The Antidote to Feeling Bad About All of Your Art Supplies…

Hi friends! I love it when I set a personal goal and it ends up having positive side effects I didn’t anticipate. When I decided to paint 20 mini oil paintings in November it was more of a way to beat the “winter blues” and ride the high of having an art goal like I experienced during Inktober. I had really missed painting in oils so I thought hat would be a nice medium to focus on. I didn’t expect the other positives…

I had A LOT of oil paints back from when I had a downtown studio and taught two oil classes each week. I bought my oils in large economy tubes and had jars of mediums and brushes galore. Luckily oil paints hold up well and I haven’t found any spoiled paint in my stash. With each completed painting I felt lighter, any guilt over having so much paint dissipated with every canvas panel I used up. Knowing that I was putting the stuff I had (and my time) to good use while I worked on improving my skills was the shot in the arm my creativity needed. I loved that I didn’t have to run out and buy something new to improve myself.

I would wager that many of us have an excess of some supply we bought years ago when we were really excited about a project. The more those supplies sit around we either feel bad about them or become blind to them. Neither is a great solution. I think many of us think if we use up our supplies on a project that doesn’t turn out well it is a waste but think of the waste of space the supplies take up if they are not getting used regularly. Or the waste of supplies if they dry up or go bad in the package. Even if you paint an canvas and it is “bad” you have created something. You may have failed at the idea you had in your mind but you succeeded in finding out what didn’t work. Often the painting looks different the next day and you can always try scraping back or adding more paint. You can even cut the canvas off the stretcher bars and staple on some fresh canvas and try again if you feel bad about wasting a canvas.

Nobody creates a masterpiece every time, especially if they haven’t done it in a while so why do we think we need to produce a winner every time we sit down to paint? I’d go as far to say that if you do create a great painting every time you sit down to paint that you are not challenging yourself and trying new things. With failure comes growth. Life if made in the mistakes and so is art.

I hope this post helps you lighten up your expectations a bit in your art journey. Take care and happy creating!

P.S. I’ll have a new real time watercolor tutorial for you on YouTube this evening and tomorrow here on the blog:)

A Project to Practice your Ink Blending!

Hi Friends! This birthday card is fun to make with limited supplies! It comes with an interior pocket that holds a bookmark/tag and would also be handy to hold a gift card! This card can be reused too.

Watch the video 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.

Supplies:

• Farm themed and rooster peg stamps: Farmyard Animals peg stamp set, Bigger Pig stamp, Rooster stamp, Grass peg stamp
• Handmade with Love Clear Stamp Set
• Dye inks in yellow, orange, red, green and black
• Ink blending brush or sponges
• White cardstock
• Post it note tape or low tack tape
• Scrap paper for masking
• White tag
• Washi tape in bandanna/paisley pattern
• Double stick tape and foam squares
• Enamel dots

Directions:

1. Make an A2 size card and tape it to your workspace. 
2. Cut a curved line out of a scrap piece of thin paper and cover the bottom half of your card. Cut a circle from a post it note and place in on the paper overlapping the mask.
3. Use a straight edge of paper as a mask to ink sunbeams protruding from the masked circle in orange ink. Then repeat from the other direction using a different shade of orange or red. Add yellow over it all if desired.
4. Remove the mask and place the other half of the curvy mask over the sun/sky area and ink the grassy area with shades of green ink.
5. Stamp the pigs on the hill in black and the roosters towards the bottom. Stamp grass in green and black on the bottom edge and ink around the edges in black.
6. Remove the tape and add banner to card with foam tape and add enamel dots. 
7. Use a scrap of paper to make the inside pocket of the card and decorate a tag to go in it. Use the tag for writing so the card can be reused by the recipient!

Feel free to use whatever ink blending tools you like to make this project! The more you practice the better you will get and the more professional your cards will look! Happy crafting!

Bee-utiful Day!

Hi friends! This cheerful card can be used anytime you want to send a pick-me-up to a friend!

