shop handmade this season!

I am so excited to be sharing a variety of makers in the coming weeks. My hope is to inspire you to shop handmade this holiday season!

1. Melanie Biehle is an artist and designer based in Seattle. She's inspired by the energy of cities, the adventure of travel, the meditative qualities of oceans and lakes, and the mood boards in her mind based on 60s rom-coms, mid-century modern textiles, and California surf culture. Melanie is available for abstract painting and illustration/design commissions. She also offers original art, prints, and products for purchase online

2. Craftic is where you can find DIY projects inspired by your craft closet.  It's a tutorial website but it's not yet another craft tutorial site. Think of it as a reverse recipe maker... but with craft supplies like paper, yarn, buttons, etc.

3. I am an artist and author who makes portraits of, and books for kids! i love working on custom watercolor portraits with a unique or whimsical touch. And I am passionate about encouraging kids to express themselves creatively via my books and online doodling workshops!

4. Sweetpea and Co. is for the parent who wants their little ones to wear clothing that is comfortable, playful, and unique. Inspired by my own children, each of my products are designed and created by hand in Minnesota, and guaranteed to make you smile and bring joy.

5. Journal Junkies & Dabbling Doodlers: The Daily Musings Journal provides the perfect container for a bite-sized creative practice. I created it from a personal practice of capturing my everyday moments. With it's "blank-canvas, hand-drawn daily squares" you can write, doodle, draw, letter — use it for a gratitude journal, daily haiku, meditations — whatever your heart needs to express over at http://dailymusingsjournal.com 

6. My name is Anne Butera and I am a self-taught watercolor painter. My art delights in the magic and joys of plants, flowers and the natural world. I’m passionate about sharing that magic and joy with you through my original paintings, fine art prints, calendars and online classes in my shop www.mygiantstrawberry.com

7. halfmoon ATELIER is a sewing pattern label that strikes a balance between function and fashion with a focus on simple design, unique details and sustainable sewing. Halfmoon patterns are layered by size for printing and cutting ease and come with carefully crafted and attractively illustrated step-by-step instructions to ensure sewing success.

8. I am an interior designer/artist that loves to create mixed media art. In my shop you will find handmade products such as art and ornaments using fabric, paint and hand stitching. I create whimsical colorful pieces with appliqued fabric and stitched on either fabric upholstered canvas, embroidery hoops and/or wood slices. Shop at bet-jat by behjat

9. Limn Colors creates hand-mulled, artist-grade watercolor paints that highlight the unique characteristics of each individual pigment. Paints are made from scratch, with premium materials and no fillers, and packaged in 3d printed half pans. The growing color line features both earths and brights, with historic and traditional hues alongside modern novelty colors.

10. The Craft Arty Kid is a shop full of handmade goodies, specializing in Christmas decorations for the holiday season. The range of items includes hand sewn felt dogs, emoji keyrings and original artwork, representing all of my creative sides.

11. Eileen McKenna paints the ocean in watercolors. Prints of her seascapes are available on watercolor paper or canvas, in several sizes, at https://shop.eileenmckenna.com/. The perfect gift for the beach lover in your life!

12. I'm a hand embroiderer mainly using a technique called threadpainting and get my inspiration from illustrations and nature.  I'm happy to work on commissions, can personalize any item and would love to work with you to create something special at At My Grandmothers Knee

finger painted wrapping paper

If you've followed me for a while, you will know that I love making handmade wrapping paper during the holidays. And I REALLY love finding simple ways to create that paper. I thought it would be fun to kick off the holiday season with one of my favorite ways to make simple and colorful floral wrapping paper- using your fingers! The best part is that this project is easy and fun for all ages.

I like to use craft paper, white wrapping paper or butcher paper when I am creating my own wrapping paper. I used a roll of white butcher paper and smaller sheets of craft paper for this project.

To begin, select a few colors of acrylic paint.

Dip a finger into one color and begin creating simple and messy flowers. There is no need to get perfect or worry about details- this process is all about capturing the basic shape of a flower.

Keep in mind, the more you move those fingers around, the more expressive the flowers will be.

Add a few simple stems or leaves around those flowers- this will really complete any simple flower.

And then begin filling that surface. Lucy went wild with all kinds of colorful rose inspired shapes on a smaller pieces of craft paper.

And I filled large pieces of butcher paper with colorful flowers.

An afternoon of messy fun and a little collection of really pretty paper!

