Diary of a Crafty Girl

 The holidays are upon us so making time for things like self-care are harder than ever.  However, last week I made time to sit and try some water coloring and started sketching and doodling again.  My dad was interested in watercolor as well, but didn't like that I had liquid paint.  He wanted to try the kind from the tubes so I bought him a set along with some brushes so we could paint together.  For those that don't know, my dad was diagnosed with cancer last year.  He has lost a lot of drive to do creative things because his hobbies included leatherworking and woodworking - both of which he doesn't have the strength or stamina to do anymore.  The littlest things take a lot of effort for him nowadays, so I thought painting would be a good creative outlet for him.  I wanted to practice for the postcards I am going to make for my nieces and thought that would be a good time to do so.  Mine did NOT turn out like the TikTok I watched, but they looked decent.  My dad just got

 Life has been pretty hectic lately.  I had my birthday month, I started a new job, the holidays snuck up on me.... I feel like I haven't had time to do much posting so I am combining a few projects in this post. One of the Sundays we didn't have family dinner so my dad and I sat down to play in watercolors.  I didn't really know what I wanted to do with them, but I had fun getting some swatches made.  Now when I am ready to start a project, I have the swatches to help me choose my colors! I worked on my card project for December. Card reveal later since I can't share yet, but below is the craftermath.  I hate when I have what I think is a fantastic idea in my head but I can't seem to get it to work out on paper.  Finally got it to a good enough spot before turning it in, but it still wasn't what I had envisioned.  I haven't sent my nieces a postcard in a while, so I thought I would do one for Halloween and one for Thanksgiving.  The Halloween one I made a c

I consider myself to be a well-rounded crafter. From painting and card making to sewing and embroidery, I pretty much do it all.  I have been creating things for as long as I can remember. As I have grown older, I am trying to perfect a few skills and sewing is one of them.  I feel like it is a very handy skill to have.  You can repair items you already have or create something new.  This past weekend, I took time and some fabric scraps to make dog beds for two of my dogs.  They have been without them for a few months because they always get the store bought ones dirty and then you can't really wash them so we throw them away.  It's annoying spending so much on something that doesn't last long, so I decided to make ones that are easily washable.  Parker is getting up there in age (he is around 10) so I wanted his to be super comfy.  I had an old memory foam pillow I wasn't using so I decided to use that as my base and just made a cover for it.  I wanted more than a pill

 A while ago I posted a sneaky peeky of my July card design for stamp class.  I wasn't allowed to share the whole thing until after class and then I got busy and just now remembered to share. Cue *face palm* Please bask in the cuteness of my simple, plain-ish design showing off the new In Colors. 

My friend asked me a few months ago if I could make him some real life Purity Seals from Warhammer 40k, a game he plays. From the Warhammer Wiki regarding Purity Seals "For the religious or fearful, the Gods offer some consolation in the face of death. Some paint religious phrases on armour or shields, while many others pour sealing wax onto their armour and stamp it with a holy symbol to show their faith. For warriors without plate components, they incorporate such Purity Seals into the rune-inscribed plates they wear around their necks. He wanted the wax seal version since it was something he wanted to use as prizes for an event he was hosting.  I gave it a whirl and they ended up pretty cool. Fast forward to last month, he commissioned  13 more for another event he is running.  Below are pictures of the process. I still had all the materials from the last time - cotton handmade paper that looked like parchment; wax and wax seal supplies; markers and torch. He asked for a few mo

 Not sure what was going on, but yesterday was NOT a good day.  I was emotional, cranky, tired, and just blah.  I had to do laundry and basically just sat around most of the day while I waited for loads to need switching.  In the afternoon, I finally decided I needed to do something constructive so I picked crafting.  I started by picking a new journal out of my pile of empty journals and grabbing some collage items - paper, stickers, washi.  I went to work creating a collage journal page that was space themed.  It turned out pretty good for my first attempt.  Feeling pretty good, I kept up the crafting momentum and tried a new stamping technique.  Not sure what it is called, but I learned about it from another Stampin' Up! demo during a watercolor webinar.  You use your ink pads and blending brushes to create a background piece on Fluid 100 watercolor paper.  You then take a stamp, lightly mist it with water and press it onto the inked background.  Hold for a few seconds, lift it

 I've been quite busy this summer since my friend's daughter was here for 6 weeks.  I have tried to take time for myself though.  I have Wednesdays off and I have tried to reserve those for "me time".  On one Wednesday, I went to my grandma's house and she helped me to assemble some curtains that I need for my room.  I bought the fabric months ago.  I wanted a blackout lining and I wasn't sure how to go about that.  She used to work with her brother at a shop that specialized in custom window treatments so I thought having her help would be best.  We got them all laid out and pinned, I just need to dig out my machine to sew them together.  On another Wednesday, I went to my friend Sheila's house.  I took Em with me just to get her out of the house and off her Switch and phone.  She assembled some Paper Pumpkin kits while I worked on a card design for stamp class (see image below). We were there for 4 hours and I finished one card lol but it was worth it to