Watch the video 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.

Supplies:

• Sweet Magnolia peg stamps set
• Southern Charm Peg Stamp Set
• Bee-utiful Day Unmounted Stamp Set
• Dye ink (Memento)
• Quickie glue pen
• Cardstock in kraft, white and green 
• Bee-shaped brads (eyelet outlet)
• Fence die or something that looks like wrought iron (you can make your own fence without a die, see this tutorial for details )
• Fine glitter
• Yellow paint pen 
• Make-up brushes for ink: https://amzn.to/2WDrHoq

Directions:

1. Make a 5 ½” x 4 ¼” card from kraft cardstock. Cut a panel of white to 4”x5 ¼” for stamping.
2. Cut a grass border from green as well as a “fence” from white cardstock.
3. Stamp magnolias and foliage on a white panel. Ink the sky with blue and the hedge area with green.
4. Stamp the sentiment in the sky area and attach bee brads.
5. Glue the panel to the card base and laver the fence and grass on top.

I hope you give this a try and til next time happy crafting!

Recycle an old dead marker to make a colored pencil blender!

Hi friends! As you know I am a connoisseur of cheap er, affordable markers. I love using them because I don’t worry so much about wasting expensive supplies so when they get all used up I feel I’ve got my moneys worth. The downside to these cheap markers is that they are not designed to be refilled (although I do) and the nibs tend to wear down quicker. You are probably wondering why I don’t just chuck the markers and move on. Well, I really hate the waste and the marker bodies are perfectly good. I could see if my local elementary school participates in the Crayola ColorCycle marker recycling program and save my markers for them (honestly, I might if I can’t think of other ways to reuse them) but I like to re-purpose whenever I can. I had wanted to make a marker filled with Gamsol to use with my wax/oil basted colored pencils and I thought it would be great to use one of these markers. Watch the video to see how!

You will need (affiliate links used if available)

• An old marker you would otherwise throw away, cleaned out with nibs and center felt discarded. *Because I do not know what kind of chemical interactions the old marker ink might have with gamsol I don’t recommend reusing the old felts and nibs.
• Cotton balls
• Replacement nibs, I am using the Optional Round nib from Copic because you can trim them to the desired shape with a sharp craft knife.
• Odorless Mineral Spirits, I like Gamsol
• Pipette or small eyedropper
• Sharp craft knife
• The stamp I colored was from Lost Coast Designs
• I used Derwent Coloursoft pencils to color but any wax or oil based pencils will blend with this DIY marker!

Variations:

• You can make one for waterbased pencils by using a mixture of glycerin and water instead of Gamsol. The glycerin keeps the water from pilling the paper.
• You could use alcohol in a marker to blend colored pencils (Prismacolor sold their clear blending marker for that) but I never found it dissolved the wax and pigment as well as Gamsol or Odorless Mineral Spirits. some artists like a citrus based solvent but I have not used that myself.
• You can also buy empty dry markers (Ranger and Copic sell them) if you don’t have one to reuse.

If you have any ideas for reusing old dried out markers please let me know. Til next time happy crafting!

We Got a Puppy!

Hi friends! Yesterday I had a booth to sell my cards and paintings at a vendor fair our town has each year for Old Home Week. I knew there would be puppies from a local rescue organization there. The kids have wanted a dog since Hazel, our golden, passed away 3 years ago. I was cautious because I had such a hard time when Hazel passed, I never really got over it. But I decided to keep an open mind and if there was a dog that was a good fit I’d consider it. I knew the woman who fostered the dogs (she was one of my daughters favorite teachers in grade school) and I knew she did a good job with them.

We haven’t named her yet, we are waiting to see what seems right for her personality. I think she is a Poppy, Clementine, Millie, Mavis or Snickers. She really responded to the name Snickers, how cute is that?

She is really smart too. She is 12 weeks old and the foster mom said she wasn’t toilet trained yet but she hasn’t had an accent.

