Niki Jin Crafts

20 Crafty Challenges to Inspire Creativity

2021-04-15T19:25:00.013-04:00

Creative challenges are all over social media these days. The basic concept is this: You create a collection of work with a running theme over the course of a set period of time. For example, every October artists create and share ink drawings each day for that month in the Inktober challenge. The 100 Day Project encourages creators to come up with their own project and contribute to it consistently for (you guessed it) 100 days. Every February 2 is Hourly Comic Day, where artists create a comic for every hour they are awake. The lettering challenge 36 Days of Type, which is going on now, has designers go through each letter of the alphabet and numbers and interpret in their unique style.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may be compensated if you click or buy. It does not affect how much you pay, but it is one way to support this blog!

As you can see, these challenges vary widely in theme and time interval. They can be great for getting your artwork seen and building a community of artists, as well as for making creative habits. I love to participate in different challenges myself once in a while. I've found that I get the most out of challenges when I keep the following in mind:

Go into the challenge with the intent to hone your skills or learn a new one.

Keep it simple. Don't get overly ambitious or you will be more apt to drop off mid-challenge. Pick something relatively easy and quick. If applicable, break up one large project into small manageable tasks. That being said, don’t stress about missing a day. Just pick back up and keep going.

Pre-plan. Write a list or sketch out what you want to create each day so you aren't grasping at ideas when it comes time to make. Set a time in the morning or evening, or perhaps only on the weekends—whatever fits into your schedule and will increase your chances of success.

Share and encourage others to participate. It's more fun when you have friends to encourage and inspire you! The easiest way to do this is to post on social media and use relevant and unique hashtags so others who are participating can see everyone else's work.

Don’t compare yourself to others. In the end, this is for your own growth.

If you're looking to start your own creative challenge, I've written up a list of ideas for all types of creatives. You can find it HERE. I thought it would also be fun to add a few more suggestions in this post that are specifically tailored for us crafters.

1. Scrapbook pages

Record your everyday moments by creating quick scrapbook pages daily or weekly. This can be a paper scrapbook or digital. Pocket pages are particularly easy to do and require minimal time.

2. Draw or craft with your kids

Perhaps your child could start a drawing or craft, and you finish it by adding your own touches. Reinterpret a scribbly drawing, turn a painting into a card or t-shirt, or create a cool frame.

Crafts with my kids

3. Redo old projects

Gather up some of your older work and see how you would reinterpret it today. See how far you've come and what you've learned.

4. Learn a new medium or recreate the same subject with different media

Is there something you've always wanted to try? Start with the basics and work your way up to more advanced techniques.

My mandalas using different media for Spoonflower's 7 Days of Design back in 2019.

5. Coloring pages

Find a book or print your own from downloaded images and complete a page a day (or part of a page if designs are more complex). Experiment with different media and color palettes.

Click the image to see my Folk Art Florals digital coloring book (affiliate link)

6. Hand letter or decorate the date in your journal

Do you want to keep a regular journal, but struggle with making the habit? Start with just the date! Write or hand-letter the day's date, making it as fancy or simple as you like. Once you've done that, you can stop there or continue with a full journal entry.

7. Knit or crochet swatches

Start planning your future knitting and crochet projects by making swatches to test yarn gauge and stitch patterns.

8. Grow a paper garden or bouquet

Love paper crafting? Create one or two paper flowers at a time and slowly build yourself a whole bouquet or floral display "garden." I like to make individual blooms and attach magnets to the back so I can stick them to the metal cabinets over my desk and my fridge.

9. Make and send cards

If you like to make greeting cards, start going through your stash and build a library of cards to have ready when the occasion arises, or send some out to loved ones just because. There are also some charities that accept cards for various groups.

10. Embroidery sampler

Create an embroidery sampler and work on one color or motif at a time.

11. Create daily mandalas or tiles

Mandalas and Zentangle tiles can be a fun and relaxing exercise. Be as elaborate or simple as you like. Look up new patterns to try. Once you have a good collection, gather them into a small album.

If you want to go the digital route, art apps like iOrnament or Amaziograph make it fun and easy to create radial and tile designs on your iPad. Or try this cool dot mandala brush kit for Procreate by Sweet Willow Designs.

Go to the Dot Mandala Brush Pack by Sweet Willow Designs at Holly Pixels.
(affiliate link)

12. Collage or art journal

Collect scraps, drawings, and photos in an art or junk journal. Paint in some textures and add some doodles to make it your own.

13. Build miniatures for a dollhouse

Build or buy a dollhouse box and add miniatures and decor to the inside.

14. Mini crafts

Also going along with the "mini" theme, take your preferred craft and choose small projects that are related. If you're a paper crafter, perhaps make gift tags or mini albums. Artists could create sketch cards to keep in an album or trade. Make little knitted Christmas ornaments or mini clay sculptures. You get the idea.

15. Cute bento box lunches

Make lunchtime fun for you or your kids with creative bento box–style edible art.

16. Learn origami

Learn how to fold different shapes out of paper.

Click to view on Amazon (affiliate link)

17. Recycled crafts

Challenge yourself to reduce waste and make something from recycled objects. Repurpose a jar for home decor. Make old clothes new and stylish again. Knit a scarf with leftover yarn. Use paper scraps and cardboard in your scrapbook. There are lots of possibilities.

18. Take a photo every day

Do a simple photo-a-day challenge with the intent of using those photos in your scrapbook or journal. This could be for memory keeping or visual inspiration.

19. Catalog your craft supplies

Create a swatch album for your all your pens, paints, paper, fabrics, yarns, etc.

20. Create (and use) a Pinterest board

Can't decide on one thing? Try a mix by creating a dedicated Pinterest board and making your way through it one by one.

I hope this list got you inspired to try your own crafty creative challenge! If you do start one, please share! (You can find/tag me on Instagram: @nikijincrafts.)

Til next time,

Niki

My Easter Eggs with Brush Markers

2021-04-08T15:29:00.010-04:00

Yes, I know Easter has already come and gone. But personally, I could make and look at Easter eggs all year long. I always try to make at least a few each year. (Go to THIS POST for more on my past Easter eggs.)

Some of my past Easter eggs

Note: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may be compensated if you click or buy. It does not affect how much you pay, but it is one way to support this blog!

I have used blown out real egg shells in the past, but lately I've resorted to fake craft eggs, which are more durable. My medium of choice is usually markers. Occasionally I will use paint, but markers are quick, easy, and not as messy. That's what I used this year. I have a set of brush markers that I love to use for all sorts of drawing, lettering, and crafts. They worked well on the craft eggs, and I like that they are easy to blend and shade with. The only thing you need to watch out for is to make sure you don't touch with wet hands, or you can smudge it (because these are water-based, like watercolor paints) but that's also what allows them to be super blendable.

The brush markers I used on my Easter eggs.
Click to view on Amazon (affiliate link)

I did three different designs during a drawing session on my Twitch channel. I didn't go with any sort of theme. It was pretty much just made up as I went! The first was floral pattern. It was probably my favorite of the three (no surprise!).

The second one was a purple mandala design. It's hard to see in the photo, but I used a metallic gold marker and gel pen to add shiny accents to it.

The third egg was a doodle design. I started by just making solid color stripes, then added different patterns within each stripe.

A few days later on St. Patrick's Day, I added a fourth egg to this year's group, just for fun. Green, of course.

My kids are always eager to join in the fun as well when it comes to arts and crafts. Because I'm a proud mama, I have to show off their eggs, too! I love this Easter egg family they made.

For some reason, the mommy egg is crying. LOL. I don't know what that's about. (I'm fine, BTW.)

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter holiday and enjoyed seeing my Easter egg designs for this year! Which one is your favorite? Did you make any Easter eggs? Please share!

—Niki

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EASTER EGGS PAST AND PRESENT

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No Shame! Why I Don't Mind Using Cheap Arts and Craft Supplies

2021-04-01T15:43:00.006-04:00

I have a confession. I am cheap. I love a good bargain and hate to splurge on expensive, full price items.

$20 for a pack of cardstock? Nope.

$6 for one roll of washi tape. Uh uh.

Yarn for over $10 a skein? Yikes.

My husband suggested I try Copic markers and I balked at the $8-10 price per marker. You get the idea.

Of course, much of this stems from the fact that, frankly, I’m not rich. I get by and I’m blessed to have what I have, but I watch what I spend. I have bills to pay like everyone else.

