Video: Character Creation: Decorating a Blank Art Wall Episode #1

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Please note this post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links I earn a small commission but it doesn’t cost you and more money.

Hello everyone and a very happy Monday to you! I am writing this in my kitchen while the sun shines outside and the wind blows through the trees. They are calling for a rain storm tonight which my garden very much could use so I welcome it. I was able to spend a few hours in the studio this morning working on my content plans, recording today’s video and the first video in my brand new online class! If you would like to learn more about it you can check it out here.

If I am honest, I was thinking that maybe I shouldn’t share this video. The artist critic was awake and speaking out as I sat down to edit it. I thought, “who am I to share art videos?” I was judging my final piece and thought I could just skip this week’s video.

Then I remembered why I share my work. I don’t share it to teach people how to create fabulous art. I don’t share it as an exposition of my master pieces. Instead, I share my creative work here in the hope that it inspires someone to try something creative today. That it reminds someone of what it is they love about being creative. That someone can look at my art and think, “well I can do that.”

And the truth is-you can! Art is about the process of creation. Sure, you can fine tune and work at it and all that is wonderful but while you are fine tuning and working at things-you play. And after you fine tune things, my hope is-you play. So if you are wondering when the last time you picked up some art materials are maybe get yourself a favorite beverage, a few little supplies and let’s have a creative play date!

I started out trying to sketch a little girl and then realized that I have been loving these sketchy type characters I was creating. The look best in pencil and as I kept trying to make this poor little character something it clearly did not want to be I realized that I needed to just let go. So I did.

I added water-soluable pencils, acrylics and just tried to have fun. I mention in the video that I have a blank wall in my studio that I want to start making pieces for and I admit that I kept judging this piece to see if it was “wall worthy.” Silly right? And when I finally let the judgements go and I looked at my final piece I was absolutely delighted. Not out of artistic perfection. Simply because my little character made me happy.

And I think that’s a pretty awesome gift!

Please do share what you make along side me! I would love to hear!

Resources:

Blank Invitation Cards (Affiliate Link)

Until next time…

Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Music by Angela Predhomme – Unstoppable Me – https://thmatc.co/?l=E65CF842
Music by Angela Predhomme – Hey Mr. Sunshine – https://thmatc.co/?l=A91D246D

Video: A Day in the Garden

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Happy Friday!

Today I am chatting all about the garden-with a little video tour as well. I filmed this back in May but if I am being honest the past month seems to have gotten away from me. Between birthdays, anniversaries it seems that the month flew by in a lovely wave. That and I have been busy prepping for my first in-person class that happened this Monday (it was so much fun! I can’t wait to do more!). Now that things have settled a bit, I am excited to be sharing with you all that I am up to here in the land of the dilettante.

I have decided to use one of my old channels to share my gardening adventures. You may remember last year I shared photos of all my cut flowers and this year I thought it would be fun to share some of my gardening chores and what I am up to in the garden. I’ll also share photos of my cut flowers because I just love them so much.

In today’s video I am having a bit of chat after spending the whole day alone in the garden. Can I just say it was bliss? The weather was beautiful, the neighborhood was quiet and I was digging around in the dirt-a perfect day.

I start off the video chatting and then give a tour of all the garden beds I have set up including a new one I made for my zinnias. Zinnias are one of my most favorite flowers. The are beautiful in bouquet, last a long while, bloom all season and come in a ton of colors-what’s not to love? So I have created a whole garden just for my zinnias. I used some rocks that had been part of our old front stairs and became part of a garden border around the house. Where these were the hostas had pretty much grown over so you couldn’t really see the rock anyway. I am so happy with how this new garden finished off this part of the yard.

We had a delivery this year of a topsoil compost blend. We had a delivery of it last year and used it to fill all my grow bags that went in my new vegetable garden and everything did so well! When the growing season was done we emptied the grow bags into the garden and then the delivery this year went to fill the vegetable garden and a few pots and new beds. My plan is to get my compost piles working so that I will be able to add my own soil amendments next year and not have to purchase any. I have always composted but I don’t turn it or really keep it separated so it takes longer. I am hoping to get my bins all set up soon so that with any luck next spring I will have loads of my own compost.

I am planting my vegetables in the ground this year except for my potatoes which are growing in grow bags. I find it really easy to grow potatoes this way. It doesn’t take up space in the garden and they are so easy to harvest when it’s time.  I mention in the video the cloches for the tomato plants. I don’t think they were necessary and I lost a few plants anyway. I think it was more because of the cloches rather than the cold. Fortunately I had some extras to replace the ones that didn’t make it so I won’t be shy on tomato plants this year.

I hope you enjoy the little garden tour. I plan to upload gardening videos every Friday so if you love gardening I hope you enjoy them.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

The cut flower scatter garden is from Renee’s Garden and can be found here.

The sunflower scatter garden is also from Renee’s Garden and can be found here.

Video: Dilettante’s Dollhouse Episode #4 Creating Roof Shingles from Cereal Boxes

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Please note this post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links I earn a small commission but it doesn’t cost you and more money.

Welcome to Dollhouse Sunday!

I have to start off by saying, “thank you” for all the lovely comments and new subscribers to my channel. It has been so much fun reading everyone’s suggestions and thoughts and I am so happy I decided to share this journey!

