us have expectations for our cards beyond those 3 joys and that’s what I am talking about today. BTW if you ever get a card from me you have my blessing to discard it whenever you like;)
Don’t let your {or others) expectations dim your light or tarnish your hobby. Make and send cards because that’s why you bought the supplies to begin with and til next time happy crafting!
Hi friends! First up let me announce the 10 winners of their choice of a Mythos brush set from Royal & Langnickel from last weeks post: Gilbert, Kennedy Ramos, Annette Fournier, Sparklegirl59, Lizzie Saunders-Pacheco, Georgia Franko, Karla Lindblad, Linda DB, srwilderart and Bonnie Warren! *Winners, I replied to your comment and sent you an email to the address on your account you make comments with. Follow the instructions in your email to receive the set of your choosing.
Today for Sketchbook Sunday we have a portrait of a woman in watercolor. Sorry the post is so late, I was thoroughly enjoying a lazy Sunday. I picked up a few used paperbacks at the bookstore yesterday and today I finished one (The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor) and then I took a nap! Life is good:) Anyhow, here is this weeks Sketchbook Sunday Time Lapse.
By the way I just posted a real-time version of last week’s Sketchbook Sunday project (Chicken in Gouache) in Critique Club if anyone is interested. *Critique Club is a group in my Teachable school where members can share the paintings they are working on or have finished for critique and I also post real-time version of 2 of my Sketchbook Sunday projects as step by step narrated lessons. Cost is $5 a month and all levels and media are welcome to join.
I hope you had a wonderful weekend and til next time happy crafting!
Hi friends! Have you ever saved small scraps of fabric but you have no idea what to do with them? How about using them on a card?
It adds such a lovely texture and a touch of homespun charm. You can even stamp on it too! I’ll show you how I stamp on ribbon (do the same for fabric) and create this sweet card in today’s video!
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.
“Love” or other bold sentiment stamps, this set has the love stamp and other nice ribbon options: *When stamping on ribbon or fabric choose bold designs with less detail
Bust into that fabric stash and use up those scraps and then bless someone with a handmade card. Sharing the love is what this hobby is about. Happy crafting!
Brushes: #12 & #6 round, 3/8″ dagger, 1″ flat for wetting paper (feel free to use whatever size and shaped you prefer) And a stiff brush such as an old toothbrush for spattering.
This painting is great for beginners or seasoned painters who want a little warm up. It was fun to paint and I really enjoyed this paper and look forward to using it again. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!
Hi friends! I have two videos for you today that I hope you will enjoy! First we will make a couple of cute cards using artist trading coin supplies. Artist Trading Coins (a spin on artist trading cards) are 2.5″ round disks you can decorate and swap with other artists and crafters. I thought they would also be cute used as card embellishments! You might notice how clean my usual grimy stamp blocks are in this video…well, I have YOU to thank for that! Last week I asked for advice in cleaning my gross acrylic stamp blocks and you shared some fabulous ideas and I put them to the test!
But first let’s make some cards. I packed this video full of tips from fussy cutting, stretching your stamps and using old products. I hope you gain some inspiration!
This tutorial is sponsored by Top Flight Stamps! SAVE 10% off your next order with coupon code: thefrugalcrafter10 *USA orders of $50+ ship free!
Embellishments like die cut hearts, leaves and enamel dots
Now let’s clean those acrylic stamp mounts!
I asked viewers how they clean their acrylic blocks and keep them looking like new. The most popular suggestions were rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer and a magic eraser. Nail polish remover and goo-gone was also mentioned for tricky stains. Watch me put these to the test in today’s video! (I don’t recommend the good-gone or nail polish removers on acrylic blocks because they can damage some plastics. After trying all of these tricks I washed my blocks in hot soapy water just to be sure any chemical residue would be removed.
#1 Rubbing alcohol: Spray alcohol on stamp block and wipe with a rag. This worked great on all ink smudges but did not remove any adhesive grime.
#2 Hand Sanitizer (alcohol based) This worked as well as rubbing alcohol if applied and rubbed off. If you have any adhesive residue on your blog let the hand sanitizer gel sit on it for 20 minutes and you can rub it off.
#3 Magic Eraser: A damp magic eraser removed most ink and even acrylic paint I had on some blocks. The eraser crumbles and would need to re replaced eventually but you don’t have to use chemicals. Potential downside: The sponge may mike tiny scratches on the block and rough it up so stamps won’t cling overtime so you might want to use this only in case of emergency.
#4 Acetone based nail polish remover. This removed inks but there was no benefit to it over alcohol and it might cloud your blocks.
#5 Goof-off/goo-gone: This worked on the adhesives on my stamps but it may damage plastics so I would avoid it unless necessary.
*Other suggestions were a lawn fawn stamp shammy (I don’t have one) and novis plastic cleaner but I don’t have that either but luckily the alcohol did the trick! I did wash all the blocks off in warm soapy water afterward and they look almost as good as new!
Thanks so much for reading through this long post, I appreciate it! I hope you found these tips useful and til next time happy crafting!
Hi friends! I had so much fun playing with gouache in my sketchbook today. I forget how awesome gouache (opaque watercolor) paint is and how fun and forgiving it is to paint with.
The brushes I used today were perfect for gouache and I get to give away TEN 7-piece sets and winners can pick from the unicorn or mermaid Mythos brushes by Royal & Langnickel. Do to shipping restrictions this contest is open to USA residents only. For a chance to win simply leave a comment saying what state you are from and which brush set (unicorn or mermaid) you prefer. I will draw 10 winners at random next Sunday and you will be notified by email. *You do not need to put your email in the comment, I can see it in my admin, I will contact you by the email you signed up to comment with. Don’t worry if your comment does not appear right away, if it is the first time you have commented here I have to approve it.