I know that with using the cheap stuff, there will be compromises and that you get what you pay for much of the time. I absolutely admire and covet high end items. I’ll invest in quality when it’s warranted and it’s within my budget. Sometimes I'm lucky to receive them as gifts. But I also do OK with a pack of kids' markers, 50 cent craft paint, and my $3 bargain journal.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may be compensated if you click or buy. It does not affect how much you pay, but it is one way to support this blog!

I’m sure I’m not the only one who crafts on a limited budget. I’d say probably most of us do. But we don’t have to be ashamed of being cheap. I would even go farther and say that in some ways, it’s better!

How, you ask?

Get more for your money—an obvious advantage. Yes, I'm talking more about quantity than quality in this case, but who doesn't like to dive into a drawing session with a box full of colored pencils in front of them? Or one of those mega art kits you see in every craft store—I loved using those as a kid. And still do, now that my kids get them!

Click to view on Amazon (affiliate link)

You're not afraid to use up supplies. For me, I find that when I have something expensive, I hoard it. I’m afraid to mess up a project and throw money down the drain in the process. If I’m working with cheaper supplies, nothing is overly precious. I don’t stop and think, should I waste this on this project? I just use it! It’s very freeing.
Having limited means also makes you more resourceful. You’re more apt to find ways to reuse and recycle and make the most of what you have. It’s a whole other way to think creatively. I love to reuse items that might otherwise be thrown away. Maybe you've seen the play dresses I made out plastic tablecloths in THIS POST.
Sometimes the fact that art is made with an ordinary medium becomes part of its appeal. I've seen super impressive drawings done with an ordinary ballpoint pen. I love to see how someone can transform a thrift shop find into something modern and fashionable. You can even create fun calligraphy with Crayola markers. (It's even a thing now, and there's a name for it—"Crayoligraphy.") I've tried it myself, as seen in the image at the top of the post. It just goes to show that art quality is really defined by the artist, not the medium, am I right?

Click to view on Amazon (affiliate link)

There's no need to think your creations are less than any other because of what you used to make it. So if you can't afford the "good stuff" that's OK! You can still make great arts and crafts and have fun doing it, which is the whole point. Make the most of what you've got and be creative!

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Silhouette vs. Cricut: My Review of Silhouette Cameo 4 and Silhouette Studio

2021-03-23T15:35:00.014-04:00

If you follow me on social media or read my previous post, you might know that I've bought a new toy! A Silhouette Cameo 4! Pink, of course. ;)

You may also know I've been following the situation at Cricut closely. Cricut has been taking steps to correct what turned out to be an unpopular decision to restrict the free version of their software Design Space. If you need to catch up a little, see their statement HERE. I've seen strong opinions regarding this situation from both sides, but customers were overwhelmingly against this move, including myself. I still love my Cricut machines and enjoy using them. However, there are many reasons why Cricut's move was a bad idea, and I had a lot to say about it, which you can read in my previous post.

As a result of all this, I decided it was time to invest in a rival machine: the Silhouette Cameo 4. Since I do cut files as part of my business, it makes sense anyway that I should be familiar with both brands. I need to be able tailor my designs and instructions to a variety of needs, and to be able to provide help when customer service issues pop up. And if it sounds like I'm trying to justify my completely spontaneous and large purchase decision—well, that's partly true, too, LOL.

Quick Take: In comparison with Cricut, for my needs (mostly paper crafting using my own designs), the Cameo 4 does pretty much the same thing as my Explore Air 2. However, Silhouette's advantages over Cricut, in both the software and the machine itself, outweigh its minor disadvantages. And, yes, I prefer Silhouette's subscription/upgrade business model over Cricut's.

My new Silhouette Cameo 4

Note: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may be compensated if you click or buy. It does not affect how much you pay, but it is one way to support this blog!

Pros

Advantages of the Silhouette Studio software and design store:

The biggest advantage: The software is desktop based, which means I can work directly from my computer without uploading to a cloud system. Even so, Silhouette provides cloud based backup for your projects (with storage size limits depending on whether you have a free account or a subscription—a much better model than what Cricut had tried to do limiting number of uploads).

A look at Silhouette Studio

Software is more advanced overall. I have yet to go really in-depth with all the features, but just from first impressions, it definitely is more complex than Design Space. Browsing through the panels, I see some functions that I use in pro software like Adobe Illustrator. Just a few examples of things I've seen in Silhouette that aren't in Cricut Design Space are freehand drawing, ability to edit points, more advanced tracing settings, and the Modify panel (equivalent to Pathfinder in Illustrator—once again, more advanced than Cricut's simpler "slice" and "weld" functions). In addition, there is more control over cut settings as well.

Purchases are yours to download and keep. Their subscription is based on a credits system so you have a certain amount you can "buy" designs with every month. Credits can roll over for 60 days, and after that you lose them. Even so, if you use store designs a lot, this can save money. The designs in their store come in a proprietary format that can only be used with Silhouette Studio, but some designs have the option of upgrading to the more universal SVG format for a slightly higher price, which I find worth it since I own different brands of machines. I still get the Studio versions to use with the Cameo, but also SVGs that can be used across any machine that accepts that file type, such as Cricut. By comparison, Cricut store files can only be used on Cricut machines and it is all web based—no downloading capabilities. With a subscription, you have access to many of their store designs, but lose access once you unsubscribe.
Silhouette has an organized library where you can easily sort your designs. One thing I found a bit annoying in Cricut Design Space was trying to find my purchases. I use my own designs 99% of the time. I think I've made one purchase, and that was when I got my Joy and wanted to try cutting a card for the first time. I found one that I liked, and it cost $.99 since I didn't subscribe to Access—fine, I was happy to pay. You'd think it would be easy to find it later on, especially since it's literally my only design purchase from Cricut. But no. You can filter images by "purchased" but when I do that I get over 1200 results. I don't know if these came free with one of my machines or something, but I definitely did not purchase these on my own. Luckily I can just do another search to narrow it down further, but what a pain. I can only imagine this would be frustrating if you purchased a lot of images and it was harder to search. Silhouette's library has a folder system, and even puts their "free with purchase" designs in a separate folder for you.

Trying to find a Cricut purchase with over 1,200 extra images when I try to filter by purchased. Why??

Silhouette's library (with folders!)

Advantages of the Cameo 4 machine itself:

Cut lines can be set to different pressures. This is particularly great for sticker sheets. I can set cut lines around my stickers to cut only through the top layer and another line around the whole sheet that cuts the whole way through! As far as I know, this is currently not possible in Cricut unless you hack it. For example, when I do sticker sheets on my Cricut, I set multiple cut lines stacked one on top of the other around the outside edge so it will cut all the way through, since the overall pressure needs to be set so the stickers only cut through the top layer. Another great advantage of this feature—you can create score lines on paper projects cut on heavy materials like card stock. So you create two colors of lines, and set one color to cut and one to score, and it cuts score lines at a lighter pressure than the regular cut lines. No separate scoring tool necessary!
The machine seems to cut faster, but also you have more control over speed with a setting you can manually tweak. This is good because sometimes you want it to move slower if you're getting tears while you're cutting. I believe Cricut simply has a "fast mode" you can use for certain materials.

Silhouette cut settings, including ways to tweak the force and speed.

Also greater control of cut force, or depth of the blade. This is handy if you are having trouble finding the right material setting or I'd imagine once your blade is older and you need to compensate for a duller blade. In Cricut, the custom settings just give you more options of materials to use. A few might have an additional option to use "More" or "Less" pressure but that's it.
The Cameo 4 can cut heavy duty materials. To be clear, I have not tested this since I use mostly paper, but from what I've read it would be comparable to the Cricut Maker, which would make it an upgrade from my Cricut Explore Air 2.
It has the ability to do matless cutting from rolls of vinyl. Personally, I do not see myself needing to use this often since I work mostly with paper, but this might be a big feature to consider for vinyl crafters. I know in the past, I've found it a pain just to cut sheets from rolls and have them curl up while I'm trying to stick to the mat. This would eliminate that.

Click image to view on Amazon (affiliate link)

Cons

Not too many—in general, the downsides of Silhouette are minor compared to their advantages.