I also learned something very interesting about my dollhouse from Kathy McNeely at My Mud Life Studio. Turns out that she has the same dollhouse! She rescued it from a yard sale about 15 years ago and apparently there plans with her dollhouse. It seems they were plans you could purchase which is really fun for me to know. I knew it was made by a family friend for me but beyond that I really didn’t know much about it. It’s amazing the wonderful things you can find out from the creative community!

So this week I am really excited to share my shingle project! I had been thinking and imaging this process for weeks and I finally decided to give the interior wall paper scrapping a break and work on the roof.

Using cereal boxes for chipboard I measured, marked and cut my pieces to size. The shingle depth is 1 3/4 ” (or 4.445cm) and the length of my cereal box. I then marked 1/4″ (0.635cm) from the long edge to make a straight line so I would know where to line up the second row of shingles to.

The ridge vent was the length of my roof and 2″ (5.08cm) wide. I marked a line right down the middle and then gently folded it over the roof to get the crease started. Once that was done I used a bone folder to make a nice sharp crease. I applied Gorilla Wood Glue (affiliate link) to the chipboard and then applied it to the peak of the roof. I held it down for a bit while it took hold but it really came out very nice! It is so satisfying to see a project come to life like this.

In next week’s post I am going to be spackling the front of the dollhouse and painting the roof shingles. I cannot wait to share that with you.

I hope you have a wonderful week and thank you for visiting my dollhouse.

 

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Video: Dilettante’s Dollhouse: Episode #3 Interior Demo

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It’s Dollhouse Sunday! In today’s video I am starting the interior demo of the dollhouse. I remove the divider walls and start with the attic to take down the paper I put up when I was about 12 years-old. There was a stubborn spot that I just couldn’t remove and while I was scrubbing at it I remembered putting up the paper. I remembered how there was one little spot that wouldn’t stick and for some reason I was determined to glue it down. I worked on it for a while to get it to finally stay down and apparently I did a great job! It was nice to have this memory come back to me while working.

I then went on to the other rooms taking out the carpeting. Some of it crumbled and I had to scrape it off but when I finished that I moved on to the rest of rooms. I was just using plain water in a spray bottle and a scrapper to remove the paper and I will have to go back and sand the walls as the paper was stuck on pretty well.

My next step on the interior will be to sand the walls. Before I start any decorating though I will be sure to sketch out my interior and determine where the rooms are going. And stairs, *sigh* I need to figure out stairs. If anyone has any idea on how to build them I would be happy to hear! If not, we will have fun learning together.

I hope you enjoy watching Episode #3 and have a wonderful weekend!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Video: Making Focal Images

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Please note this post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links I earn a small commission but it doesn’t cost you and more money.

I am always looking for something new to share with you. When I am working in my journal I tend to start my pages the same way-except in Monday’s video where I changed it up and worked backwards to front. I also find myself searching for focal images. Things I can place front and center of some colorful background.

Magazine images are always fun for this. You can alter them and change them up completely but today I thought it would be fun to make some simple focal images from scratch.

I wanted the images to be interesting on their own but neutral enough that they would work with a lot of pages and also allow for alterations to fit the page I am working on.

I started out with a house. I still draw houses like I did when I was 6. I have tried to change it up but for some reason-this is a house to me. So I just went with it and added some collage for the windows and doors.

Next up was a heart. I love hearts. Whenever I don’t know what to add to a spread-I add a heart and it never goes wrong. I drew out a quick heart and then filled it up with some of the gelli prints I made and some of the pages from one of my digital kits.

Then I sketched out a tree. Did I mention I draw trees the same as I did when I was 6? They used to stand next to the houses. Now I have stopped adding a straight out stick with a swing hanging from it but you know, it just might come back when added to a journal page.

I collaged the trunk with my trusty old dictionary paper and the leaves were using the same digital kit. I attached this all down with gel matte medium (affiliate link to a similar one I used. Mine is a heavy body).

Next up I drew a star and filled it in with collage. I loved the texture and variation the collage added to these very simple images. This star was filled in with a page from this digital kit of mine.

I then went back and added some water to activate the watercolor pencils and the NeoColor II’s (affiliate link) I used on the house. Lastly I sketched out a simple flower using my Stabilo pencil (affiliate link). I filled the flower in with the pink paper from the same kit before I dried everything with my heat gun and cut them out.

I just want to say how much fun these were to make. I am already thinking of other ideas and things I can make in this same style and I have already used one of them in a project. I hope you have fun and give these a try. If you do please let me know!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Video: Drawing Faces-An Art Journaling Challenge

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I wasn’t sure if I was going to get today’s post and video up. I was experiencing some computer issues but thankfully I sorted that all out and am sharing with you my latest journal page.

I really enjoyed making today’s spread. Normally I start with the background but today I started with the focal image and then worked out. I have been wanting to draw more faces in an effort to not only better my skills but also to find my own style. I was very aware as I was drawing this lady about the thoughts in my head. I was trying so hard to make her look happy, then I was doubting my abilities at all, and finally I remembered some unicorns I drew when I was young.

I was so proud of them and immediately felt I had a talent for drawing. I don’t remember what happened but I let go of drawing then and when I tried to start up again, I just felt as if I wasn’t able to because I wasn’t an artist like other people.

It had me wondering how many things in life I stopped doing or kept doing because of what other people thought about it. I am always amazed at the revelations that can come about when we make a little space for our creative expression.

I hope you enjoy today’s video. What is something you love to do but never felt you could claim it for yourself? Maybe today you can.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Music by myk – Reflections – https://thmatc.co/?l=321D4BE6