I won’t have a Sketchbook Sunday video today and the videos might be a bit erratic over the next couple of weeks as we adapt to our new family member but it will be a fun journey! Don’t forget that today is the last day of my birthday special over at my online school. Use coupon code HB43 to save 43% on any class there through tonight! So, what would you name this pup? She is such a good dog, I can tell already! Til next time happy crafting!

It starts off one way but ends in another…

Hi friends! When I started this piece I thought I would end u make a background that I could crop a card front out of and then salvage some tags or bookmarks from the scraps but after the page was done I couldn’t beat to cut it!

This was a really fun piece to create, watch the video to see it come alive!

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

Supplies:

• Whale stamps (Pink Ink Designs)
• Distress Oxide Sprays
• Versafine black ink pad (for embossing)
• Black embossing powder
• Black Archival ink or Staz-on (permanent ink for overstamping design if desired)
• Dr Ph Martins iridescent ink
• Dr Ph Martins Acrylic Ink
• Watercolor paper (I used the smooth back side of Arteza Premium watercolor paper as it works really well for stamping and inks) 
• Real brush marker pens (Arteza)
• Jane davenport paint over pens
• Uni posca pens in white and black extra fine
• Assorted paint brushes

*I also used gloss gel medium and some iridescent paint but I don’t think it really added anything thank you can’t do with the inks I already listed. Feel free to substitute with similar products.

I hope you experiment with your supplies and don’t hold too tightly to what you originally plan if the artistic muse takes you in a different direction. Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans and til next time happy crafting!

Chat with me LIVE at 5pm and Paint a Pretty Landscape!

Hi friends! Tonight in celebration of my new Watercolor Landscape Workshop I am having a landscape video tutorial chat party! Here is the landscape I will teach you to paint:

During the premiere (from about 5-6pm Eastern Time-New York Time) I will hang out in the chat and answer any questions you have about the tutorial, the new online class or just chit chat. I am so excited because I never get to see what is happening in chat during a normal live stream. (Although spoiler alert, I am thinking of doing a live stream Friday night, I hope I remember how LOL!) Make sure to click over to the YouTube watch page if you want to chat live, otherwise, you can watch the video here in the player below.

I’ll be hanging around the entire hour to chat with you and answer any questions you may have about my new Watercolor Landscape Workshop class! You can save 50% during my launch month special here (*use the coupon code LANDSCAPE50OFF if the discount doesn’t appear) *Regular price $79, with coupon $39.50

Supplies for Cactus Landscape:

• 9″x12″ watercolor paper (Arteza cotton dual sided paper-I used the backside as I preferred that texture)
• Watercolor paint in colors: Ultramarine blue, Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red or Scarlet, Sap Green, Burnt Sienna, Hansa Yellow Light or Lemon Yellow, and Quin Rose This Yarka/White Nights set is a good deal right now and contains the colors you will need (use indanthrone blue in lieu of Prussian) 
• Optional: White gouache and a few colored pencils for accents
• Reference photo
• Pattern (We will also draw it together but I snapped a photo in case anyone wanted a pattern)

If you enjoyed today’s free watercolor lesson you will love my new class Watercolor Landscape Workshop!

This has been my most requested class and I have worked so hard on it so that you can understand and paint beautiful landscapes in no time. This class contains over 7 hours of brand new, step by step instructions from skies, trees, and rocks to four full-length painting tutorials. I’ll break it all down in bite-sized lessons so you can fit it in your busy schedule and take a break whenever you like. I strive to make landscape painting easy and fun! Let’s paint together! Click here to learn more or enroll today! *Use coupon code LANDSCAPE50OFF if the discount doesn’t show up.

Thank you so much for trusting me with your art education! I look forward to painting with you soon! Remember to tune at 5p, ET on 7/3/19 on YouTube for a fun live chat and to paint the cactus landscape! Til then Happy Crafting!