Setup is not as easy as Cricut. With the documents provided in the box for my Cameo, I could get it registered and plugged in. After that, I sat there like, Now what? I had to do some online searching on the Silhouette site and YouTube and browse through the handbook (once I found it) to find all the information I needed to actually do my first cut. With both my Cricut Explore Air 2 and Joy, the box contained very easy step-by-step instructions as well as sample materials to do your first test cut, taking you through the whole process to understand the basics. For that they get a big thumbs from me.
The software has a bigger learning curve, but also seems more advanced so the trade off is expected.
No equivalent on the Cricut Joy card mat in the Silhouette line of products that I've seen. It's one of my favorite Cricut projects to do.
The machine is louder, but that's not a deal breaker for me.
Silhouette mats are thinner and more flimsy, and I find them a tad more difficult to stick materials to and load correctly. Again, not a huge deal, but something good to know going in.

Cutting mat comparison

You cannot import/upload SVGs unless you upgrade your software from the free Basic Edition to Designer Edition (a $50 one-time flat fee). You can work with other file types like PNGs or DXF, but I personally prefer working with SVGs.
It should also be noted that you need the Business Edition upgrade ($100 one-time fee) to export/save a design as an SVG from Silhouette Studio.

Conclusion

As a pro designer for mainly paper crafts, I find the Silhouette edges over Cricut with its more advanced and desktop-based software and better business model regarding upgrades and subscriptions. Cricut's best asset is its ease of use. Bottom line: I plan to continue using all my cutting machines!

—Nicole

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My Thoughts on the Recent Controversy over Cricut Design Space

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My Thoughts on the Recent Controversy over Cricut Design Space

2021-03-23T15:24:00.000-04:00

Have you heard the news? Crafters are buzzing, and not in a good way.

If you follow the crafter community online, you may have heard about the recent controversy with Cricut. To summarize, customers are furious about an announcement they made recently—well, not so much an announcement as a major change to their terms of use weakly hidden within a blog post highlighting new “features” to their software, Design Space (the only software you can use to cut with their machines). They decided to start further limiting the free version of DS by capping personal uploads at 20 per month unless you opted into their $10/mo subscription. Due to strong backlash that they received—including negative comments on their social media posts, a flood of calls to their customer service lines, and a few petitions—Cricut has since completely reversed this decision. For now. You can read their statement HERE.

As for myself, I had many thoughts about the situation and wish to outline them here. Even though they reversed course, it's important to understand why a decision like that would adversely affect many different crafters.

For me as a small business owner and designer, up to now I have had no need for a subscription to Cricut Access. I almost exclusively use my own designs. I have professional design software, so I rarely use most of the advanced functionalities of Design Space or the library of premade projects. For every design I make, I might upload it multiple times as I perfect the template and create new versions, so if I’m working on a number of products, I would hit a 20 upload limit pretty quick. And what if I want to use the machine just for fun? Now I have to think about how many uploads I need to save for my business. Basically, Cricut wanted to make me pay for using my own designs in addition to the expense of the machines themselves (I have an Explore Air 2 and Joy), and the tools and materials I’ve also purchased. Since I don’t do much in DS beyond cutting, I’d get no other real “benefit” from this subscription, just the privilege of using more of my own files. This is equivalent to buying a printer and then being told I can only send 20 pages to it per month unless I opt into a subscription, on top of buying ink and paper. What?!

This would affect my customers, too, because now they’d be limited on how many outside designs they can use, and may purchase less because of it. So now I’m getting hit from both ends with increased costs and a decrease in sales. And I’m sure there are lots of independent designers like me who would be in the same position.

To be honest, I’m an avid Cricut crafter. I’ve had my Explore Air for a couple years now, and I’ve loved it. I don’t LOVE Design Space, but I’ve had little issue with it because, like I said before, there’s not a whole lot I need it for besides the basics. It does what I need it to do. I’ve been able to do a lot for my business, as well as personal crafting and have really enjoyed it. A subscription model would really throw a wrench into all of it for no good reason I see other than a company wanting to suck more money out of its customers.

There are better routes Cricut can still take if they are smart and listen to customers.

For me, the best solution is to give makers like me basic desktop software just for using the machines, unattached from their design library or advanced design features, and that doesn’t require you to be online. This is something customers have been asking for long before this current debacle. This would allow us do what we bought the machine for: to cut! And it would allow designers to use files locally—no need to upload and take up cloud space, which is one of Cricut’s justifications for this change.
Another solution would be to allow third-party software. Cricut has a history of stifling development of open source software for use with Cricut. You can only use Design Space if you want to use a Cricut.
Offer only advanced design functions as a subscription upgrade, or better yet, a one time flat fee (ahem, like Silhouette does).
Leave the design library as it’s own subscription and/or as standalone purchases.

Bottom line is, customers should not be coerced into a subscription and punished for being more creative by using their own designs and designs they purchased elsewhere. That makes no sense. A subscription should be an added bonus that we would gladly pay for, not a necessity to use the machine. Based on the outcry I have seen so far, Cricut better listen or they will permanently alienate even their most loyal base.

As for my plans going forward, I am not going to throw my Cricut machines into a bonfire anytime soon. I still enjoy Cricut crafting, and I have hope there will be some positive changes as a response to the loud feedback they must be receiving. However, I am going to start tailoring my designs in such a way that they are more universal to any cutting machine—something I should be doing anyway. So, for example, I’ll probably put a pause on developing Cricut Joy cards for the time being and explore other types of designs. It will be a lot of waiting to see what happens with Cricut and demand for files as well.

To be clear, all of my cut files are usable on other cutting machines, even my Cricut Joy insert cards. I’ve just been so hyper focused on Cricut in how I format my files, my user instructions, and marketing because that’s what I know.

Also I may have panic-bought a Silhouette Cameo 4. So soon I’ll be able to become familiar with another machine!

—Nicole

Tablecloth Play Dresses

2020-02-27T16:59:00.002-05:00

I've always wanted to make dress up clothes for my daughters. I made an Elsa princess dress a few years ago that I enjoyed creating, but not much else since then. A few weeks ago around my youngest daughter's birthday, a lightbulb went off.

You might remember from my last post that I created birthday table displays using inexpensive party decorations, including plastic tablecloths that cost about $1. As I was picking up the latest display, I got the idea to recycle the tablecloth into a play dress! The first one I made was from the pink tablecloth in the display shown above.

I felt I had to create at least one more so they wouldn't fight over one dress, but it soon escalated to a total of four dresses that I made over the following weeks. I bought more tablecloths, solely for the purpose of making dresses this time. It was fun stocking up on different colors, hehe. I drafted my own patterns to my girls' measurements, and I had fun getting creative with different colors and styles. After the pink dress, I made a Cinderella blue ballgown. The white parts were actually made from a (clean) white trash bag.

Then they requested a Rapunzel dress, which was the most complicated with the striped sleeves and front lacing detail. I used the same pink curling ribbon from the birthday gifts and display to embellish the front part. I just glued the ribbon onto the front panel.

On the same weekend as the Academy Awards, I created a red carpet–inspired dress. My four-year-old enjoyed getting glammed up and accessorizing herself.

There are several advantages of using plastic tablecloths to make these dresses. First is obviously cost. I spent just a dollar or two on each tablecloth. In fact, the thread was probably more expensive, but I just used what I already had on hand anyway. Since the materials weren't precious, I felt it was easier to improvise and work quickly. These were just for play, so I wasn't worried about perfection. Each dress probably took me 3 hours or so, including pattern drafting, cutting, and sewing—all done in an afternoon or evening.

Below I share some of my tips specific to sewing with plastic tablecloths. I won't outline the actual sewing procedure in this post. If you are already familiar with basic dressmaking, you'll just follow those same steps, just using the tablecloth in place of your fabric with these tips in mind.

Materials:

Plastic tablecloths and/or large garbage bags

Dress pattern

Clear packing tape and scotch tape

Thread and general sewing supplies

Velcro strips

Tips for Sewing with Plastic Tablecloths:

Don’t pull too hard on the plastic while working with it and feeding it through your sewing machine. Plastic tablecloths are quite susceptible to tearing.
Avoid ripping apart seams and resewing since the plastic will tear easily where it's sewn. Buy extra tablecloth to recut new pieces if you think you will mess up a lot.
If you're worried about poking holes in the plastic with pins, use an alternative such as clothespins or paper clips to hold things together.
I found it's a good idea to reinforce seams and weak spots with packing tape, especially around the back where the velcro is applied. There will be a lot of tugging there as the dress is put on and taken off. Just place the tape right over the seam on the wrong side.
No pressing is necessary of course. You wouldn't want to melt the plastic!
Work with two layers of plastic together either by just doubling up your pattern pieces or using a lining layer. This will both strengthen the dress and make it so it isn't too sheer. The cheaper plastic tablecloths can be quite thin.
Velcro strips work well as a quick, easy fastener. I sewed mine on with a zig zag stitch.
To help the dress last longer, you can reinforce weak spots and holes with clear tape applied to the wrong side of the dress.
Circular tablecloths are handy for making circle skirts.
Don’t try to make the dresses perfect! (Believe me, mine certainly aren't!) The materials aren't precious, so just improvise and go with the flow.

