Inside My Craft Room – My love wall

February 24, 2023 by Leave a Comment

As you know, I have a wall were I display art, photographs and paper crafts. I love this space because it is the first thing I see when entering my craft room from the first floor. So it kind of sets the mood before I sit down to create. I am calling this display ‘my love wall’. I snagged some cool heart lights from Target for additional fun lighting for when I work in the evening.

I purchased some wooden X and O blocks from Target and decided it would be fun to paint them. They didn’t come out quite as nice as I would like for two reasons, one I forgot to lightly sand the wood and my gesso that I use to prep the wood was old and chunky!! I made sure to ditch it after I finished this project so I can purchase a new jar.

The fun thing about making things for my craft room is that the pressure is off so I can make mistakes and learn from them without the pressure of something I create for my shop. So I took a couple days to paint these.

I am not sure what to create on this wall next. So I will just leave it up for a while. I mean, come on, who can’t use a little love to inspire them?

Have a lovely day!

Filed Under: Belinda Tagged With: , ,

InkyPlayFriday: Swatching my new watecolor paint set

January 20, 2023 by Leave a Comment
My new Kuretake watercolor paints

I bought my first set of Kuretake watercolor paints a couple years ago and although I loved them, I didn’t use them often. Back in November, I saw all the buzz about them coming out with a new watercolor set. What I realized is that for a beginner what motivates me to use something is the colors. The first set had more basic colors and as a beginner that doesn’t know how to make my own colors, it was daunting and I didn’t feel motivated to use the old one. Fast forward to December when I saw the color pallette in the new release, I was so excited I pre-ordered them and patiently waited.

I found this great stamp set to use to swatch my paints.

Because this year, I plan on exploring with paints, I have been watching videos and even purchased a couple books to get me started. One video I saw these great stamps to add some fun to swatching my paints. As a big believer in swatching, I swatch all of my coloring supplies. (I’m actually a little behind with all of my recent purchases.) I use my swatch charts of my Copic Markers, Prismacolor and Derwent pencils every time I work on a project. So it is important to me to create a swatch for this paint set to set myself up for success.

Choosing which stamps to use.

This stamp set has really fun stamps to swatch. I plan on trying them all, over the course of the year. This new set has 24 colors and and since I am using this small block watercolor paper pad to create my swatch chart, I think the smaller vertical set of 6 boxes to create my chart.

Laying out the stamps to see if they fit.

What’s the saying “Measure twice cut once.” or something like that. Since I don’t want to waste the paper, I lay out the stamps to see if I can fit them all on the page before commiting to ink and stamping.

All finished stamping.

Eventhough the ink dries fast,I still let it sit for a few minutes before I begin painting. This ink is perfect to use with watercolors.

A little tea while I paint.

I am liking the colors a lot. I definitely can see several that I naturally gravitate to. The computer does not do the colors justice. I am also using a new brush set. This one is pretty nice. Well based on my beginner knowledge, I like the way they feel in my hand.

All finished.

I like seeing the damp papertowel while I work with all the colors blending. I have to let go of my need to clean and enjoy the unexpected with painting.

Done!

There is something so satisfying about looking at completed swatch charts and seeing all the colors. It was especially fun to swatch the darker ones to see what they would look like on paper. Some of them were such a pleasant surprise.

Next I am going to begin reading the book I have and try one of the exercises.

Have a lovely weekend!

Filed Under: Belinda, Belinda's Crafts, Projects Tagged With: , ,

Inky Play Friday – Painting with Distress Inks

October 29, 2021 by Leave a Comment

It’s that time…time to play with some inks! Today I am painting with Distress Oxide ink pads. I am always so inspired to craft when I watch craft videos on YouTube. I have been really into my oxide ink pads for the past few months so I have been watching videos where crafters are using them in a variety of ways.

The first thing I did was select some coordinating colors that would look nice on the blue background. Then I heat embossed the ornaments and sentiment with white embossing powder. Then I applied blueprint sketch color onto the back. At first, I was going for a solid background then I started to like the way the lighter areas almost looked like a glowing effect and left it.

Next, was the fun part – painting with the ink. So I rubbed a bit of twisted citron onto my glass mat, gave it a few squirts of water, and then painted the first ornament. It was so relaxing and easy because the embossing keeps your color right where it’s supposed to be. If you haven’t painted with your Distress ink pads, you really should, it’s very fun.

For the first card, I drew the strings with a sparkle pop pen and then used Wink of Stella to give the ornaments a hint of shimmer.

For the second card, I searched my stash for coordinating glitter pens to color in some of the ornaments for a cool contrast.

Here is a close-up so you can see the glitter pens on the second card. I love how they came out. It reminds me of old-fashioned glass ornaments my mother used to hang on the Christmas tree.

I will be sure to incorporate these techniques in future cards because it was really fun.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Filed Under: Belinda's Crafts, Projects Tagged With: , , , ,

Where’d she go?

June 4, 2021 by Leave a Comment
removing screens on our deck

Well hello to you! I know I have been missing for several weeks and I am here to say I wasn’t simply just sitting on my hands. As the school year ends and summer approaches, I usually have a lot of things to do to prepare for the next season in our home.

I have been spending my time checking out contractors for some much-needed work as well as some new projects on our property. For one, I have finally decided to try out a mosquito spraying service. I have been thinking about this for years and the purest in me has always won out and so I never pursued contracting a company. But each year, it seems that the mosquitos have increased and are more vicious in the summer months forcing us to spend much of our time on our screened-in deck. However, after a year of quarantining at home during the pandemic, I am really looking forward to spending time out on all of our property. So I have hired a company to treat our property to create a barrier against both mosquitos and ticks. I can cancel at any time so I am going to give it a try.

painting

The other project my husband and I have been working on is repainting and rescreening our deck. It’s funny that I can color and paint in my craft room but painting out on our deck, well let’s just say that I am not a natural. Since our deck is pretty large this process has taken some time to complete so I have not spent much time in my office. Now that it is complete, I am not in the process of bringing out all of our deck furniture and decorating now that the time-consuming work is complete.

All painted

We also have decided to take down our old veggie-raised beds and redesign a new space in our back yard with irrigation. We have removed all the old soil and broken down the old beds and are now in the planning stages before we order wood to be delivered to begin this next project.

I had intended on releasing some new products at the end of May but that didn’t happen either. But rather than get mad or listen to my inner critic, I am embracing the ebb and flow of my work as I handle my home projects. So I haven’t had much time to write posts. But I will get back to this as well as back to work in the up coming weeks.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Filed Under: Belinda Tagged With: , ,
Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox

Join other followers: