crafting Archives - Studio Katie

DIY

5 Tips for Using Colored Pencils on Wood

*This post is sponsored by Walnut Hollow and Tombow USA and includes affiliate links. By purchasing through these links, I may receive compensation at no additional cost to you. With that in mind, I only ever promote products I love and use.*

Hey y’all, today’s blog post combines two of my favorite brands: Tombow and Walnut Hollow!

I’m no colored pencil expert, but I’ve been trying to learn them more, and lately I’ve been liking the look of colored pencils on wood, so for this project, I’m using Tombow’s Irojiten colored pencils on a Framed Sign by Walnut Hollow and I’ll be sharing with you 5 of my best tips for working with colored pencils on wood:

Supplies:

Wood surface. I’m using a Framed Sign by Walnut Hollow.
Colored Pencils. I’m using Vol 9, & Vol 1. of Irojiten Colored Pencils.
MONO Sand Eraser
Colorless Blending Pen.

Tips for using Colored Pencils on Wood:

Tip #1: Start sharp. I prefer to work with a sharp pencil, I find it gets into the woodgrain easier, so I sharpen mine vigorously and don’t let them get dull. The good news? Tombow’s Irojiten Colored Pencils are specially made to allow them to obtain a super sharp point that lasts a long time, so you won’t have to sharpen very often during the project!

Tip #2: Sketch it out. I do a practice sketch onto paper, and then sketch it lightly onto the wood before going over it darker with a black Irojiten Colored Pencil (from Vol 2). If you don’t like freehanding, you can also use transfer paper to draw a design on.

Tip #3 Make a mistake? Use the MONO Sand Eraser. This eraser acts like sand paper on the wood, so you can quickly sand off the mistake!

Tip #4: For an easy abstract background, Go with the woodgrain. Just follow the lines in the wood and color them in different colors, like I did on this project. I love that every wood piece is different, so your backgrounds will never end up the same with this technique.

Tip #5: Blend the colors by using the Colorless Blending Pen over top of the colored pencil. This marker will burnish the lead and make the colors shine a little bit more. The Irojiten’s are artist quality pencils and have such a lovely creamy texture.

A post shared by Tombow USA (@tombowusa) on Jun 26, 2018 at 2:09pm PDT

If you have any questions about this technique, leave them below!

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Adventure Mini Album

Hey my friends! Today I have my latest mini album scrapbook to share with you! My Dad and I recently took a camping trip to Lake Easton, and obviously took a few pictures!

For this mini album I used some supplies from my stash, but I also just bought some of Pink Paislee’s “outfitters” line, and I just love it and had to use some on this mini. I mean, just look at that leather badge that I used on my front cover!! love.

Here are my pages:

This mini album came together really fast, which is always great! 🙂

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DIY Lisa Frank Pencils

This is a project in my Back-to-School Lisa Frank series!

I have so so so many pencils in my supply stash, a few of them are cute, pink, patterned or something, but a lot of them are boring, plain #2 yellow pencils. So, I restyled a few of them and they are now officially WAY cooler. Like, 90’s kid cool.

I used a bit of acrylic paint in bright colors + black to make these Lisa Frank pattern inspired pencils.

Supplies:
Pencils
Acrylic Paint
#4 Paint Brush
#1 Paint Brush
Gloss Decoupage Medium
Masking or Washi Tape

1. Start by using a bit of tape to tape of the metal part of your pencils so that you don’t paint over it. If you paint over the pointed wood end, you can easily sharpen the pencil.

2. Paint the pencils with bright, happy colors! Pinks, Aquas, Purple, Oranges and Yellows are good choices.

It’s helpful to stand them up in a tin, to let them dry.

3. Use a tiny, #1 paint brush to paint on cheetah print and polka dots using black or white acrylic paint.

I use pencils a lot, every day. I can’t stand mechanical pencils though, they squeak. Anyone else have that issue?

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DIY Reversible Fruit Apron – Watermelon and Grapefruit!

Hey guys! Want to see my latest felt project?? It’s a reversible apron shaped like fruit! More specifically, watermelon and grapefruit!

