Thursday, December 28, 2017

Art Journaling: Whimsical Watercolor Flowers Hand Painted on Newspaper DIY How To Tutorial


Today I had a bit of an art day and created these watercolor flowers.  I plan on using them in my journals to add a little bit of artistic whimsy to my pages.  I thought I would share how to make them.



Supplies are minimal and basic!  
Watercolors (inexpensive watercolors, even children's watercolors work just fine for this)
Wax Paper to protect your surface
Newspaper
Watercolor brush
Gel Pens - I used white
Sharpie Pens- I used black


The directions to make these whimsical cuties is simple as well!

Spread out your newspaper.  I used wax paper underneath the newspaper to protect my working surface.

Paint random round shapes in various sizes with the watercolor paints all over the newspaper.  You will need various sizes so that you can stack the flowers if you want a dimensional flower.  I mixed my colors up but you could paint them in a solid color if you prefer.  

Next choose some paint for your leaves and paint random leave shapes on your newspaper.

Allow the paint to dry and cut out the shapes.



With a black Sharpie I drew lines and doodles on the flowers and leaves.  Next I added white dots / and or lines with a white gel pen.  You can use whatever colors you would like to doodle little designs on your flowers.

I wanted some of the flowers to be dimensional so all I did was scrunch them up so that they were all crunched up.  Then I opened them up.  I chose various sizes so that I could make a layered flower.  I glued them on layer by layer beginning with the largest flower on the bottom and adding smaller flowers as I went along until I had what I wanted.  Next I glued the leaves in place.

So there you have it!  Whimsical watercolor flowers for your projects, scrapbooks, journals, etc.

I hope you enjoy these little flowers and I hope that maybe, just maybe, that I have inspired you to create your own!

What have you been creating lately?

Monday, February 27, 2017

Frugal Handmade Gift Idea - Crochet Slippers and a Free Pattern Link


I LOVE it when I find cute, simple patterns that are suitable for gift making and giving!  I think these adorable crochet slippers fit the bill perfectly!  And better yet is that there is a FREE CROCHET PATTERN made available thru the Redheart website! You can find the pattern by clicking here!

I changed up the trim around the slippers just a bit by crocheting a picot border instead of that in the pattern.  I really like how these slippers turned out.  So much so that I made another pair in a colorway similar to that on the website! 

It takes less than a skein of yarn to crochet the slippers.  You can even use yarn scraps to make the flowers, leaves and border using yarn stash that you have on hand.  That is a pretty frugal and thrifty gift idea in my book!  And they are SUPER CUTE! 

I am happy to add these slippers to my gift stash! 

Do you keep a stash of handmade gifts on hand too?