handmade giving

I've been making handmade gifts since I can remember. As a artist and crafter it has always been my favorite way to show love. And amidst the insanity of the holiday season, no matter how busy I am, I always make time to create handmade gifts. Part of my process is thinking, reminiscing and even praying for the person that I am creating for. I draw, I paint and I create with my friends and family in mind. Each brush stroke I paint, each line I draw, I am thinking about the people that I care about. This process has become my favorite part of the holiday season because it keeps me from going crazy with the shopping, rushing around and getting lost being a consumer. Today I want to challenge you to take a little time to make something for someone you love- a love note, a doodle, a handmade card...anything (even if it's small) to step away from the holiday madness for just moment and use creativity to show your love.

kids markers- tips and tricks for adults

Here is the deal...I LOVE kid's markers, specifically Crayola Washable Markers (and no I was not paid to say this). Even in my days before before Lucy, I would grab kid's markers instead of spending lots of money on all those fancy markers. Today I thought I would share some of my favorite tips and tricks when using kid's markers for adult mixed media projects!

Any washable or water soluble markers will work with the things that I share but I really do have a special place in my heart for Crayola Markers. They remind me of coloring as a kid, they come in a really great variety of colors and they are a super affordable way to add color to drawings and mixed media projects. The best part of using kid's markers is that I don't feel guilty when I am hard on them or treat them bad! I am notorious for loosing, ruining and and using my supplies in crazy ways so spending $3.50 on a package of markers is perfect for me.

My three year old Lucy loves to color which means we always have markers around but I also like to keep my own stash on hand. I typically will purchase a few packages at a time and I set one set aside for coloring only and then I use another set for experiments, layering and blending.

Markers and colored and colored pencils are so easy to toss into your purse and head out to create on the go!

Kid's markers are great to use for adding color to doodles and drawings. While they may not come in the color options that fancy illustration markers come in, they still have really nice classic colors that will transform any line drawing into something vibrant!

You can also layer and blend with them which makes coloring WAY more interesting!

I like to start with a light color and then I go over the top with another color (typically in the same color family).

Then I grab the lighter color and go over the top of everything- the two colors will begin to blend together.

I repeat this process over and over again until my colors are blended to my satisfaction!

I like using this blending technique when I am coloring my designs. It is a great way to add depth and layers of color.

One of my favorite things about the Crayola Washable Markers is that they are water soluble which means they will wash out of clothing but they also can be used like watercolors!

Add water to the surface and you can dissolve that pigment and blend it or even paint with it!

I LOVE using this process to transform marker drawings into something that look a little more like watercolors by softening edges and blending the color.

Remember a while back when I shared how to make a watercolor pencil travel palette? Well the cool thing about washable markers is that you can do the same thing!

Simply fill a page with marker pigment. When you are ready to paint, you can pull out your sheet of paper, add water and use the pigment for painting.

TIP: I always use a water brush when I am painting on the go. Because you fill the handle with water, it cancels out the need for a jar of water!

You can toss these pages into your pencil pouch and paint on the go without the hassle of bringing lots of supplies!

Another cool thing you can do is actually wet your paper first and then use the markers to draw onto the wet paper- you get a pretty bleed very similar to a watercolor bloom.

I like to use this technique to create real loose, watery background that I draw on over the top of.

And last, one of my favorite ways to use those markers is when they begin to dry out! I remove the ink and drop it into a small jar of water overnight. The ink will seep into the water and you are left with a liquid watercolors! I add this to spray bottles and misters and use them in my mixed media backgrounds.

TIP: You can even add the ink to rubbing alcohol to create your homemade alcohol inks!

There you go! I hope I have convinced a few of you that kid's markers are GREAT supply for adults!

living room work space

When the seasons change, I have a tradition of changing the house around (it's kinda an uncontrollable impulse). Fall is here and rain will be coming to the Oregon Coast which means we will be spending more time inside which also means we need some better family work space. 

Recently I moved around our living room to relocated our large white desk to the wall and set up a clean and simple work space that we all could use for different projects

Since I love changing our furniture and decor around, I have learned over time that it's better to invest in neutral pieces of furniture that can be accented with trendy colors, pattern and accessories. 

1. We've had 6 of these Baxton plastic accent chairs for the last couple of years and I love using them around the house. They are clean, modern and retro and are really comfortable!

2. These nickel plated Barometer work lamps from IKEA are perfect for our work space.

3. One of the best purchases we made about five years ago was a white Besta Burs desk from IKEA. It is big but long and skinny enough to work in different places. Over the years, I've used it as an entry way desk, a sofa table and a work desk. 

Since I added the long desk to this wall, we suddenly had a big empty space which was perfect for an engineer print. An engineer print is a GIANT print for cheap and they only come in black and white. You can get them at Staples, Fed Ex, Kinkos but my print is from Photojojo and it measure 3ft x 4ft. 

When you live with a surfer there is always old or broken surfboards laying around and I used one of Andy's old boards and transformed it into art to hang above the engineer print.

So far we are loving this space- it is a great little change to our living room that will get us through the fall and winter with a little more space.

doodled lunch bag clips

Over the weekend, at the retreat in my studio- I served sack lunches every day but I wanted to make them a little bit special. I decided to transform some of my ocean themed doodles into decorative and fun little clips for each lunch bag!

I started by drawing some simple fish, jellyfish and shells in black pen.

Next I made photocopies of my drawings and then added some quick color.

Then I cut everything out and glued them to the top of a clothes pin.

Last, I added a doily and colorful paper to the top of each lunch sack and finished them with the clips!

It was such a fun way to transform a plain lunch bag into something a little bit special!

embroidery hoop doodles

As you know I love to doodle and lately I've been having fun doodling on embroidery hoops. There is something fun and creative about the process of working inside of a circle (instead of a square) that I love! 

I use fabric, anything will work. Stretch and tighten the fabric in the hoop and then paint it with black acrylic paint. Next I use a white Sharpie paint pen and go to town filling the surface with doodles!