Looking for more inspiration for handmade wrapping?

1. stitched gift wrap  2. gingerbread present toppers  3. puff paint wrapping  4. wrapping with nature  5.marbleized wrapping  6. holiday wrapping with paper bags  7. using beads in your gift wrapping  8. using book pages in our wrapping 9. black and white wrapping paper 10. gift wrap from the hardware store 11. wood grain wrapping paper 12. ways to recycle your wrapping paper 

13. doodle ribbon  14. gingerbread wrapping paper 15. gelli print wrapping paper

EXTENDED sale- 1 more week!

Friends, I have extended my Black Friday sale another week! I sold out of almost all my handmade goodies within a couple hours. Many of you missed out and contacted me so we added more stuff to the shop (that is on sale) and are extending the low prices on online classes this week!

You can head over to the shop for low prices.

I've got another batch of pottery, canvas pouches, ceramic earrings, and original paintings now in the shop

happy weekend!

happy thanksgiving!

5 last minute ideas for your thanksgiving table

Use a coloring page in your table setting! I share 5 ways to put it to use with a FREE coloring download HERE

Last minute ideas to decorate and set that holiday table HERE

Create gratitude stones to hand out to dinner guests HERE

Last minute table place cards HERE

Gratitude party favors HERE

EARLY BLACK FRIDAY SALE ALL WEEK!

It's a tradition around here to have an EARLY Black Friday Sale!

And this year I've got EVERYTHING in the shop on sale ALL WEEK LONG- Sunday, November 19-Monday, November 27th!

Spend over $100 and receive a free class of your choice!

Below is a peek at some of the goodies on sale!

All of my online classes (Over 80 classes available) are marked way down this week!

I've got a fresh batch of homemade art journals in the shop!

A huge batch of new pottery all on sale!

Clay earrings made by my mom!

A big batch of canvas pouches!

Head on over to the shop HERE for sale prices all week long!

happy weekend!

creating with Janna- floral wreath card

I am a huge fan of hand drawn wreaths, but sometimes I do not have enough time to sit down for hours to create a detailed and big drawing and sometimes I just might not feel like that either. So I came up with a solution for last minute cards and tags that are supposed to be handed out the same day – a very plain and fun version of a hand drawn wreath. I promise, you can´t do anything wrong here.


I used my favourite Tombow markers for drawing and scrapbooking supplies to create the card. You can use any markers, even children´s pens. When it came to adding a sentiment, I was lazy and used a stamp, I could have used my own handwriting instead or even created my own stamp. I like the clean font of the stamp though, as it creates a nice contrast to the slightly messy wreath.

Not that hard, right? As you see, I used very simple shapes, you can do this way more detailed and realistic, if you like. Also, try out different ways of drawing flowers, leaves and branches - it´s all about the practice. I recommend trying the markers in a sketch book and on a scrap piece of the cardstock you are using in the project first, as they react differently on every paper.

The great thing about creating hand drawn floral wreaths is, that each is a unique creation. It is also a great way to practice for bigger projects.

I hope this tutorial inspires you to try drawing a floral wreath yourself. I would love to see your projects, scribbles and process photos, so please tag me on Instagram with @jannawerner

Love, Janna
http://jannawerner.de

5 simple ways to use a brayer

One of my favorite creative tools is a brayer. A brayer is traditionally used for spreading ink in the printmaking process but I love using a brayer to apply paint. Today I've got 5 of my favorite simple ways to use a brayer.

1. I use my brayer to create colorful backgrounds. Roll that brayer over your surface- I like to layer color and roll it in different directions to create lots of texture.

2. You can also blend color with that brayer. Drop paint onto your surface and then roll the brayer through the color. 

The color will roll off the brayer onto the surface.

3. You can also use a brayer to pick up texture. Roll the brayer over paint and things that have texture or dimension to them (bubble wrap, fiber, etc).

Then roll the brayer over your surface.

You will get a really light reverse imprint of that texture.

4. My favorite way to use a brayer is to create an imprint by pressing anything that has texture to a surface. The brayer gives you the ability to press, roll and smush all kinds of stuff (bubble wrap, burlap, leaves, flowers, string, etc) onto your surface to create really great imprints of texture.   

5. You can also wrap all kinds of stuff around the brayer to create texture on that surface! I like using a piece of ribbon or string.

Roll the brayer wrapped with ribbon through paint and then roll it onto your surface. The result is really unique texture!