After Jennifer Nichols’ Free Beginners Class I talked about a couple of posts back , I spent a bit of time experimenting. I fell in love with the wide edge that mimicked the same look you would get from taping off your art space to create a white edge. Everyone loves a good tape pull, am I right?  I always feel like it makes a clean edge, but also adds a bold statement of completion to a piece.   Into the Woods - February 2026 Into the Woods is a compilation of several stamps from various brush sets I have.  I started with the largest elements, placing the focal pieces of the wood slices first.  Then I began adding the smaller elements.  Mushrooms and pine branches.  To complete the piece I pulled in the dried flowers and moths.  I used muted earthy tones to convey the warmth of the woods.   Creating this piece made me nostalgic for the many moments I’ve indulged in walking through the woods, from Wyoming and Colorado to New Mexico and Alaska. ...

Youtube has quite honestly replaced TV in my life for the last 14+ years. If you dig around long enough here on the blog you’ll probably find at least one rant about why I hate being asked about how I find the time to create, which talks about priorities and the lack of vegging in front of a TV show. I digress, we’re here to talk about another great tutorial I’ve gleaned a lot of cool tips and tricks from. Don’t let the name of the channel fool you.  While iPad Lettering with Karin Newport has plenty of great lettering tutorials, there are also some fab art tutorials as well.  I’ve watched Watercolor Doodles in Procreate more than once.   Field of Blue Field of Blue was my first creation after watching the tutorial, in July of 2025. Karin’s tutorial takes you thought a bright colorful piece, but I really loved how this looked as a monochromatic piece.  There is just something really striking about monochromatic work to me.  I used a variety of brushes from ...

I love Jennifer Nichols Procreate resources and classes. I have several of her brush sets and I I memory serves me her Skill Share Procreate classes were some the first ones I took. So when I saw her new Free Procreate Class slid into my inbox the other day, I knew I was all in.  Never let a class marked for beginners dissuade you from taking it, especially if it’s free.  Keep reading to find out why I feel this way. Rocks #1 So why would someone like me, who’s been working with Procreate for nearly four years now, choose to intentionally spend time taking a free beginner level class?  What could I possibly learn?  These are some of the I might elect to take a beginner leaves class: I enjoy the teacher presenting the class.   It’s a technique or style of art I have yet to try. It includes some sort of added value I’m interested in, this is especially true if there’s a free Procreate brush set involved. I can generally glean some sort of cool tips and tricks ...

I’m a huge supporter of enriching your creative hobbies with online learning, both free and paid, and today I want to talk about my experience with free options. I’ve had some great experiences that include learning how to watercolor and the ins and outs of Procreate.  I’ve had some smarmy experiences as well.   While I won’t list off the bad classes I’ve taken or the teachers that taught them.  I will say that if your free classes is basically an advertisement to get me to buy the VIP access to the course you’ve done nothing to earn my money.  Let’s talk about some excellent resources I’ve found and the great people I’ve learned from: Very Pink Knits - This is my go to for leaning anything related to knitting, it’s rare that Staci won’t have a tutorial on whatever I’m trying to learn. Let’s Make Art - Sarah’s weekly Youtube tutorials taught me how to watercolor without making me feel like I needed fancy supplies. Paul Clark - Another MVP in the world of watercolo...

Oh the rabbit trails I’ve traipsed down. Some were great until they burned out…handmade cards. Some are still running wild in the woods…sticker designs.  I touched on sticker design in the Cups of Joy post , which tickled an idea in my brain, read to the end to find out about the idea.  First humor me, and get in the way back machine to take a wander back six years; to a conversation over a gift shop counter in a small town in Alaska. If you’ve been around for a hot minute you’ve heard me mention my friend Piper, who fed the monster that became the handmade card business. We’ve put that monster out to plaster, but if you wanna read that story you can check out this post .   Today we’re here for the sticker story and the influence Piper played in the fun I have designing stickers.   The sticker journey started with a one question in a casual conversation one afternoon… “Have you about making stickers?”   I know I looked at her like she had three heads.  M...

In addition to the bouquet study I did in February I also created a few other collage experiments. One of the things I love about Procreate and digital design is the ability to create a piece and then take remove layers to create a second and maybe even third design. Cups of Joy turned into one of these types of pieces. Cups of Joy - Original The original piece is an experiment with laying elements of texture and color to create a finished collage. With watercolored cups, bits of old paper and washi tape layers on textured paper.  Stamped rings to lead the view to imagine the inspiration for the cups leaving the marks as the art was created. I really love the brightness of this pieces and all the juicy textures that were created in the layers. Cups of Joy - Version Two In version two, i removed some of the old paper bit, work with the idea of a possible sticker design. I pulled out a couple of the collage layers to create an effect that the washi was holding the sticker in p...

Here we are at the end of February and the end of my clip art bouquet study. I’ve really enjoyed challenging myself with these and will be doing more immersive challenges like this in the future. Before we talk about what next let’s talk about Bouquet #8. Bouquet #8 Inspiration for Bouquet #8 was all about the color palette and the textures of  this mixed media piece .  I was really drawn to the color palette with the rusty oranges and denim blues.  The textures on the papers the creator used for the collage were also very intriguing.  I wanted to see if I could create similar textures in a digital format.  The other half of my inspiration for this piece came from my own work.  I really loved the end result of Bouquet #5 with paper layering techniques and wanted to create another pieces with a similar look on a rough texture background.  I’ll definitely be creating a series with this style, so watch for that.   What’s next?  My plan is to ...