Birthday Fun

2020-02-01T12:07:00.001-05:00

Right after the holidays, I get to celebrate my two daughters’ birthdays in quick succession—the first in late December, and the next less than a month later in January. My kids are still just toddlers, but they are starting to recognize that they get a day of presents and cake.

I try to make their birthdays a little extra special with fun decorations for them to wake up to in the morning. I keep things pretty simple with just some inexpensive party supplies—plastic tablecloths, balloons, cake plates, streamers, etc. Easy and cheap, but cute. :)

For my oldest, who turned four in December, I gave her a mermaid themed tablescape complete with an aqua color scheme, a blue vanilla cake (at her request, and which she helped make), and the most perfect cute wrapping paper I was lucky enough to find on holiday clearance. She received a mermaid doll and dress up outfit as well, which she adored. She makes a pretty cute mermaid, if I do say so myself.

My second daughter turned three in January, and her theme was pink and silver and very girly. I made up some large paper flowers from some tissue paper I had lying around, and completed the scene with some pink curling ribbon accents, silver cake plates, and metallic wrapping paper. Her cake, frosted pink to match the decor, was chocolate with cookie dough filling and a chocolate chip cookie crust bottom layer. (I may have made that cake more for myself than my daughter, haha! It was sooo yummy.)

Thankfully, my next daughter should give me a little breather in birthday festivities in future years, as she’s scheduled to arrive in April. But in all seriousness, I couldn’t be happier to have such marvelous days to celebrate. I am so grateful to have these two (soon to be three!) little blessings in my life.

—Niki

Popsicle Stick Christmas Ornaments

2019-11-03T14:27:00.003-05:00

It's November, which to many over-enthusiastic holiday lovers means CHRISTMAS! Yes, I love Thanksgiving as well—it's just one big holiday celebration for me from now to the end of the year. So far, I've refrained from putting up my Christmas tree, but that doesn't mean I can't prepare, right? This past weekend, I spent some time making some ornaments. I love to create handmade ornaments to add to my little tree each year.

Lately I've been interested in popsicle stick crafts. I found some super cute ideas on Pinterest (see the links to my Holiday Crafts and Food board and specific posts below). I like that such a simple material can have so many possibilities. Just add paint and glue!

Crafting with my kids

I was able to get my kids involved for part of my craft day. They are ages 2 and 3, so they didn't do much beyond just paint a few popsicle sticks. I turned these painted sticks into little Santa Claus ornaments—two for each daughter as they're bound to ruin some of them with playing, haha. Crafting with toddlers is not an ideal situation due to the constant attention they require and the mess they make. I love that they enjoy being creative, though, and I still got some peaceful time alone to continue with my own ornaments. ;)

Creating the ornaments: (top left) building from popsicle sticks, (top right and bottom images) creating and cutting stencil designs with my Cricut

I chose the ornaments I wanted to make and built the structures with the popsicle sticks and a hot glue gun. I didn't really go into the specific blog posts for detailed instructions on each one. I just kind of winged it based on the photos of the finished ornaments, since they were pretty simple to figure out. Once they were built, I added some base layers of craft paint or stain.

I added some of my own personal touches using my Cricut (my favorite new crafting tool). I used some designs from a set of holiday SVG cut files I created (available on Etsy!) and cut them out of removable vinyl to use as paint stencils. (See the photos above.) I also cut a paper wreath to put onto my door ornament. So cute! Below are the finished ornaments...

Finished ornaments

If you're interested in making your own popsicle stick ornaments, go to my Pinterest board linked here to see some of the ideas I've found, including the ones that inspired these ornaments. Specific post links are also listed below.

My Christmas SVG Set is available on Etsy now, and can be used for ornaments like these or any number of holiday crafts, such as cards, scrapbooking, signs, and T-shirts. The set includes the designs used here and more.

Merry (early) Christmas!

Niki

Click the image to go to my Holiday Crafts and Food Pinterest board to see some of the posts that inspired my ornaments.

My Christmas SVG Set on Etsy

Links

Note: These were the specific posts that inspired my ornaments. As I said above, I did not follow the exact instructions where applicable—rather, I used the images as a jumping-off point, which is why they're slightly different. I have tried to find and credit the original sources as best I could in the links below. Where none could be found, I've simply linked to the Pinterest image from my board.

Mini Pallet Signs from The Crafted Sparrow
Popsicle Stick Santas from One Little Project
Door Ornament by One Little Project
Sled Ornament from Clean and Scentsible
Skis Ornament (Pinterest image)
North Pole (Pinterest image)
Christmas Tree (Pinterest image)

Autumn Fair Isle Knit Hat (with free chart!)

2019-09-06T10:11:00.001-04:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year...AUTUMN!

Well, I guess not technically until the 23rd, but I count all of September as autumn. In fact, I'm one of those obnoxious people who starts baking pumpkin bread and prepping for Halloween in August, LOL. It's just my favorite time of year.

Planning My Hat

Last winter, I knit some hats for myself and my kids, seen below. I loved how they turned out, especially the fair isle leaf pattern on mine. I love to use color work and fair isle in my knitting. It's probably my favorite knitting method. These hats were also nice in that they were a relatively quick project. (I have a short attention span when it comes to crafting. I also started a sweater last fall. It's only halfway done.) This year, in my excitement for the coming autumn months, I started a plan for a new fall-themed hat.

My winter hats from last year. The two on the left were for my kids. The one on the right is one I knit for myself.

I started with a little sketch, just to get a little idea and some inspiration. You'll see that these aren't the patterns that ended up in my final design necessarily, but I still got an overall look and color palette from this sketch.

My initial sketches and ideas

Choosing My Yarn

Now that I had a color palette in mind, I found my yarn. I came across an Etsy shop called Black Sheep Dye Works that sold mini skeins of hand-dyed wool yarn in beautiful colors. I opted for the Create Your Own set, which included 5 colors. FYI, the colors I used were marigold, lettuce tonal, bark tonal, copper, and moss tonal. The yarns were sock-weight, which would be good for color work without making the hat too heavy and bulky—it is meant for autumn weather after all, not freezing cold winters. (Note: For the main color in my hat found at the top and brim—the dark brown, or bark tonal—I needed to supplement with another similar yarn as the mini skein was not enough, so if you use this yarn, plan better than I did and buy an extra skein.)

Charting My Design

My method for this hat was a combination of my own designs with bits and pieces from other sources, such as the base pattern and part of the fair isle chart.

Before I created my fair isle chart, I found a base pattern. (I probably should have done this BEFORE buying yarn, but it all worked out!) The one I chose was this free pattern for a fair isle slouchy beanie from CraftPassion. It had a similar look and gauge to what I was looking for. Obviously, though, I changed the color scheme, and inserted my own design in the fair isle section of the pattern.

Next, I created my fair isle chart. I have a graph paper notebook where I plan my designs. I used colored pencils to fill in the squares to get a good idea of how the colors and designs would come together in the final piece. Since the fair isle section was worked over 144 stitches in the pattern, I made sure to make my repeats fit evenly. The smaller sections were repeats of 3, 6, or 12 stitches. The large leaf pattern is a 36-stitch repeat. I also made sure the whole chart was close to the number of rows as the chart in my base pattern, which was worked over 48 rows. Mine ended up at 49.

Now, I can't take ownership for the large leaf portion of the design—and I like to give credit where it is due. I found it on Pinterest, which only linked back to another repin site. I did some searching, and as best I can tell, the original source is this French blog post. It was originally a cross stitch pattern. I did modify it slightly to fit into a 36 stitch repeat. I will say that it does not make the easiest fair isle pattern to knit since it contains pretty large gaps between colors, but I just made sure to carry my second yarn behind my work every five or six stitches.