Yes, I am still loving that watermelon trend. If you are too, you can find the full tutorial for this half apron on the Seams and Scissors blog here.

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DIY Tweed Recycled Pirouline Tins for Father’s Day

If you’re new here, I post a recycled Pirouline tin craft every month! You can find them all here.

For this months recycled Pirouline project I decided to restyled some tins inspired by Father’s day! I gave these tins little tweed suits so they look so gentleman-ly.

If you aren’t familiar with it, Tweed is a “rough, woolen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure.”

I plan on filling one of these up with candies to give to my Dad on Father’s day!

Here’s how to make your own:

Supplies:

Empty Pirouline Tins
Tweed Fabric
Hot Glue
Scissors
Black Acrylic Paint
Paint Brush
Buttons

1. Start by cutting a piece of tweed down to fit your tin. You want it to wrap all the way around, and go up to where the lid closes.

2. Use hot glue to adhere the tweed around the tin.

3. Use black acrylic paint to color your lids black. You could do these any color you wish, I just liked the simple black paint, that makes the suits stand out.

4. Next you’ll need to make either a tie or a bow tie to embellish the suits! These are both pretty easy.

The tie is just a simple cut out shape.

Bow-ties are also pretty easy.

Cut a 6″ x 1″ strip of felt.
Glue the 2 ends to the middle, so you have 2 loops.
Pinch the middle.
Glue a 1/2″x3″ strip of felt around the middle.

5. To finish them off, adhere your tie/bow-tie on and add on buttons!

For the red tie suit, I also added on a felt collar. To do that I simply cut a 1″ strip of tan felt to wrap around the top of the tin.

These worked up in no time at all and I am so pleased with just how stinking cute they turned out. I hope my Dad likes them!

What do you think?

You can find out more about the yummy Pirouline Cookies here: Website | Twitter | Facebook

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DIY Succulent Head Planter

Today’s project is both creepy and cool (amazing!). My Mom and I love decorating our porch and patio with planters and flowers so we’re always working on projects for it. Somewhere a while back we had seen some cement “heads” turned into planters and we totally wanted to make a version of it.

So here it is! We got both the cosmetology head and the sedum succulents free off of the Buy Nothing Project, and I already had the spray paint so this was basically a free project! Yeah!

I made a little video if you want to see my process!

(Also, the daisy is not planted in there- It’s only a flower stuck in for fun.)

If you want to make your own planter out of a plastic head, here’s how:

1. Use a hot knife to cut open the head.
2. Remove any styrofoam inside.
3. Spray paint with Hammered Finished Spray Paint (by Krylon)
4. Fill with dirt.
5. Plant succulents and sedum “hair” inside the top of the head.

Easy Peasy! But be careful with the knife!

What do you think? Totally creepy? I hope the UPS man still leaves me packages with this head staring at him from the porch…

(pssst- Did you like my video? It’s my first!)

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Restyled Patio Project

This is our first Spring here in the Pacific Northwest USA and we’ve really been enjoying it. We have been working a ton in the yard, building raised garden beds and planting flower pots.

We have this nice big patio at the back of our house, and we got the patio furniture for free! It started out ugly, plastic and black. Obviously, as crafters, we couldn’t let it stay that way.

Out came multiple cans of spray paint. We had 8 chairs and 3 tables, so we decided to use 2 different colors of paint- Sun Dried Tomato and Eden Green.

See the before? They look nearly new with a fresh coat of paint!

To finish out restyled patio, we stitched up chair pillows, and we also painted some custom plates! These were inspired by some Marimekko plates that Mark Montano created. We used colored plates from the Dollar Tree and black and white enamel paints.

What do you think? We wanted something fun and I love the Marimekko patterns.

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A Pink Moon Journal

I made this moon journal months ago. I loved how it turned out, but for some reason is just got pushed aside on my desk and I am just now sharing it.

I had checked out the book Bound by Erica Ekrem from my library. It has over 20 book binding tutorials and ideas, including a moon shaped journal! The moon journal Erica shared in her book inspired me to do my own.

I photoshopped a picture of a moon to be pink. Because, why not? After that I printed it out and used it for my cover.

