CRAFTS

Lissa's Lists • Creative Mama Mother's Day Gifts

April 23, 2020LIFESTYLE, Lissa's Lists, WISHLISTS, CRAFTSlissa-anglinComment

It’s sure to be a Mother’s Day like no other this year- and I am predicting that more than ever, most moms just want a few minutes alone! However, while we’re all safe at home, I have a feeling that those of us with crafting in our veins are itching for something to make. So, this week’s list is coming a day early- so you can go ahead and send this to whomever might be purchasing your gifts this year!

This week’s list includes a few of my all-time faves, a few things that I’m crushing on, and some of the things you guys, my community, have told me you’re wanting. There are a few great sales happening and so I’ve linked all the items right here for you- best price guaranteed!

Creative Mama Mother's Day Gifts by Lissa Anglin

Illustrating Bible

I get asked about my Illustrating Bible all the time, and I absolutely love it. It is a nice large size, the square shape is perfect for posting photos, the pages don’t bleed through and the spiral binding is a gamechanger. If you are wanting a journaling Bible, this is the ONE! Promise. (Psssst- also found it for 25% off at the link above).

Illustrated Faith Accessories

If you’re getting a journaling Bible, might as well go ahead and grab a few accessories. My favorites are the date stamp, cardstock and epoxy stickers- but they have a ton more!

Cricut Joy

This is a recent addition to my craft room, and I go to bed at night thinking about more projects I can do with it. :) Not joking. It is so compact and perfect to just keep out on a desk or shelf- perfect for small projects like cards and labels. I’m considering it my new label makeer!

Cricut Air 2

This is the Joy’s older, slightly more capable sister. She can pretty much do anything you want, at a larger size, and if you’ve been eyeballing one, go ahead and pull the trigger- these are priced lower than I’ve ever seen them right now!

Cricut Easy Press

You know all those cute custom shirts you see people wearing? They probably have an easy press. This little heat machine is what adheres the vinyl on to fabric and you could literally make alll sorts of things- from onesies to dishtowels to tote bags.

Water Pens

These are a favorite of mine! Perfect for newbie brush letterers, or anyone who is a little nervous about watercoloring with a brush. The water stays inside the pen, and then you dip it into color. It combines colors beautifully as well.

Iridescent Ink

Y’all, how fun are these inks?! These can be used like any paint, with a water brush, or in an alcohol ink project. A little goes a long way, so they will last a long time. I linked the set that you would REALLY want.

Iridescent Watercolors

Iridescent means they SPARKLE! This is a newer product and I am dying to test them out. I think they will be so much fun for Bible journaling!

Supply Cart

This is such a no-brainer- I am positive that everyone could use one or a few of these. I love the fact that you could pack if full of supplies and then roll it to wherever your project is happening. My heart loves a good functional gift.

Tombow Pens

FAVORITE. PENS. EVER. They’re just good, ya’ll. The dual tips are perfect when you want to brush letter and then switch to the fine tip. They have a ton of colors and I’m linking a new color palette here!

Stabilo Pens

A friend gifted these to me a few years back and I have loved them for their size and great variety of colors. These are perfect if you need a super fine tip- I use them to underline in my Bible a lot. Ples this little carrying case is so cute!

Watercolor Tin

I have this watercolor tin and love it. It’s sturdy, gives me room to mix paints, and the little containers can pop in and out so you can wash them or rotate out your colors.

Paint Pouring Kit

Am I the only one who has spent many, many minutes on the internet watching paint pouring?! Now there is a KIT you can do at HOME, guys! How fun is that?!

This post contains affiliate links, on which I will receive a small commission should you purchase anything/sign up/subscribe etc. I would never share something I didn’t actually like or want to share with you, so I wanted to let you know. Sharing affiliate links affords me a few more lattes and it’s always my aim to add value to your life with the brands and products I share. Thanks for supporting me!

Gallery Wall Update

October 31, 2019HOME, HOME + LIFESTYLE, CRAFTS, DIYlissa-anglinComment

Lucy has been home for almost 2 YEARS now- and guess which professional photographer has ZERO framed prints of her newest daughter in her home?! Yep. This one. What’s the saying? The cobbler’s children have no shoes? It’s like that at our house, unfortunately.

Realizing the great need for her sweet face to adorn our walls, I was also feeling all cluttered and anxious about the current state of our living room/dining room gallery wall:

Yes, that is the infamous man lamp. He’s been in the family for years, and he has now relocated to my desk.