The Fun Part—Knitting

Finally, I could begin knitting. As it was a long holiday weekend, I had some free time to kill, and it knit up pretty quickly. I do usually like to knit hats on a circular needle, but I only had double pointed ones in the size I needed. I find that double pointed needles make things more confusing on top of all the strands of yarn to keep track of, so I just had to make sure I was VERY organized and methodical. There were one or two dropped stitches along the way, but nothing I wasn't able to fix. I actually knit part of it backwards (the green branches) because I got confused with which way to read my chart, haha. Since I was working top down, you just have to go from left to right. When I work bottom up, like I usually do, it would be right to left. But no matter, the design looked fine either way!

Like I mentioned before, some portions of the chart weren't ideal for fair isle and required carrying the secondary yarn behind the work across large gaps. I'll probably work on a better chart design if I ever make another—and get myself a circular needle!

After all this planning, charting, knitting, finishing, and blocking, here is the end result!

Free Chart!

As a gift to my fellow knitters, I've cleaned up the fair isle chart that I sketched in my notebook and have created a free printable. You can download it by clicking on the image below. Remember, you can find the full hat pattern at the original source (linked in the article and below). Just substitute their fair isle chart with this one, and use the appropriate colors.

Click to download this free printable chart.

Enjoy!
Niki

Links

Black Sheep Dye Works on Etsy

Fair Isle Beanie pattern via CraftPassion

Break the Rules with Coloring

2019-08-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

This past spring, I published a coloring book of floral mandalas called Flowers All Around. (It’s available NOW on Amazon!) I had so much fun drawing these designs. I can honestly say it was one of my favorite personal projects I’ve ever done.

Click on the image to see the book on Amazon

A few of the floral mandalas from Flowers All Around

Mandala designs are popular in adult coloring for their repetitive and intricate nature. I like to draw them using floral elements because I’m obsessed with drawing flowers and patterns. I’ve created floral mandalas with a variety of media—paint, pencil, ink, digital, etc. I often draw them when I don’t know what to draw. So I had a lot of practice before I got the idea to even make this book.

One of my painted floral mandalas

Adult coloring books are a great way to relieve stress and create works of art in the process. These aren’t the brand of coloring books you used as a kid. These designs are often very detailed and can be beautiful and sophisticated—though there are some fun quirky ones as well. There are adult coloring books for just about any subject matter you can think of.

As I’ve gotten into coloring, I have done a lot of experimenting with various methods and media. Along the way, I’ve found that it doesn’t hurt to break the rules a little bit. I have a few ideas listed below of how you can do this. If you’re new to coloring or are looking for some fresh ideas, here are some ways to approach a coloring page that are perhaps a little outside the norm:

1. Don’t be a slave to the lines.

Notice how I've kept my strokes nice and loose, not concerned with staying in the lines or filling in solid color.

It is natural for us to want to stay within the boundaries of the line drawing, but sometimes it can be freeing to step away from that way of thinking. Sometimes very intricate designs can be intimidating because you’re faced with filling in many tiny spaces, but you don’t have to color them in separately. Use broad washes of watercolor or marker instead. Or if the lines are on the lighter side, and you’re using an opaque medium like gouache or thick colored pencil, try coloring over the lines to create a painterly look using the line drawing only as a guide.

2. Fill large areas with your own patterns or drawings.

This is kind of the opposite of the previous tip, where instead of taking a complicated design and simplifying the process, you can do the reverse and make a simple design more intricate. For example, recently I took some princess coloring pages (from my kids’ coloring books actually…) and added surface patterns to the dress fabric. I also used shading techniques for a 3D look. Use this same idea to do things like add borders to mandala pages or fill in scenery around objects.

3. Try black and white (or monochromatic).

One of the best ways to create a nice coloring design is to use a limited color palette. Why not take it a step further and use one color? Using lots of colors is fun, but working with a strict monochromatic palette can be a nice break as well. It has its own unique effect, and it gives you great practice with how best to use value (i.e., lights and darks) in your designs.

4. Go digital

Have you ever wished you had an endless supply of colored pencils and markers? Were you ever unhappy with a design and wished you could start over and color it again? Do you wish you could take your coloring with you wherever you go? Well, one way to do all of this is to try digital coloring on your tablet! For me personally—and this is not an endorsement, just my opinion—nothing beats iPad + Apple Pencil + Procreate. Using these three together is about the closest you’ll get to the experience of coloring on paper with a tablet. For an added tactile experience, you can also use a matte screen protector that is meant to mimic the texture of paper and reduce harsh glare. With all the various brushes available for Procreate and a limitless color palette, it’s like having all the art supplies at your fingertips. Just import your image into Procreate and start coloring. If you mess up, simply “undo” or start over!

If you're looking for some digital designs to get you going, my floral mandalas from Flowers All Around are also available as a digital download in my Etsy shop (click the image below). I’ll go more in depth on how to color digitally in an upcoming post. ;)

Those are just some of my own ideas of how to approach coloring a little differently. The next time you open a coloring book, try to think outside the box, and you might create something unique!

Bonus!

I'm happy to give you all a FREE coloring page download of one of my floral patterns. Simply go to the link HERE (or click the image below) to open in Google Drive and download, print, and color to your heart's content!

Click on the image to open in Google Drive and download the PDF. Personal use only please.

Have fun!
Niki

Links

Flowers All Around on Amazon

Digital Floral Mandalas on Etsy

Also, stay tuned for some Halloween coloring fun coming this fall!

My Introduction to Cricut

2019-07-28T14:13:00.004-04:00

There was a time when I just did not understand why Cricut crafters loved this machine so much. From what I saw, you just plugged in some lettered phrase or generic clip art, the machine cut it for you, and voilá, a new mug or T-shirt. I didn’t get it. Where was the fun in that? How many snarky T-shirts does the world need?

When I craft, I like to really dive into the process of creating and building something from scratch. Being an illustrator, I also like to use my own designs and artwork. These are probably the main reasons a die cutting machine didn’t appeal to me at first. I didn’t want easy, practically pre-made crafts. I didn’t want to just type a phrase and stick it onto a T-shirt. I didn’t find machine-cut vinyl as enticing as hand-knitting a sweater or sewing a dress or applying embellishments to a scrapbook page.

Because of my initial disinterest, I never looked into what else you could do with Cricut machines. I thought they were mainly just for vinyl because that’s all I saw it used for. (I basically just thought Cricut was for people who wanted fancy brush lettered phrases on everything, LOL.) Then I stumbled across other types of projects, and I realized it was so much more.

Once I saw a YouTube video of an artist creating her own die cut stickers from her drawings, I was sold. Here was a versatile tool that could really open up new possibilities to me as an artist and crafter. I also came across some beautiful paper flowers and, as you may know, I’m a sucker for all things floral.

So I researched more about the Cricut machines. The Cricut Explore Air 2 is a tool for die cutting not just vinyl, but also cardstock, paper, sticker sheets, vellum, and more. The larger model, the Maker, can also cut a wider range of materials, including fabric, wood, and leather. Heat transfer vinyl for clothing is a popular project, but really there are so many other possibilities from 3D paper crafts, glass etching, stencils, home décor, card making—the list goes on.

Some of my first projects I made when I finally purchased my own Cricut included sticker sheets (of course I had to try it!), intricate paper mandalas, die cut greeting cards, paper flowers, an insert for my clear phone case, a lettering stencil for a wood sign, and a set of T-shirts (turns out they are quite fun after all, hehe).

Some of my first projects with my Cricut Explore Air 2

Custom stickers with my artwork

Despite my initial disinterest in making T-shirts, they ended up being pretty fun! :)

What I really love is being able to create new uses for my art and design work. I’m starting to dream up new designs specifically with Cricut crafts in mind. It has given me a whole new spark of creativity! I look forward to exploring it further.

My wish list of future projects is ever-growing. Some include:

nail art stickers
temporary tattoos
pop-up cards
paper snowflakes
paper dolls and miniatures
reusable stencils
gift tags
cut paper illustrations
shadow box or lantern
fun garlands and banners

And, yes, there will probably be more T-shirts, decals, and signs as well! Not to mention Cricut’s brand new Infusible Ink system that I’ve been dying to try.

If you’d like to take a look at some of my very first designs made for Cricut (and other cutting machines) please visit my Etsy shop in the new section SVG Cut Files.

Click on the image to check out SVG designs available in my Etsy shop

Please let me know if you are a Cricut crafter as well and tell me what advice you have, what you enjoy making, and any other Cricut-related tidbits!

