#tutorial

Katie Smith

How To Create A Traced Portrait

I’ve got a fun sketching technique to share with y’all today! I love to sketch portraits freehand (drawing nerd!), however sometimes I want to do things the easy way- tracing! So today that is what I’m going to show you. For this project I am creating a portrait of one of my favorite artists- Frida Kahlo, but this will work on just about any photo, I think. 🙂 I recently received Cricut’s new Bright Pad (Thank you Cricut!) and I am using it in this project. The Bright Pad is

Katie Smith

DIY Butterfly Resin Tray

Hey guys, today I have a project to share with you that I’m really excited about! I created these “Lepidoptera Display Trays” for Walnut Hollow and I LOVE how they turned out! Lepidoptera is the order of insects that includes moths and butterflies, and I’ve always loved the bug displays so that is what inspired this DIY. With a coat of resin on top, they look like they are under glass! I’m super pleased with how they turned out. Grab the full tutorial here. #featured #tutoria

Katie Smith

DIY Repeated Stamp Pattern | Tombow + Lawn Fawn Blog Hop!

Hey y’all! Today those of us on the Tombow Design Team are teaming up with Lawn Fawn’s Design Team to show you some awesome ways to use Tombow and Lawn Fawn products! Lawn Fawn makes the cutest stamps so they pair up perfectly with Dual Brush Pens! You may have landed on my post from Lynnette’s blog, but if not, start at the beginning of the hop here. At the bottom of my post, you’ll find the lineup for the rest of the hop – make sure you check out everyone’s awesome projects

Katie Smith

DIY Wood Burned Cactus Art

Hey Y’all, Today I am over on the Walnut Hollow blog sharing a few tips for doing wood burned illustrations, like these cactus above! You can get the full tutorial on the Walnut Hollow blog here. #featured #tutorial #walnuthollow

Katie Smith

DIY Triangle Shelf Planter

Hey Y’all, Today I am over on the Walnut Hollow blog sharing how I created this fun Color Blocked Triangle Shelf Planter! I love how this project turned out, I think the gold and the lettering is a perfect touch, don’t you? You can get the full tutorial on the Walnut Hollow blog here. #tutorial #walnuthollow

Katie Smith

How To Blend Tombow Dual Brush Pens

Hey y’all, I have a mew tutorial up on the Tombow blog today! This week those of us on the Tombow design team are creating projects showing ways to use the Tombow Blending Palette, so I’m showing you how to use the blending palette 2 different ways to easily blend Dual Brush Pens. Get the full tutorial here. *I am an affiliate for Tombow. This post might include some affiliate links. If you purchase using them, I might get a small commission at no additional cost to you. #c

Katie Smith

DIY Garden Journal based on Pantone’s 2017 Color of the Year

Hey y’all, I have a tutorial up on the Tombow blog today! This week those of us on the Tombow design team have been creating projects inspired by Pantone’s 2017 Color of the Year- Greenery. Tombow equivalent to Greenery in the Dual Brush Pens that is 195- Light Green and for the Tombow Irojiten Colored Pencils it is P-5 Lettuce Green. They inspired me to create this garden journal. Get the full tutorial here. #artjournal #tombow #tutorial

Katie Smith

DIY Hand Lettered Kindle Cozy

Hey guys, I am sharing a tutorial for how to make this cute kindle cozy over on the Tombow blog today! Although I love “real” books, my Kindle comes in super handy when I am traveling (I don’t have to lug around a stack of books!), so why not make it a cute case? I used Dual Brush Pens to dye some fabric, and then a MONO Twin Permanent Marker to letter on the quote. Get the full tutorial on the Tombow Blog. #tombow #tutorial

Katie Smith

DIY Wall Sign for a Hygge (cozy) Art Studio

Hey guys, I have a new tutorial up on the Walnut Hollow blog! This one is inspired by Hygge! Hygge (pronounced hoo-gah) is a Danish word that is a feeling or mood that comes taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary, every day moments more meaningful, beautiful or special. I’ve also seen that it means “cozy”. I created this wall panel to try and make my art studio a little more Hygge. If you want to make your own, grab you wood burner, some acrylic paints and read the full

Katie Smith

Creating Art Journal Word Labels using Tombow’s MONO Air Correction Tape

Hey y’all, I am over on the Tombow blog today showing you how I used the MONO Air Correction Tape to create journaling labels/strips in my art journal! Hop on over to see the full tutorial. #artjournal #tombow #tutorial

