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5 Minute Birthday Cards to DIY

(*This post includes affiliate links. By purchasing through them, I may receive compensation at no additional cost to you. These links help me keep my blog running and filled with art!)

Hi Friends! If you need a birthday card that you can whip up in just a couple of minutes, I have 3 of them to share with you, and you really only need a few supplies! I used *Tombow markers and adhesives because they’re my favorite! You can purchase Tombow supplies *here.

The full tutorial is available over on the Tombow USA blog.

These cards are super simple and are really just some doodles and colors, but I show you how to turn those lines into 3 happy birthday cards!

I think this pinata card is my favorite. I always had a pinata at my birthday party growing up. Learn how to make these cards here.

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Creativation 2018: Trends Recap

Hey guys! I’m back home in my studio after a week in Arizona! I was in Phoenix for the annual Tombow Design Team Summit where we do product training, and this year Tombow decided to combine the summit with the Creativation show, which I thought was a really great idea! Creativation (formerly known as CHA) is a show put on by AFCI (Association For Creative Industries) and is a trade show for businesses and manufacturers to attend and show their new products.

Friday was a day filled with Tombow training! This was the first time I’d met most of the Tombow marketing team in person, as well as all of my fellow design team members and it was so great to get to know them. I’m an introvert so getting to know people is always hard for me, but everyone on the team is so nice and I’m thrilled to be working with them.

Saturday we all split into groups and walked around the Creativation show floor! If you’ve never been, let me just tell you that the show floor is pretty big, and while we covered most of it in 5 hours, we could have also spent all weekend just looking at all of the booths!

In this post I am not going to try to feature all of the new products out in the creative industry. What I want to talk about is the trends I saw on the show floor! This includes trends that have been around for a little bit and are still going strong, and trends that are just emerging! So let’s do this:

Travelers Notebooks and Planners

Planners are still a huge trend and so many companies have started making their own, I saw so many different versions and designs. Another thing I saw: Travelers Notebooks. Definitely a lot of these popping up as they get more popular in scrapbooking, journaling and planning.

Peacocks

You know how last year Flamingos were THE bird? Well, I still saw flamingos (and pineapples) around, but one feathered friend I saw popping up a LOT on the show floor this year were peacocks! I saw them on beading kits, on paper, etc. Amy Tangerine had some reallly cute peacock designs in her new line. (I didn’t get a very close up photo of them though…)

Llamas, Cats, Caticorns and Unicorns

There were SO many llamas, and unicorns, and a ridiculous amount of Caticorns!

Mermaids and Sea

Mermaids! Mermaids! Mermaids! I saw many paper companies with mermaid patterned paper, and ocean themes such as jelly fish and narwhals (real life whale-unicorn! love!)

Florals

I’m not sure that Flowers can really be considered a trend, they’re pretty timeless from a design aspect, I think, but they were certainly everywhere on the show floor! Lots of floral designs on planners, 3d paper flowers, and layered flowers.

Galaxies

I’m super thankful that galaxies aren’t out yet. They’ll never be gone for me.

Wood

I noticed a lot of mixed media and DIY’s involving wood plaques and logs. And not just at Walnut Hollow’s booth- so many booths used wood products to feature their work.

Paint Pouring

This technique seemed to go viral online this past year and it’s huge. Everyone wants to try Dirty Pours and it’s even easier now because DecoArt has come out with some brand new paint pouring mediums.

Comics and Super Heroes

I didn’t get a photo of any of these, but I noticed so many super hero and comic inspired designs on different products!

Vintage and Retro Color Schemes

There were some really unique color schemes around the show floor. I saw a lot of combinations that reminded me of vintage and retro colors.

Brush Pens

You all know Tombow makes my absolute favorite brush pens, but with lettering being as popular as it is, I noticed many many companies now selling markers!

A few other things I noticed: Foiling and watercolors are still really popular. Greenery, such as palm leaves and ferns, is still a trendy design, which I love. Textures- I saw a lot of journals and things made with suede or leather. I saw a lot less scrapbooking booths and more diy/mixed media booths than I did the last time I was there.

So there we have it! This was the 3rd time I’ve been to Creativation/CHA, although it had been a couple of years since my last trip. It’s always a really fun experience and I love being able to see and learn about the new products coming soon to the creative industry!

What trends have you noticed lately? Which do you love or just cannot stand?

Thanks for a good trip, Phoenix!

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Welcome to Studio Katie

Hey guys, welcome to my new blog, Studio Katie! I’m so glad you’re here! Studio Katie is something I’ve been working on for the past few months and I’m thrilled to be able to share it with you. It’s not exactly a new blog, as I’d been sharing my work over on Punk Projects (my previous blog) for over 8 years and have transferred many of those post over to the archives here. However my artwork and style has evolved since I first started that blog and I felt it was time for a change and a rebrand, so here we are!

What do I have planned for this new website and blog?

I plan to share more of my art. I never shared much of my sketchbooks or paintings before, but that’s something I want to change.
More art tips and tutorials! I need to do some updated “favorite supplies” posts, and of course I’ll continue sharing tutorials.
More of what I’ve shared in the past- more journals, more DIY’s, more scrapbooks, etc.
A shop! I plan to open a shop here soon to sell my art. I’ve been asked a lot about art prints, so I’m excited to say that they’re coming!

If you have a minute to look around the site, please do! I’ve got a brand new about me page, and a portfolio to showcase some of my favorite projects. If there’s anything specific you’d like to see more of, leave me a comment here or contact me.

One last thing- I want to say an immeasurable thank you to Caylee Grey, who helped me set up this site. Caylee is an amazing friend and talented artist, and I couldn’t have done this without her.