Niki

Links:

My Etsy Shop (NicoleJonesSturk)

Cricut website

Embellished Easter Eggs

2017-04-16T11:07:00.000-04:00

What a great weekend this has been so far! Spring is in full force now. The sun is out, flowers are starting to bloom, and the grass is a vibrant green. This year, my daughter Adelaide is old enough to take part in some fun Easter activities, so yesterday I took her to a community egg hunt. She didn't really know what was going on and only found a grand total of two pieces of candy with my help, but she loved being around all the people and the excitement. The only thing she wasn't crazy about was the Easter bunny, haha. Later in the day, we went to a nearby park for our own little family Easter egg hunt.

In the past, I've enjoyed creating elaborate Easter egg designs. This year, I managed to find a little time to do a few. I created some patterns with markers as I usually do, but I wanted to do something a little different this time, so I added some rhinestone embellishments for some added sparkle. The results are below.

Today looks like it's going to be another beautiful day. I'm off to church soon with my family. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Niki

Mini Easter Eggs

Easter Egg Doodle a Day, Part II

Easter

AND IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Candy Deviled Eggs

2017-03-29T00:41:00.001-04:00

What a crazy few months it has been. I started off the year with the arrival of my second daughter, Charly, so it has been just a whirlwind of mom duties as I’ve adjusted to becoming a mother of two. Charly has been a little angel, though lately we’ve been dealing with some sleep issues with BOTH babies. Some days end (and begin!) with exhaustion. There are good days, too, of course.

Charly

Recently, I’ve been focusing on getting back into the swing of things with work and trying to find a balance with family life. And other fun stuff, too. Like candy.

Last April Fools Day, I made a meatloaf decorated as a cake, complete with a mashed potato sundae. It was one of my favorite posts from last year, so I came up with another fun food twist for this April 1st. This one happens to be perfect for Easter time, too: candy deviled eggs.

These “deviled eggs” are actually white chocolate coated candies with various flavored fillings and toppings. I’m relatively new to the art of candy-making, so I’m still learning a few things. I’m pleased with how these turned out, though, and they were a lot of fun to make. Follow the directions below to make your own for April Fools Day, Easter, or just because you like candy. :)

Happy Spring, everyone!

Niki

Candy Deviled Eggs

Materials and Ingredients:

-egg-shaped candy mold (I used the Mirenlife 8-cavity silicone mold.)

-chocolate thermometer
-bag of white chocolate chips
-red sugar sprinkles
-yellow food coloring (optional)

for fillings and toppings:
-raspberry cheesecake: ready-to-eat cheesecake filling, raspberry jam, graham cracker crumbs
-peanut butter (like Butterfingers): peanut butter, yellow frosting, candy corn
-cookies and cream: Oreos, white chocolate chips, yellow frosting

Directions:

1. Melt the white chocolate chips in 15-30 second intervals in the microwave.
**Tip: I would suggest using a chocolate thermometer and learning how to temper the chocolate properly for a better result. I used this tutorial from Sugar Hero as a guideline.

2. Coat the candy mold with white chocolate to form the outer shell. Chill for a few minutes to harden.
**Tip: Try to keep the outer shell on the thinner side, or else you’ll end up with a thick, hard-to-bite shell. As you can see from the pictures, I haven’t quite mastered this yet. Dealing with melted chocolate can get quite messy if you don’t know what you’re doing like me, haha.

3. Make your fillings and place into the hardened chocolate in the molds, leaving room for the top layer of chocolate. Chill for a few minutes to set the fillings if needed. See below for the flavors I made, though there are endless possibilities.

4. Pour melted white chocolate into the mold to fill the remaining space in the cavities. Chill to set.
**Tip: Scrape the top with a knife to try to keep the top as smooth as possible.

5. Remove the candy from the mold. Use a paring knife to trim any rough edges.

6. Pipe the desired topping onto the eggs around the “yolk” part of the egg.

7. Sprinkle with red sugar sprinkles.

Flavor variations

For raspberry cheesecake:
filling: equal portions of cheesecake mix and graham cracker crumbs + a thin layer of raspberry jam
topping: cheesecake filling + a few drops of yellow food coloring, if desired

For peanut butter:
filling: melt a handful of candy corn with a spoonful of peanut butter in short 15-30 second intervals in the microwave
topping: equal parts frosting and peanut butter mixed + a few drops of yellow food coloring, if desired

For cookies and cream:
filling: equal portions of melted white chocolate and crushed Oreo cookies
topping: yellow frosting (or white frosting + a few drops of yellow food coloring)

Welcome 2017

2017-01-01T14:42:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break. I had a great time celebrating my baby’s first Christmas and birthday this past week.

Well, now the holidays are over, and it's time to not only look back on the past year, but also to look forward to what new opportunities and possibilities 2017 has in store. I had a lot of great things happen to me in 2016, and I have a feeling this coming year will be just as eventful. Life is sure keeping me on my toes!

Looking Back

First, a reflection on 2016. I, for one, had quite a year. There were many changes that took place, both personally and professionally, and all positive for the most part. I started out the year by becoming a mother when my daughter Adelaide was born right at the end of 2015, on December 30th. Then this past summer, my family and I moved across the country from New Hampshire to Utah for my husband’s schooling. The new baby and relocation pushed me to take a new direction professionally since I had to leave my office job in book publishing and all my family (aka, babysitters) behind in New England. It was hard at first, and we had a few months there without much for income, but I am now happily working from home and growing a freelance business for myself. It has allowed me not only to spend more time with my daughter, but also to expand into other areas of work more suitable to my creative side, such as illustration and graphic design, as well as devote some time to personal projects. While it may be a little more stressful and difficult working this way, I am loving the newfound independence and flexibility it has brought to my life.

Looking Forward

Similar to last year, I am looking forward to a big life change right at the start of the year… another baby! We are expecting our second little girl towards the end of January, and I am feeling both excited for the added blessing to our lives and apprehensive of the new challenges it will bring. But mostly excited. I can’t wait to meet her.

Work-wise, I am optimistic for what is to come. It was really scary to abandon a long-time, steady office job and jump blindly into the role of working stay-at-home mom, but now that I have a few months of routine and steady jobs under my belt, my confidence is increasing, and I am excited to keep growing.

My Goals for the Coming Year

I like to start out the year with a few resolutions. I’m not always good at keeping them, but it gives me a good starting point for the brand new year.

Growing My Business
I’ve gotten to work on some great projects and create relationships with wonderful clients just in the past few months. I want to continue to build upon that by adding to my portfolio and actively seeking clients and jobs that I want to be a part of so I can continue doing what I love while helping to support my family.

Self-publishing
I love books and magazines (especially those that are DIY themed, of course!) and have always wanted to create my own. Actually coming up with a legit proposal to send to publishers may be something I would do in the future, but for now, I like the idea of self-publishing. I’ve worked in publishing for over a decade designing and laying out books, so I have the technical know-how. It’s finding the time to create the content that’s the hard part. Or even just coming up with an idea. I experimented with creating my own adult coloring book and self-publishing it via Createspace on Amazon. I would like to continue to expand on that with at least one more book this year.

Blogging
I always feel like I could do better with this blog, so as always, that is one of my resolutions for this year. In addition to just posting more regularly and frequently, I would also like to experiment with adding other types of content, like videos and better tutorials.

And Just For Fun...

Journaling
I am always wanting to keep a sketchbook, write down lists and ideas, be more organized, make a photo scrapbook, write down thoughts, and record personal history. Well, I’ve decided that I could probably combine all of that into one task—journaling. My initial idea is not to have one dedicated notebook, but rather to take random bits from different sources and compile them as digital pages that I can then print later if I decide to do so. I can scan drawings and hand-written notes, or make use of digital text files and photos. While I do like the idea of a physical journal, I figure this way will give me the freedom to do whatever (doodle, hand-write, type, paint, photograph) with any materials (paper and pen, computer, phone, camera, paint) without restricting me to one set medium, size, or method. Plus, bonus, I lay out books for a living and I enjoy doing it, so it will be fun to put the pages together like a digital scrapbook. I will feature some of my pages as I finish them here.

Photography

I got an awesome new Canon camera this year, and I have been having a lot of fun taking pictures (mostly of Adelaide). I would love to learn more about how to use it and improve my photography.

So those are my resolutions for this year. I can’t wait to get started!

Happy New Year!

Niki

MY FAVORITE POSTS OF 2016

Santa Doll Makeover

2016-11-30T17:18:00.003-05:00

Well, it's officially the Christmas season, which means sparkling snow, pretty twinkle lights, cookie baking, and holiday crafting.