Katie Smith

DIY Acrylic Paint Galaxy on Wood

Hey you guys, I have a new tutorial up on the Walnut Hollow blog! This time I am showing you how to paint galaxies and night skies on to wood, using acrylic paint! Usually I paint galaxies on paper with watercolors, but I do love a good acrylic galaxy as well. You can get the full tutorial here. #featured #tutorial #walnuthollow

Katie Smith

DIY Mixed Media Art Journal Page using Tombow’s MONO Drawing Pencils

Hey y’all, My first post as a part of the Tombow design team is up! Yeah! I am showing you how I created this art journal page, if you want to see more be sure to hop over to the Tombow blog here. #artjournal #tombow #tutorial

Katie Smith

DIY Wood Slice Table Runner for the Holidays

Guys, I am super excited about today’s project! It turned out just as I was imagining, which is always good, yes? 🙂 What is it? A DIY Wood Slice Table Runner. I used a bunch of Walnut Hollow‘s awesome Basswood Country Round® Ornament/Coasters to create this table runner. The coolest thing (in my opinion) is that it is reversible! I painted Autumn leaves on to one side and Christmas designs on the other. I’m not set when it comes to table decor for the holidays! As I mentione

Katie Smith

DIY Resist Background Using Tombow’s MONO Glue Pen

Hey guys, today I’ve got an art journal page to show and I wanted to share a fun technique using a favorite new product of mine! The product: Tombow’s MONO Glue Pen The Technique: Watercolor Resist The MONO glue pen is really neat, it’s basically just as it sounds- a pen that writes with adhesive. As one of their brand ambassadors, Tombow recently sent me this pen to try out, and I’ve been having lots of fun with it. You can obviously use it as glue, to adhere small or intric

Katie Smith

DIY Lisa Frank Forever Pencil Bag

This is a project in my Back-to-School Lisa Frank series! Lisa Frank Foreverrrr! If you’re also on #TeamLisaFrank, then you’ll love this pencil bag! I restyled a plain clear zipper bag by cutting out letters from vinyl- super easy! Even easier if you have a die cut machine (I used my Brother ScanNCut), but you can also cut them by hand it will just take a teeny bit longer. Supplies: Plastic Pencil Bag Vinyl in Rainbow Colors Die Cut Machine OR Letter Stencil, Marker, and Scis

Katie Smith

DIY Ribbon Wrapped Tins to Hold Supplies!

Hey guys, I am thrilled to announce that I’m going to be working with May Arts to bring you guys fun ribbon crafts! I posted my first project on the May Arts blog earlier this week! As you guys know, one of my favorite types of craft projects to do are recycled projects, especially recycled Pirouline tins! They are perfect for holding school supplies and crafting tools and I love the fun prints that the ivory canvas ribbon is available in! You can find my full tutorial over

Katie Smith

DIY Masked Art Journal Page

Hey guys, I know you know that I really enjoy playing in my art journal. I’ve fallen in love with art journaling over the past year and love experimenting with new ideas and techniques. Today I wanted to share with you a recent page I made using the Hazel and Ruby Cut your own Stencil material. I cut out a bunch of different sized flowers from the Stencil Mask material on my Brother Scan N Cut to use in my journal and then hopefully again in future projects as well! Next I pa

Katie Smith

DIY Geometric Heart Wooden Box

I’ve got another fun Valentine project for you guys today. I created this heart box for DecoArt, and I know you guys are going to love it! I shared this trick a couple of years ago, making faux 3D hearts and so I did it again, only this time I used paint to create an optical illusion 3D heart on top of this box. If you look at it straight from the top, it looks 3D! But it’s actually just painted on. Here’s how you can make this little box to hold your favorite photos of loved

Katie Smith

Using Gesso in your Art Journal

Ah, Gesso. You start out confusing- what are you? Paint primer? Can’t I just use white paint? Then you become an artists best friend and I barely make any art journal pages without first giving them a coat of gesso. When I first started art journaling, I saw things about gesso, but I didn’t really know what it was, or why I would want to use it, which is why I’m telling you now why I do use it! In case you’re wondering the same thing! What is it? Here’s what the Google says:

Katie Smith

DIY Constellation Mini Embroidered Hoops

I shared this project on the Hazel and Ruby blog yesterday and I just had to share it here for you guys as well! I had a couple of holiday Crafternoon kits that I just didn’t quite get around to making before Christmas, and I didn’t want them to just sit around for a year, waiting to be made. So using the Embroidered Hoop Ornaments Kit I re-purposed it into something that I can display anytime- Constellation/Space Embroidered Hoops! I will admit to being a bit of a nerd (okay

Artist & Aesthete