Anyway, it was high time for a change. I wanted a simpler gallery wall look and imagined large frames with large white mats. So, my first step was calling up my friend Lauren for some new family photos. Lauren did her MAGIC (seriously, she is magic) in about 10 minutes and the kids were rewarded with giant chocolate bars. I love the photos from this session so much, I’ll have to share them in another post.

If you’d rather watch the video version of this post, feel free to scroll on down!

After measuring the wall and deciding how large I wanted my frames to be, I did a little mock up in Photoshop. I knew I wanted an oversized, floor-to-ceiling look, so I measured the wall and did the maximum size I could.

Wouldn’t that completely cover the wall again?! Yes, but the reason this works from a design standpoint is because the large mats and skinny frames don’t require a lot of visual space.

Tip: If you are wanting to recreate this look, it’s very important that you measure your wall space, and use skinny frames close together (mine were 2 inches apart) with large neutral colored mats.

I originally thought I would do black and white, but that was vetoed by everyone else in the family, and also thought I could fit 8 frames in instead of 6…math was never my forte. It did help me plan and visualize, though!

After a LOT of shopping around, I ended up with these frames from Michael’s. They are technically poster frames, which makes them less expensive, and have plastic instead of glass.

When I first hung up the frames, I was a bit disappointed that you could see the slight bending of the plastic when the light glared on them (revealing that they aren’t truly glass)- this is a little thing that my perfectionist self wanted to fix immediately- but after thinking a bit, the plastic is really a better choice for our family right now- especially since these frames sit lower to the ground.

You can see the bending glare a bit in the above photos.

I ordered these prints from Sam’s Club, of all places! They were having a sale and though I typically recommend mpix.com, I thought it was cheap enough to give it a shot. In the end, I was pretty happy with the way they turned out. I was able to pick them up in 24 hours. They were delivered rolled up, so I flattened them out and put them under a weighted piece of artboard for a couple of days to make them easier to frame.

My frames are 24x36'“, and I ordered 16x20” prints. I thought I would just order custom mats for the frames, since that is an irregular mat size, but Michael’s was going to charge me $38.00 per frame! So, I was super excited when I found FrameItEasy.com. I was able to order exactly what I needed for around $10 per mat.

Click here to get 10% off your order at FrameitEasy.com!

(affiliate link)

The mats fit perfectly and were great quality. I also love that they do framing, and will probably be ordering all-out framed prints from them next time.

I used regular ‘ol masking tape to tape the prints to the back of the mats. I realize this is a no-no in the photography world, as it’s not archival quality and the chemicals in the tape will cause the prints to break down over time, yada, yada, yada….but let’s be real, I’m going to change these prints again before anything like that starts happening.

Once it was time to hang, I began with the center two prints and worked outward, using a level to make sure the lines were all straight. I’m not going to lie- these frames are a total pain to hang with the tiny sawtooth hanger (I MUCH prefer wire across the back), but you only have to do it once. :)

Tip: Even after I had then all hung, they still tilted a bit one way or the other, so I attached velcro command strips to the backs of the frames and onto the walls, which keeps them straight (and in place when a kid decides to ram into one- we have a rambunctious crew, ya’ll).

In the end, I was super pleased with how it turned out! The frames are semi-obstructed by the couch in our living room, but all visible from the dining/kitchen area.

Watch below for a few more details on the process. I hope this was helpful!

watercolor poppies bible journaling tutorial

June 19, 2019HOME + LIFESTYLE, DIY, CRAFTSlissa-anglinComment

Hey friends! Since I’ve received my new Illustrating Bible, I have had the best time working in it! It has much larger space to create and I looooove the spiral binding and square shape. I’ve also found that the pages themselves are a bit thicker than other journaling Bibles I’ve had, which is great because I love to use watercolor, and it tends to bleed through.

One of the first pages I created was this poppy scheme in Song of Songs 2 and I’ve had so many requests to do a tutorial on it I thought I’d give it a shot.

So, I set out to create a light pink version of this same concept, and I filmed the process so you can follow along!

I have to apologize for the shaking camera and random interruptions- it’s summertime and my son was wanting to paint with me, so I wasn’t about to say no! I’ll post the links to everything I used at the end of this post.

Affiliate Links:

Illustrated Faith Bible Tabs: http://www.kqzyfj.com/click-9062253-1

Illustrating Bible: https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-9062253-13446143

Holbein Watercolors: https://amzn.to/2LoCCNx

Watercolor Tin: https://amzn.to/2DJJMWj

Round Brushes: https://amzn.to/2V0aqQH

Illustrated Faith Hexagon Stickers: https://amzn.to/2Ww7ssQ

DaySpring Blank Shape Stickers: https://amzn.to/2K6SSl0

So, let me know- did you enjoy this post? Was it helpful? What more would you like to see? Thanks for tuning in!