To kick off this December, I thought I would share this DIY gift that I had fun making for my mom a few years ago. She likes to collect Santa dolls to display in her home at Christmastime, so I came up with the idea to design and make her a custom doll. I ended up buying a Ken doll and modifying it to look like Santa Claus. See below for my work-in-progress pictures and the end results.

BEFORE

This particular doll worked well because I could use the boots in the final Santa outfit.

I used permanent markers to add some wrinkles and rosy cheeks to the face.

I sewed batting scraps around the body of the doll to plump him up a bit. I then designed and knit a miniature winter sweater, and also sewed him a pair of pants and hat from fabric scraps.

I glued strips of white specialty fur yarn to the face to create the eyebrows and hair, and knit a small block with the yarn to create the beard.

AFTER

Happy December!

Niki

And don't forget... My Christmas coloring book is for sale on Amazon!

Pretty Patterned Pumpkin Roll

2016-11-15T07:00:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving is around the corner. Usually, I love to make pies for dessert. And there will be pie. Lots of it. But sometimes it is fun to do something different. I like to use the Thanksgiving season to experiment with new fall recipes. A little while back, I discovered patterned cakes on Pinterest was instantly intrigued. Pretty patterns + baking = LOVE. They are just so pretty.

Pinterest search for "patterned cake roll"

Basically, it is a swiss roll cake where a design is drawn out with different colored cake batter before pouring the rest of the batter into the pan, so it creates a design on the cake. This was the first one I attempted. It was a basic yellow cake with strawberry jam and whipped cream filling, so the pattern was appropriately themed.

strawberry cake roll

For my second attempt, I created my own recipe for a fall-themed cake. It is chocolate/pumpkin flavored with an autumn pattern and color scheme. Here is the result:

This would be a nice addition to a Thanksgiving table. The extra effort to create such a pretty presentation are perfect for special occasions. The link to download the printable recipe is below.

Pretty Patterned Chocolate Pumpkin Roll

Ingredients

Cake
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 large room temperature eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 Tbl cocoa

Filling
• 1-8 oz. package cream cheese
• 6 tablespoons softened butter
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 15.5 x 10.5 inch jelly roll pan. Line with parchment paper and grease and flour the paper.

2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Set aside. In a larger bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar. Add the pumpkin and mix well. Stir in the flour mixture.

3. Reserve 3/4 cup of the batter and add the tablespoon of cocoa. Place chocolate batter into a squeeze bottle or piping bag. Create your design on the prepared parchment-lined pan.

4. Bake the chocolate pattern for just a few minutes in the oven until the design begins to set.
5. Pour the remaining pumpkin batter into the pan over the design and spread evenly. Bake for 13-15 minutes until the cake springs back when touched.
6. Immediately turn cake out onto a baking rack covered with a clean towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Carefully remove the parchment. Cool slightly, but not completely—just so it can be handled more easily. While still warm, flip over again onto a clean parchment lined pan so the design is face down once more.

Roll up the cake with the parchment (from one of the shorter ends) and let cool further.

7. For the filling, beat together the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, and vanilla until smooth. Carefully unroll the cool cake. Trim off the thinner, harder edges to even out. Spread the filling over the top, without going all the way to the edges. Roll up the cake once more with the filling, placing the end at the bottom to keep it from unrolling. Trim the ends for a clean, neat look if needed.

8. Cover and chill to set the filling. Bring back to room temperature before serving if desired.

Enjoy!

Niki

LINKS

DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE RECIPE

For the Beauty of the Earth

2016-11-09T12:27:00.001-05:00

I don't know about you, but I am so glad this election in the U.S. is finally over. Moving forward, I think everyone would be much better off focusing on the positive things and what a blessing it is to live in a beautiful world and—yes, all you Americans—a wonderful country, especially in this month of Thanksgiving. And that's probably about all you'll ever see me post about politics. You're welcome.

As you may have seen on my illustration blog or social media, I have been working on learning brush lettering, and I've found that I especially like to work with watercolors. I still have a lot to learn and practice, but it has been a lot of fun so far. I created this piece from one of my favorite hymns, "For the Beauty of the Earth." I thought it was appropriate to the theme of gratitude this month. Click on the link below to download a free printable. :)

DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE

Have a beautiful day!

Niki

Merry Coloring!

2016-11-04T07:00:00.001-04:00

Halloween is over... bring on the holidays!

I'm usually not one to skip over Thanksgiving and go straight into Christmas, but I am particularly excited to share a holiday-themed project that I have just finished.

For the past few months, I have been hard at work creating a collection of adult coloring pages with a Christmas theme. If you follow me on Facebook, you already know that not only have I completed the designs, but I've compiled them into a book that is now for sale in Amazon! This is something I have wanted to do for a long time because I love adult coloring designs. Their intricate detail and fun patterns are so attractive to my sense of style as an artist. They are so much fun to both color and create. While I think it is wonderful how popular they have become in recent years, I find that the market has been flooded with substandard work. My hope in creating my own pages is to make the kinds of pages I like to see myself and to inspire creativity in others. Here is an excerpt from the Introduction that sums up my philosophy:

"I most like to see designs that are hand-drawn, thoughtfully composed, and full of beautiful patterns and decorative elements, because those are fun to color. . . . I can promise is that a lot of time, thought, care, and passion have gone into these designs. I hope you enjoy coloring these pages as much as I enjoyed creating them. Have fun and make them your own!"

Here's a view of the back cover to give you a preview of some of the designs inside.

I hope you all enjoy my book, and I look forward to creating more in the future!

Niki

LINKS

Buy Merry Christmas: Holiday Designs for Coloring now!

Baby Ewoks and Zombie Bunnies

2016-10-28T06:00:00.000-04:00

Before Adelaide was even born, I have been excited to celebrate her first Halloween. I have been so excited to dress her up, and I had so many different ideas for costumes. I knew I wanted it to be something kinda geeky, but sweet and adorable. Unfortunately, when I moved, I gave away 90% of my craft supplies and left behind my sewing machine back in New Hampshire, so I was going to be facing some limitations as to what I could make. Then one day while browsing Pinterest, I came across this image:

Pinterest image - click for link to pin

A baby Ewok! Is this not the most adorable thing you've ever seen? Not only that, but the baby even looks like Ada. And it looked rather simple to put together—just a bear costume, T-shirt, and a stick made into a makeshift spear. Flash forward a few weeks when Halloween season is in full swing, and I found that exact teddy bear costume at Walmart. Geeky, cute, simple, and all the materials readily available. This was the costume. It was meant to be.

The basic parts to Ada's Ewok costume

The Pinterest link only had this image rather than leading to a website with instructions, so I improvised. I found a cheap shirt, made holes for the ears above the neck hole, cut off the sleeves and up the side seams, and trimmed it down to size. I bought a large shirt to be on the safe side, but found it was a little too big, and it probably would've worked better with a smaller size. I made it work, though. The hood is meant to look a little rough, anyway, so I wasn't too careful about how I cut it, either. I found a stick outside on the ground and attached an arrowhead made of cardboard to it with a rubber band for the spear. Here is the end result:

I could just die from how cute she is. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I can't wait to take this girl trick-or-treating!

And for some more Halloween cuteness, take a look at these cookies I made based on my sister Dani's mini comic Zombie Bunny. (Click on the image for a link to the story. Trust me, just go read it. It's short. And it's adorable.)

I was inspired when I found a bunny head cookie cutter, probably meant to make cute Easter cookies like this...

...but it reminded me of the Zombie Bunny character, and what better time of year to create some cute monster cookies?

I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!

Niki

Settling In

2016-10-26T17:05:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I have had a lot of changes in the works lately—a big cross-country move, a new career path, and a new baby. And things are coming along. I've since relocated from New Hampshire to Utah with my little family; I left my office job and have slowly started finding a balance as a stay-at-home mom and freelancer; and I'm almost into the third trimester of my second pregnancy (BTW, it's a girl!). It hasn't been easy, but I think I'm finally settling in.