Now, cutting all of the pages into circles wasn’t really fun, but it was worth it, in the end. I used a variety of papers- mostly white, some space themed.
I separated the signatures with hot pink and black papers, so that they would show on the binding.

As I mentioned, I haven’t done much in the journal since then. I think I’ve just been subconsciously saving it for the right things. I don’t know.

What shape/theme would you do a journal in?

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DIY Fabric Sketchbook Cover with Elastic Pockets

Did you guys know that today is International Tea Day? I had no idea until earlier today. I LOVE tea. Hate coffee, Love tea. So I was excited to find this out.

I’ve been hoarding this tea bag fabric for about a month now, so I decided today was obviously the perfect day to use it for something. I enjoy jazzing up my sketchbooks and notebooks, and this one was still plain and needed a restyle. Why not tea themed?

I’m sharing the tutorial of how I restyled my sketchbook with fabric, just incase you have a sketchbook in need of love, or have a certain fabric that you’ve been hoarding as well.

I added a little elastic strip to hold pencils or watercolors. It’s super handy.

Supplies: Sketchbook, Half Yard of Fabric, Sewing Machine, Iron, Craft Glue, Elastic

1. Measure your sketchbook. Mine is 9.5″x12″.

2. Add a half inch to your measurements, and cut your fabric. I cut my fabric at 10″x12.5″.

I did fabric for both the front and the back of my sketchbook, but you could, of course, just do the front.

3. Use your iron and iron down a 1/4″ seam on the edges of your fabric.

4. Cut a piece of elastic the width of your hemmed fabric, mine is 9.5″ Decide where you want it on your sketch book. I put mine around the middle.

Pin it down.

5. Stitch around the edges, sewing through both layers of the hem and stitching the ends of the elastic down.

My elastic slipped a little when I was stitching it, so it’s a little crooked. Be sure to pin it well so this doesn’t happen.

6. Take your favorite pencils, markers or paint brushes and lay them out on your elastic, getting an idea of how large they are.

You can freestyle it, or use a pencil to mark out where you need to stitch your elastic.

7. Use your sewing machine to stitch your elastic down to your fabric. I stitched mine about 1/2″ apart, using the backstitch on my sewing machine to stitch over the elastic 3-4 times to make sure it’s secure.

8. Apply a strong craft glue to your sketch book cover and place your fabric over it, using your hands to press it down slightly.

I put a little extra glue underneath where the elastic is, to make sure it stays put when I’m pulling pencils in and out.

Let dry.

Happy International Tea Day, you guys! I’m on, like, cup number 6 (?) of the day. I love tea.

So, are you a tea or coffee person? I won’t hate you if you say coffee, but I may try to convince you that tea is better.

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The Magical Gnome Forest Mural

Hey guys, so I am still unpacking my studio after our cross-country move but I wanted to share something really exciting that I did back in May- I painted my first mural!

My Aunt (who own an earth ship and lives in Colorado) asked me to paint a mural along the stairway to her root cellar. She is a lover of fantasy so it is a magical gnome forest mural, with fairies, gnomes & more! Of course because I never doing anything too simple it is pretty detailed for being in such a small space.

Get ready for a photo overload-

I really tried to personalize this mural for my Aunt and Uncle. Here are a few fun details:

What’s up with the weenie dogs? They only have one dachshund now, but they had 3 so I wanted to add a couple of weenie dogs in the mural.
The mountains are the Spanish Peaks in southern Colorado. You can see them from the front yard of their house- it’s amazing and I wanted to include them.
I added bees because my Aunt and Uncle keep bees.
My Aunt (and me!) is a tea lover, so of course I added a gnome drinking tea.

This mural took me about 2 weeks to complete, working on it a little bit every day, trying not to get sun burnt at 7500 ft elevation!

Here are some in progress shots:

What paints did I use? Red, Yellow Green, Blue, and Pink acrylic paints and also Black and White. That’s it! I love mixing my own colors.
We did seal it after it was completely done too.

I’m really really thrilled with how my first mural came out and I would love to do more in the future!

What do you think?