Speaking or Royal & Langnickel I am the Featured Artist on the Month! You can read the article here. I am so thrilled to be featured by a company whose brushes I have used for decades, I hope you give it a read:)
OK, now on to the Sketchbook Sunday video! I hope you enjoy it!
2.Work in thin layers (use a light touch to layer or be more aggressive to blend back to previous layers)
3. Use alone or with other media (over watercolor and marker, under pastel and colored pencil)
4. Mat and frame under glass as you would a watercolor.
5. Do not work in thick layers because the paint can crack.
6. Paper or matboard are excellent surfaces for gouache as it can bond well. Avoid using it on canvas or acrylic primed surfaces as the paint may not adhere well.
7. Play, experiment and have fun!
I hope the video give you insight on my process. I think diving in with the dark color can give you confidence and also speeds up the process because you get the dark values established quickly and you don’t have to fight the white paint which can overtake things quickly and muddy things up. If you want more help on your art journey, including real-time versions of 2 sketchbook sunday paintings a month consider joining critique club. You can post your current paintings and get a detailed critique from me and encouragement from other members, so you can improve and reach your artistic goals. Learn more here!
And one more shameless plug for the road…
If you want to paint better birds I have a class on that too: Texture Toolbox Feathers & Fowl where you can learn how to capture the beauty of birds and the textures of feathers and plumage by following along with four step by step real-time tutorials with patterns included. There is also an archived list of all past bird tutorials I have created in case you are looking for something specific.
Phew! That was a long post! Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a set of brushes, give gouache a chance and til next time happy crafting!
Hi friends! Since Christmas I have been going through all of my art and craft supplies and seeing what I have, use and need to let go of. As you know I have a home based business and over the year things can accumulate. Plus I get asked to review a lot of products that turn out the be the same as other stuff I already have. I tend to have a bit of a hoarding tendency (I think all crafters do because we see potential in everything but this optimism can be out downfall sometimes LOL!) So I called a teacher that runs a drama program and she is taking some unneeded leftover paint, fabric and yarn off my hands and I feel good that my excess will get used. While going through my huge totes of yarn I found all of my embroidery floss and craft thread. It was in a large ziplock bag with copies of crochet patterns for little flower and butterfly patterns I used to like to make for embellishments for cards and scrapbook pages. I would haul this bag of supplies with me everywhere and crochet up a storm. I realized when I did my huge Konmari clean out of 2017 I never touched the yarn totes. I guess I decided that the totes “sparked joy” as is and there was no need to open them (HaHa! What a naughty cheater I was!) but I did go through them last weekend and found lots of treasures! Both for me to keep and use and some to give away. I almost didn’t open the floss bag, I figured they were “organized enough” right were they were but then I thought I’d probably use them more if they were organized by color and I had a couple empty clear tackle boxes in storage so I decided to get to work!
As soon as I started running my fingers over the smooth colorful threads I knew I wanted to use them! Any new skeins I sorted by color in flat open clear boxes and any open skeins I untangled and wrapped around cardboard bobbins and put in a divided tackle box by color. I will look first to the bobbin thread and if I don’t have the color I need I’ll go to a new skein and wrap the excess on a bobbin. When I crochet flowers I try to use up a whole skein in one go making about 3 mini flowers. One of my first ever YouTube videos was of me making the crochet flowers LOL! Remember that old camera that made me sound like I had a lisp? I redid a flower tutorial in my Crochet Basics video that might be better if you are brand new to crochet. I started thinking about how stitching was really popular right now in the cardmaking world and about all of the specialty products (stamps and dies) sold to incorporate stitching in your cards. These cards are pretty but I know I wouldn’t probably do it a lot so it would be foolish to invest in something so specific so I used what I had and made these cards:
The stamp set I am using is Apple of my Eye by Stampin up. It seemed to be retired soon after it was released but I really liked it. I sometimes wonder if stamps get discontinued because they are unpopular or because they are trying to urge people to buy now. Stampin up keeps some stamp sets around for years so maybe it was unpopular, who knows? If you don’t have this set you can use any stamp you like that has a bold image. It doesn’t have to be fruit but I think fruit is fun for this technique because it reminds me of vintage embroidered tea towels. The technique I’ll show you today is satin stitch and backstitch. It is just like embroidery but when working on paper there are a few things to keep in mind so it doesn’t tear through. Watch the video to learn more!
Supplies: (Keep in mind many supplies may be discontinued. As always feel free to substitute. You will get truly original cards that way! I have tried my best to find all the supplies I used and affiliate links may be provided.)
Stamps (Apple of my Eye by Stampin Up) *This set is retired but used sets can be found on ebay or Etsy
Embroidery floss or craft thread *I recommend craft thread if you like to crochet with it as the threads are wounds together like yearn as opposed the floss where you can split the skein into smaller threads but either will work equally as well for this project.
It feels so good to use what you have. You can erase any guilt associated with a purchase by using it. Then you can feel good again by mailing your creation off to a friend or family member! Remember, you bought these supplies to USE them! Besides, I’m pretty sure consumable supplies like embroidery floss multiply when you are not looking so don’t worry about running out LOL! I don’t know what goes on in my craft room when I leave for the night! I hope you found this post inspiring and if you have suggestions for older supplies you would like to see used and made new again let me know in the comments below. Happy crafting!