This past weekend I had a sleepover with my nieces and my friend's daughter.  We wanted to get them matching pajamas but it was hard to find something matching when the kids are 2, 3 and 14 years old.  So we improvised and made matching tshirts for all of us.  We started with tie dying them.  I had never done that before but Em had so she showed me the ropes. After doing a little research, I washed them in soda ash (supposed to help with color retention) and then we got to dying while they were still damp.  We put them in a ziploc plastic bag and let them sit for over 24 hours to soak in the dye.  We rinsed them out the following afternoon and then I washed them without soap in the washer. I put them through two cycles of just water to make sure there was no more dye and then dried them on high heat to help set it.  I wanted to put their names on them and a fun saying on the front.  A quick Pinterest search later and I found one that I liked - Sleepover Squad.  The original had #no

 So my friend's daughter is in town for the summer.  She loves tie dye and I was looking for something to do with her.  I saw a few things on Pinterest where they used Sharpies to tie dye shoes.  I showed her, asked if she wanted to do it, she said yes so I ordered the supplies (thanks Amazon Prime Day!).  I researched a few different designs we could try.  She wanted to do all rainbow, normal tie dye looking with doodles on top when finished.  I wanted to do a galaxy-ish motif.  To say things didn't go as planned is an understatement.  Certain colors worked better than others, we got high on alcohol fumes, it was a mess.  We did have fun though, and that's all that matters.  I think her shoes turned out way better than mine and she is proud of her work. I was sad mine didn't turn out well, but tried to save it by adding color to the seams and adding affirmations to each one. Check out our work below and let me know if you've ever tried it! Supplies at the ready My

This week I was supposed to go to my friend/upline's house to make my card for the July class.  I ended up with a cold and didn't want to infect her, so we did it via video chat instead.  It wasn't as fun as being together for a stamp session, but it was nice to have someone "with" me while I was crafting.  I knew if I didn't get it done soon, I wouldn't get it done at all, so I'm glad I had the chance to sit down and work on it.  Not being at her house meant limited resources, so I wanted to go with a simple design.  I chose to use two coordinating stamp sets - Hello Beautiful and Framed Occasions - along with the new In Colors ink, DSP and embellishments.  I can't show the whole card yet, but the stamp sets and colors I used for stamping are shown below. I love the way the stamp sets coordinate and there are a lot of great sentiments you can use.  I will post the completed card once class is over since the designs must be kept confidential until

 May is Mental Health Awareness month.  My new favorite stationery company, Archer & Olive, provided some daily prompts for the month that helped you get creative as well as with your headspace.  I have never done a prompt challenge before but I thought I would give it a go since I was struggling with my health (mental and physical).  If you want to check out all of my pages, you can find them on Instagram @creationsbynikkil  .  I will post some of the more meaningful below. Doing the challenge itself was out of my comfort zone, but posting every single page online for the world to see left me feeling vulnerable, but also I felt like I needed to share because not enough people do. By the end of the month, I was more confident and real with myself each day and I am so glad I did this challenge.  Just know that it's ok not to be ok and it's also ok to ask for help when you need it.  You don't have to struggle with it alone.  #positive #myperfectday #favoriteartsupply   #

 Not a lot has gone on craft wise since my last post, unless you count me anxiously waiting for my new Stampin Up! stuff to arrive... It will be here Monday, fingers crossed.  My week wasn't uneventful -  I helped my friend move into a new house, did some yard work with my mom to spruce up for Memorial Day, watched our small town parade, took my nieces on a playdate to the museum, caught up on some TV shows and played volleyball with my friends. We also had a situation on our street that we still don't have answers about, but will haunt us for a long time.  I have lived in our neighborhood for a total of like 16 years - when I was born until like age 6ish and then we moved away.  We moved back to the same house in December 2012.  I remembered the parade from when I was a kid and it's been the thing I look forward to the most each year as far as our neighborhood is concerned.  The parade has slowly gotten smaller, but it still hits me in my feels.  I never really thought abo

 It's been quite a while since I have posted so please excuse the rambling - it's just how my brain works.  I don't really know why I struggle to keep up with my blog, but I think it's because I wanted to to be all about crafts, but the title is Diary of a Crafty Girl, so here we go with attempt number 3? to re-start my blog and express myself somewhere besides my journal. A lot has happened in the time since my last post.  Here's my current sitch - just moved my friend out of my room and working on getting it back in working order.  By that I mean I want to get it set up to be a functional bedroom and craft room.  I wish I could have a dedicated craft room, but my financial situation is such that I am living with my parents for now, so a combined space is what I have to work with.  I have plans drawn up, just need to execute them. My mental health hasn't been the greatest lately.  I have been working on some art therapy to help with more "me" time, bu