Art Journals

Get Messy Season of Nature – Week 5

It is the Season of Nature at *Get Messy. So for the next few weeks I’m working in this Nomad Notebook journal.

*Get Messy Art Journal is an art journaling program that is a school, art playground and family. We are a group of like minded art journalers who have come together under this art form to learn, share, practice our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. Our community values consistent creating, encouragement and support and trying new things. We would love to have you join us as a member of Get Messy Art Journal.

You can read more about why I love the Get Messy community here..

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I created this first page early on in the week. The collage on the left half of the page is inspired by the collage style of Essie. She makes some really neat journal pages using little paper strips. I cut up watercolor paper for this technique.

The right half of the spread features one of my spirit bear illustrations.

I also created this second spread this week, although I don’t love it. The photo is one I took in my backyard at Christmas (we got snow on Christmas! yay!), but I don’t love that I scraped paint on to the top of it. Oh well.

This week I’ve been doing some behind the scenes work on my blog, working on a collab journal, and still experimenting with oil paints. How has your week been?

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Get Messy Season of Nature – Week 4

It is the Season of Nature at *Get Messy. So for the next few weeks I’m working in this Nomad Notebook journal.

You can read more about why I love the Get Messy community here..

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I’ve got 2 pages from my art journal to share with y’all this week. This first one I love. I created a collage of galaxy images (from NatGeo magazines) for the night sky, and used a photo of Mount Rainier (that I photographed on one of my hikes) below the night sky.

I finished off the page with some painted on trees in the foreground and a quote from John Muir. He has the best nature quotes.

My other page for the week is a pretty simply one, but I’m pleased with it. The girl is a copy from my sketchbook, and I cut out all of the letters on the right half of the page from a gelli print.

I received a set of oil paints as a Christmas gift, so most of my extra free time (when I usually journal) this past week has been spent experimenting and learning oils instead of journaling. 😉

Have you ever used oil paints? Any tips?

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Get Messy Art Journal: 2017 Creative Team Blog Hop

Hey y’all! Today, My fellow 2017 Get Messy Art Journal Creative Team members and I are doing a fun little blog hop to celebrate the end of the year.

Today’s blog post is a little bit bittersweet, as I will no longer be a part of the Get Messy creative team in 2018. I’ve really enjoyed my time on the creative team, and I’ve gotten to know so many awesome art journalers throughout the past year.

Our blog hop today is all about sharing the art journal love and support for our fellow 2017 creative team members. We’re each doing a post about another member of the team. Today I’m taking Ashley as my inspiration!
Ashley is such a lovely and talented artist. I always really enjoy seeing her work because she can take any technique and use it in her own style, which is very bright and clean. I love that even if she’s doing a “messy” medium, such as paints, her work always looks good.

Isn’t her artwork so beautiful:

I created this page in my Season of Nature journal inspired by Ashley and her happy style:

When I think of Ashley I immediately think of a lot of white and neutral colors combined with black, gold, and soft pinks. So I used those colors on my page, making it my own by creating galaxy flowers!

You can find Ashley online here: Blog, Instagram. She is so talented, I would definitely recommend taking a peek at her work!

If you have a bit of free time, you can follow along with our 2017 Creative Team hop by visiting the rest of the team:

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Get Messy Season of Nature – Week 3

It is the Season of Nature at *Get Messy. So for the next few weeks I’m working in this Nomad Notebook journal.

You can read more about why I love the Get Messy community here..

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This week was my week to post a tutorial up on the Get Messy blog, so I shared a doodling tutorial and a free printable! If you’re a member of Get Messy, you can log onto the private blog to download my printable!

It’s a little bittersweet as this was my last as a part of the Get Messy Creative Team. They’re changing things up for 2018, including a brand new Creative Team. I’m excited to see what’s in store.

Here are the rest of my pages from this week:

I painted this Aurora girl in my sketchbook earlier in the week and I wanted to include her here in my nature journal to dedicate a page to the Aurora Borealis, which I really want to see.

Misty posted a tutorial this week about using browns and earth tones, so this next page is inspired by that.

And my next page for the week is also pretty simple. A photograph, some oil pastel scribbles and a reminder to listen.

Have you been art journaling much lately? After my rough week last week I took the time to do more journaling and just things that make me happy this week.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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DIY Market List Stand

Hey y’all! Today I’ve got a new blog post up over on the Walnut Hollow blog! I’m showing you how to create a DIY Grocery List stand using their Tablet Stand! It’s the perfect size for a list and doesn’t take up too much counter space.

See the full DIY here.

(This blog post is sponsored by Walnut Hollow, I received compensation however all creative magic and opinions are my own.)

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Get Messy Season of Nature – Week 2

It is the Season of Nature at *Get Messy. So for the next few weeks I’m working in this Nomad Notebook journal.

You can read more about why I love the Get Messy community here..

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This week I’ve been taking over the Get Messy instagram account and sharing my journal there, which is always fun.

I’ve got 2 pages to share with you here this week:

Maps, newsprint, gesso, watercolors and modeling paste are such a great combination.

My next page includes one of my own photographs (from Seven Falls, Colorado), a piece of scrap foil, and one of my girl drawings.

It’s been a little bit of a rough week for me. One of my guinea pigs has been having dental problems and didn’t make it, so I’ve been too sad to do much creative work.

I hope your week has been better. 🙂

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My Top 3 Tombow Gifts for Artists

This week on the Tombow blog, those of us on the design team have each been posting holiday gift guides, all aimed at different creative hobbies.

My post is up today, and it is all about my top 3 Tombow products for Artists! If you want to see the list, Here it is.

I’d also recommend checking out the other lists on the Tombow blog!