Customizing Bible Tabs with Watercolor and Gold Leaf

May 6, 2019HOME + LIFESTYLE, CRAFTS, DIYlissa-anglinComment

I really hesitate to use the word “bling” in any circumstance…but honestly that is the best word I can think of to describe what this project is all about. :)

I got in my new Illustrating Bible from Dayspring and you guys, I’m OBSESSED. I want to paint in it all. the. time. I reviewed in on my InstaStories but if you haven’t seen it yet- it’s amazing. Spiral binding, huge margins for note-taking, painting, coloring- thicker pages which means I don’t need to prep them before I watercolor. It’s really amazing.

You can pre-order the new Illustrating Bible here- it will ship out May 15!

One of the first things I knew I wanted to do was make some tabs for it. I loved using the tabs on my last journaling Bible and knew it would make my Bible so much more “me”. So, I was really excited when I saw that Dayspring also had these Bible tabs that would be perfect for customizing. I ordered them and a few other Illustrated Faith accessories.

I love working in watercolor and on a whim I decided to throw in some gold leaf just to make it extra special. I have to say I am really pleased with the outcome and love that there is a burst of color from every angle of my Bible now!

I videoed the whole process, and if you’d like to make some of your own, this will show you exactly how to do it!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Illustrated Faith Bible Tabs

I would love to see what you create! Connect with me on Instagram @lissaanglin.

The Illustrating Bible was given to me by Dayspring to review and this post is my honest opinion. This post contains affiliate links that help me continue to bring fun content to this space, so if you like what you see, I’d love for you to use my links!

How We Connected With Our Adopted Daughter We Had Yet To Meet

March 7, 2019Adoption, CRAFTS, DIYlissa-anglinComment

“Congratulations, you have a daughter in China!”

I cried hearing those precious words from our adoption agency worker.

I will never forget the cocktail of emotions I felt after that phone call. Shock that all of our paperwork actually went through and was approved by both the U.S. government and the People’s Republic of China. Elation that she was ours. Fear of all the unknown. Humbled and thankful to finally be at this part of the process. To be her mother.

And then the overwhelm set in. Oh gosh, what now?! Besides the new stack of more paperwork, there was packing and planning to be done- we were actually going to get our daughter in China!

Our agency told us that it would be around 3 months before we could leave to meet her and bring her home, as official paperwork needed to process and other preparations were to be made. My heart tinged with sadness as I realized that our daughter would be spending her second birthday in the orphanage. We wouldn’t be there for three more months. How was she to know that there was a family on the other side of the world, so excited to meet her and bring her home?

All the time, I found myself thinking about what it might be like for the daughter we had yet to meet. Being told you have a family but having no concept of what a family is…watching your entire world transition but not fully understanding why. And then that inevitable day when two strangers come to hold you and speak to you in words you don’t understand. Gosh. It was going to get harder before it got better.

I was so desperate to connect with our new daughter- to make this transition better in any way I could. Our agency suggested sending a care package to her, and I jumped at the chance. I knew that anything I might send such as blankets, toys, or clothing might be shared with other children in the orphanage (which was fine with me- the need is so great), but I knew one thing I must include in the package- a photo book.

Being a professional photographer, I have many resources to high quality printers and album companies, but for this photo book I needed something that was appropriate for tiny toddler fingers, not a bride and groom. So, I scoured the internet looking for something durable and kid-friendly.

Pinhole Press’s board book was perfect. The size and rounded edges were ideal for her tiny toddler fingers. The pages were thick and glossy and would be protected from any nibbles or bottle spill. The pre-made templates on their website were so easy to customize with our names and photos. I included photos of each member of our family with our names on the corresponding page. The dogs even got their own pages, as did a few photos of our home. I wanted her to be familiar with as much as possible when she finally arrived home.

Once we received the book in the mail, I was so pleased with the result. The print quality was excellent and the colors were bright and beautiful. I mailed it to China a few days later.

Months later, we arrived in China to meet our girl. The day we received her was long and emotional, so I forgot that our daughter’s foster mother had given me a USB drive until about a week later. You can imagine my elation when I saw a photo of our sweet Lucy holding her book.

