Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2020

March 2025 Procreate Designs

Looking back on the art I’ve been making for the past few months I’ve done quite a bit of digital work.  I started really delving into Procreate when we went on Vacation earlier this year, and I haven’t stopped exploring the possibilities since.   While planning for our vacation in late February and early March of his year I opted to take only my camera and iPad.  No knitting, no sketch book, no art supplies.  This was the first time I’d ever taken only my iPad, with the intent of creating art while on a vacation.  I had a plan to limit my supplies and challenge myself to only using procreate.  My plan worked, I learned a lot about procreate and I enjoyed to process.   The biggest thing I learned was how very freeing being able to sit on the couch or the porch at night with just an iPad and a pencil was.  There was no figuring out where to put supplies, or how to juggle a sketchbook on my lap, or being confined to the table.  The other bonus ...

3 Affiliate Link Myths & How Clicking Them Supports Bloggers

Let's see a raise of hands.  How many of you know what affiliate links are and how they actually work?  Sorry, did that catch you off guard?  Today we're gonna talk about the importance of using affiliate links to support your favorite makers and bloggers.  I feel like this is a topic that we need to talk about and maybe explain a bit better. Do you appreciate the content you read and wish you could support the bloggers you follow but have no idea how to go about doing so?  Have you seen affiliate link disclosures within a post, as a footer to a blog, or in the sidebar like mine?  Do you know how these links support the content creator?  If you do, carry on.  If not let's delve into it.  Let's dispel some of the myths. Myth #1:  It will cost me extra if I use their links - FALSE There is a misconception that if you use affiliate links, you're charged a fee of some kind that goes to the blogger.  In reality, you pay no additional fee...

Thoughts on Creativity in 2021

What will the new year bring?  Are you setting new goals for your creativity?  Will you be exploring new mediums?  Are you thinking about expanding your skills with an online class or two?  Will your style change and grow this year?  I think these are all questions we are asked as makers, either of ourselves or by others. I honestly never know what the new year will bring to my art and creativity, but this year I have some thoughts on what I aspire to focus on.  One of the major things will be buying less of the monthly new releases of stamps and dies from my favorite companies.  It's not that I love them less, I'm just tired of buying all the things and letting them stack up on my desk faster than I can use them.   Instead, this will be a year of focusing on tools and mediums.  Reinkers for all of my Distress Inks and Distress Oxides are high on that list.  I'd like to snag a few more Windsor & Newton Cottman watercolors. ...

Watercoloring to Recharge

In an effort to recharge my creative juices I've taken a break from cards to create some watercolor art.  This will might also be the only blog post for the week, with the holidays fast approaching.  I can't believe Christmas is Friday!  This crazy year seems to have flown by in spite of all the weirdness. I started really getting into watercolor in February of this year.  I kind of got hooked after watching a couple of Let's Make Art Videos .  They make it very easy for you to start learning with what you already have on hand, or you can order one of their kits.  LMA also has a monthly subscription box, which is amazing if you're looking to get started with watercolor.   Over the weekend I finished a moose I had in a watercolor pad that I started late last February, but had never finished.   I also completed a truck that I had outlined onto watercolor paper but never started.   Finally, I started a pair of cowboy boots with gr...

Under the Weather - Garda Steiner Stamp Set

I know there are many makers out there still making for Christmas. I’m not one of them. I’ve been making Christmas since late September and it was time to switch gears. When I end a season I usually turn to one of two techniques - COPIC coloring or Distress Inks. I opted for copies this go round and who could refuse coloring this cute is this mouse?   I’ve listed the COPIC colors below along with the other supplies used. I’ll be coloring more of this cutie in the future and using other sentiments from some of my stamp sets with rainbow-themed sayings.  The coloring possibilities are really endless with this one.  Market Place:  Available in my online shop Technique:   COPIC coloring, stamping Copic Colors Used:   RV14   RV13   RV21   G14   YG03   W5   W2   W3   B99   BG09   BV04   BV13   BV02   C5   C3   C1 Supplies Used with Affiliate Links: Simon Says Stamp WONKY R...

15 Easy Gift Tag Ideas

This time of year it seems we all need gift tags of some variety and tags are a great way to do some scrap stash busting. I made quite a few sets of tags for the holiday season and I had so much fun with them. Tags are a quick and easy project to do as one-off designs but are also great for mass producing if you keep the designs simple. They're also a great way to use up stashes of die cuts you might have leftover from other projects. Design #1: Die cut tags, of two sizes, layered. Washi tape stripes and a deer die cut. The To and From stamped with coordinating ink color. Finishing details of an eyelet and green twine.    Design #2:   Die cut tag, layered with a die-cut heart and a coordinating paper eyelet.  The To and From stamped with coordinating ink color.  Finishing details of a small sentiment and black and silver twine.   Design #3:   Die cut tag.  Plaid washi tape, and a small die-cut bow.  The To and From stamped with ...

Same Technique - Two Inks

Inspired by a card I saw on Instagram designed by @mindyeggendesign .  I was captivated and inspired by the background colors of here Swirly Snowflakes with Embossing Glaze  card.  I set about to build a similar background with the supplies I had and ended up creating two versions. 

Snowman Trio - We Wish You a Merry Christmas

I'm the first to admit, I love a good scene card, but I'm generally too lazy to build one.  Masking all the things to create the layers is not my thing.  These three cards are about a deep as I usually go into scene building, and they turned out so cute.

New Color - Distress Oxide Crackling Campfire

Can we take a minute and talk about this beautiful color?  I only have it in the Distress Ink pad, but the color is amazing. It's the perfect red-orange!  Not quite orange, not really red.  On this card, I combined it with Forest Moss and Gathered Twiggs to build the background.  The end result was such a perfect fall color scheme or manly.  We all struggle with masculine cards, and I've been working to build more into my card making repertoire.  These colors seemed perfect for that.

Mopping Up the Leftover Ink for Later Backgrounds

Never waste the ink or the paint on the palette.  If I've been watercoloring or making backgrounds I always mop up the leftovers with another panel.  That was the beginning of this card.  The leftover color pallet from watercoloring the Bright Snowflakes card.  I kept the rest of the card very basic. Using Versafine ink, I stamped the sentiment and then stamped the ornament and sting part accordingly.  I added Perfect Pearls to the bubbles on the ornament.  End of story. Market Place:  Smiling Moose, Delta Junction, AK   Technique:  Distress Inking, Stamping Supplies Used with Affiliate Links: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad WILD HONEY Shop at: SSS | SBC Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad FESTIVE BERRIES Shop at: SSS | SBC Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad LUCKY CLOVER Shop at: SSS | SBC Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad SPICED MARMALADE Shop at: SSS | SBC Ranger Perfect Pearls PERFECT PEARL Individual Pigment Powder Shop at: SSS |...