Tips/Tutorials

Since starting this blog - I've had a considerable amount of inspiration in the crafting department. I think it's because I have my mind on creativity more often. There's a lot to be said for a daily creative ritual. However, today the creative bug really isn't hitting me. I really like my topics on the first three days of the blogging week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday). Unfortunately this leaves me a little clueless on Thursday and Friday - a real deterrent to the whole creative flow thing. So in an effort to be more inspired, I will be "trying" to list online tips and tutorials on Thursdays.


Over the weekend, I made these three tags. For the first two tags on the left, I used rubber stamped images, clear embossing powder, and Ranger color wash sprays. It was my first time using color wash sprays and I think I got a little too close to the paper. The third image (with the dress) was made with clear stamps, distress inks, and watercolor pencils. Watercoloring has been difficult for me to learn and feel confident about on my own. I had planned on taking a watercolor class this week at Archivers. The class had a reasonable price - $15. But then I saw that Hero Arts had a video on watercoloring stamped images. So - I decided to take the You Tube route before throwing down my money. I'm trying to avoid the feeling of nausea from the huge amounts of spending. And I'm sure glad I did. Watching the videos gave me just the confidence I needed to give watercoloring one more try. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement and there's a good chance I will take the class at a later date, but for now, I'm definitely good. Gotta love the generosity of the crafting community. In an effort to help people find the confidence I got from watching technique videos, I am adding some links. I hope you enjoy.

Hero Arts - Watercolor Pencils + Stamping

Paynete's Watercolor Pencils

Watercolor Pencils & Blender Pen

Jewels's Quick N Easy Watercolor Pencils

There are so many great watercolor pencil videos on You Tube. If you need more inspiration, definitely check out the videos on their site. In other news, I got my new stamps from PaperTrey Ink - the very last of my stimulus plan purchases. I decided I must have them after seeing an example of their use on the designer's blog - Melissa Bickford. I can't wait to play with these new images. I hope you find inspiration today. Until then...Happy Crafting.