A view of Utah, my new home

I'll admit, I had a pretty hard time when I first came to Utah. Leaving my family, friends, and job was not easy. I also miss my New England home, especially at this time of year when it's at its prime. I miss the endless views of colorful leaves. I miss apple picking, one of my favorite autumn traditions. (Just try to find a decent pick-your-own apple orchard in central Utah. It's depressing.) Not only that, but the town I moved to is quite small, so that was an adjustment as well. Not that Keene, NH is such a huge city, but it certainly seems that way compared to Ephraim, Utah. We have also had our share of challenges with our apartment. We weren't able to visit apartments before we moved since we were on the other side of the country, so we had to take a leap of faith when finding a place to live. Options were few as well. When we arrived, the first thing we noticed was that the real-estate website pretty much lied outright on the size of the apartment. Our place is TINY—basically a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. No living room, no laundry facilities, and not much storage space. Huge bummer. In addition, in the few months we've lived here, we've had our Internet, cable, and hot water all stop working for a week at a time. So, yeah, fun times.

The kitchen of our tiny apartment

And then there was the transition from full-time office worker to working from home while taking care of a baby at the same time. It has been a challenge not only to find work, but also to find the time to do said work while keeping up with housework and giving my daughter the attention she needs. There have been times where I've been close to losing my sanity when Adelaide is crying or getting into things, and I'm trying to get five other things done.

I am finding that I really need to focus on the good things these changes have brought on. The town is small, but that made it less scary and easier to become familiar with the area. We are no more than a few hours away from some beautiful sites around Utah, which we've been having fun exploring.

Adelaide in Temple Square and Arches National Park (with her Opa during a visit)

I am starting to land some steady jobs that have been fitting in pretty well with my new home life as a mom. I am enjoying being independent and having the ability to work a flexible schedule and branch out into areas I am more interested in. And as annoying and frustrating as it can be to deal with a whiny baby sometimes, I am still very grateful that I am now able to spend my days with her and care for her full-time. For every bad day, there are many more happy ones filled with joyful moments.

Adelaide is growing up and enjoying her new home.

Baking also helps with the sanity part. Even in a tiny kitchen.

Celebrating autumn with some baking—pumpkin pie pop tarts and peach pie

All in all, it is looking up. Now that I'm figuring things out, I hope to be able to dive into some personal projects as well, including this blog, of course. I have a few things in the works that I'll be unveiling soon, so stay tuned!

Happy Autumn!

Niki

And in case you think I forgot about Inktober...

Life Lately: Babies, Big Changes, and a Bridal Shower

2016-06-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hey, it's been a while! It's been busy, busy, busy…

I've been taking a little break from blogging to focus on some more BIG changes coming up in my life. In about a month, I'll be moving with my little family out to Utah. It's both exciting and scary. On one hand, I like the prospect of starting a new journey, but on the other, breaking away from what has become familiar and comfortable is daunting. I'll be leaving my support system of extended family and friends, who have been so helpful in my first months as a mother.

My water baby. This photo captures my summer perfectly.

This move also means giving up my long-time office job. This could be a good change, though. I'm going to attempt a career as a freelancer working from home. I've been picking up small jobs on the side to get the ball rolling. At first, I stuck to the same type of book layout work I currently do in the office, but it has taken a pleasant turn into freelance illustration as well. On a whim, I started applying to some jobs creating designs for adult coloring and have already been hired onto a few projects. So it looks like I'll be able to start making a living doing more of the things I love. Most importantly, though, freelancing will allow me to stay home with my baby. Well, babies. Oh yeah, did I not mention that I'm pregnant again?! So there's THAT too.

I'm not the only one having a big year. My sister Shannon will be getting married in August, and I had the pleasure of helping out with her bridal shower this past weekend. It was a perfect day to celebrate outdoors with family and friends. My mom created a beautiful setup with fresh flowers and a yogurt and muffin bar. I was in charge of the game prizes, favors, and activities. I got my craft on, creating some tissue paper flowers with candy inside for the favors. I also put up a photo booth area, complete with cheesy props. It was a fun little party.

The bridal shower setup

Game prizes and party favors

The bride

Sisters

My silly aunts

Adelaide had fun in the photo booth, too!

I won't lie—this past month has been a stressful one, but I have had some beautiful moments as well. This summer is going by so quickly already, and it's hardly even begun. I am grateful for these happy memories I am creating every day. I look forward to these changes coming up. For better or worse, it will definitely be an adventure!

Niki

Back to Work

Back to the Craft Table

Real-Life Floral Patterns

2016-05-17T06:00:00.001-04:00

I love, love, love floral patterns. Much of the time, I can be found doodling and painting them, but ever since I discovered people making art with real flowers (see links at the end of the post), I've been inspired to try it myself. And let me tell you, I LOVED IT. I picked up a colorful bouquet from my local grocery store and used the different flowers and parts of the flowers to create both all-over and round patterns. I can see potential here for incorporating photo prints of my favorite pieces into my home decor. See the results below...

The original bouquet

The bouquet disassembled

I really enjoyed making these, and I plan to find time to do it again soon. I hope you are all enjoying the wonderful spring weather and take time to admire the colorful blooms of the season.

Make something beautiful today!

Niki

LINKS

Here are a few of my favorite Instagrammers who create wonderful pieces of art with flowers and other plants.
Flora Forager (@flora.forager)
Face the Foliage (@facethefoliage)
Helen Ahpornsiri (@helenahpornsiri)

RELATED POSTS

May Flowers

Flower Lunch

2016-05-10T06:00:00.001-04:00

During the busy week, my lunch is usually reduced to a box of crackers that I munch on while I work at my desk. Quick and easy. But once in a while it's nice to treat yourself to something more satisfying and appealing. One day, I made a flower arrangement out of a sandwich for fun. This would be a neat way to present sandwiches on a platter for a party as well I would imagine. To round out the meal, I added a pudding "dirt" cup topped with a strawberry rose and a vegetable plate with sliced cucumbers arranged into "petals." See details and photos below.

Sandwich with rosettes formed from pieces of ham, sitting on a bed of assorted lettuces and sprouts.

Strawberry "dirt" cup—chocolate pudding and crushed Oreos with berry topper. See below for links to instructions for creating the rose and the flowerpot cupcake cups.

Cucumber veggie plate with feta cheese and grape center.

They say that you eat with your eyes, so why not make something beautiful for lunch?

Till next time,

Niki

LINKS

How to Make Strawberry Roses

(from Spend with Pennies)

Terra Cotta Silicone Cupcake Cups

May Flowers

Mother's Day Bouquet

2016-05-03T07:54:00.001-04:00

This Sunday is my first Mother's Day since becoming a mother myself. There is nothing more challenging, life-altering, and rewarding than becoming a parent. My little Adelaide just turned four months old on Saturday. A friend once told me in regards to parenthood, "The days are long, but the weeks are short." So true. I can't believe how fast these first few months have gone by, and she is growing every day.

My little four-month-old.

I love being a mom. Nothing makes me happier than to see my daughter laugh and smile. Whenever I am away from her, I can't wait to see her again. Of course, there are challenging times, like when she's sick or cranky or won't go to sleep at night. For example, it'll probably take me three times as long to write this blog post than it should because Ada wants my constant attention.

Whenever I'm tired or frustrated with the whole motherhood gig, I marvel at how my own mother ever managed THREE little babies at one time. My parents adopted my two sisters and I (we are triplets) when we were just six months old. She's told me stories about how she would squeeze three car seats into the back of her car, or carry all three of us in her arms at once up into her apartment before going back for the groceries. She must be Wonder Woman!

Happy Grandmother—my daughter Adelaide with my mother

I always make sure to treat my mom well on Mother's Day because she definitely deserves it. I try to make her something special. A few years back, I became obsessed with paper flowers, and I made her a handmade bouquet. So, to kick off my floral-themed month of blog posts, I thought I'd share the flowers I made. Follow the links for the original tutorials that inspired them.

Coffee Filter Roses (from Martha Stewart)

Paper Ranunculus (from The Elli Blog)

Tissue Paper Poppies (from Lia Griffith)

Tissue Paper Pom Pom (from Martha Stewart)

And the finished product...

My finished paper flowers and Mother's Day gift basket.

Being a mom is the best job in the world, but also one of the hardest. I hope you all take time this weekend to show all the mothers in your life how much you appreciate them.

Happy Mother's Day!

Niki

May Flowers

Back to Work

May Flowers

2016-05-01T23:20:00.001-04:00

It's no secret... I LOVE flowers!

As you can see, flowers show up a lot in my arts and crafts. The color and beauty of flowers are an instant pick-me-up. They are an iconic symbol of the spring season. So this month, I've decided to devote my blog posts to all things floral.

Stay tuned...

Niki