I am so thankful I had this tool to connect with our daughter before ever meeting her. International adoption is a challenging but worthy process and little things like this make it so much personal and sweet. I love that our Lucy will get to keep this book as a part of her story, and I’m confident that before we ever spoke the same language, she knew me and I knew her.

DIY Scribble Floral Mural

March 7, 2018HOME + LIFESTYLE, MOMLIFE, DIY, CRAFTSlissa-anglinComment

This is an idea I've had brewing in my head for well over a year now. It all started when my sister put in this gorgeous wallpaper in her daughter's nursery. THEN I started crushing on this Hygge & West wallpaper and just KNEW I had to put it in the girls' room (I'm actually really excited about the wallpaper resurgence- so many modern and colorful designs!).

However, after doing all the calculations, I decided that it simply wasn’t in the budget. And, after seeing the oversized florals in Hayden's nursery I thought that might be a little more do-able. I also figured I could paint over it if I hated it!

So, I decided to give the floral thing a shot. This method I used is really so forgiving- I will describe it in detail as best I can! And it was actually a quick project – the planning took a lot longer than the actual painting.

The first thing I did was sketch the composition on my iPad so I knew so I could get my ideas out "on paper", and play with color palettes. I pulled the composition off of a few bouquet photos I liked and traced certain parts of it to get me started. After that it was a matter of filling in the gaps, and repeating some of those same florals in different spots. I knew wanted to keep in the color scheme I have been prepping for their room anyway- pink, orange, mustard yellow, and black and white. I wanted the flowers to have more of an illustrative feel as opposed to a realistic look, which I knew would be a lot easier for me to achieve. I like to call these my "scribble flowers".

Thanks to my iPad and Procreate, it's actually really easy to share that process with you here:

The room also has a chair rail on all the walls (when we moved in there was a really uh, interesting frog border sandwiched in-between the molding)- and I wanted to make sure that everything would look right with the chair rail– so I knew I needed to do something to add interest there to keep the flow throughout the room. So, I also drew up a mock up of how it would look in the room.

My room mock up with the floral design and border.

This woman actually swore she would never paint a room pink...famous last words!

Once I had come up with a design I was happy with, it was time to paint!

My mom came over and helped me paint the three different colors on the walls – and this is definitely the hardest part! We ended up having to paint the ceiling after we realized it wasn’t actually white, but a very light blue which wouldn’t complement the new colors. I'm so thankful I had my mom to help me pick out the grey color (really more of a greige than grey) on the bottom- previously it was a really blue grey which made it feel cold and sterile to me. Since I knew we'd be adding warmer colors, it was really important to pick a grey with a warm undertone- otherwise it would have made the original grey look very blue.

Pink background color: Valspar Arctic Ice

White: Valspar Downy

Grey on bottom and in mural: Valspar Requisite Grey

We used Satin sheen with every paint- I have found it is very scrubbable without being too shiny.

If you watch my Insta stories (follow me @lissaanglin), you’ll remember that I recommended using an angled brush as opposed to a square one. I hate messing with painter's tape and have found that an angled brush gives me as good or better results. The key with the angled brushes to not overloaded with too much paint and go slow.

Once my base coats were ready, it was time to sketch out the composition. I’d like to do my outlines with chalk, since it wipes off easily. At first I tried drawing with white chalk, but it just wasn’t enough of a contrast on the pink, so I ended up using a light purple chalk. It did end up mixing with the paint somewhat, but it just wasn’t that big of a deal for me – so be warned if you choose to use a darker color of chalk – you might see it a bit!

Next I mixed all of my additional colors for the mural. To keep everything really consistent, I chose to use the same white paint that was on our trim and chair rail, so that all of the paint would have the same base color. Not all white paints are created equal – some have a blue base, some have a green base, some red, some yellow – you get the idea. I mixed the paint in my fancy Solo cups- adding about half a cup of white paint and then tinting the white with these paints from Michaels by adding just a bit at of color at a time and stirring well.

Keep in mind that your paint will dry darker than it looks when wet. It might be a good idea to paint yourself a test on a piece of paper and let it dry so that you can see the actual colors. I would also suggest using a more limited color palette – three or four colors max – it will keep it much more consistent and professional looking.

Once I had the composition sketched out and paints ready, it was time for the paint bottom layer which I'm calling the "blobs". This is a really fun part of the process. Using a square brush like these, I began to apply my blobs of paint using my outlines guides- but I wasn't too precious about it. ;)

I wanted to make the color bleed outside of the outline in the end, so I purposely made the color blobs a bit larger than they needed to be. For simplicity sake, I decided to make all of the same types of flowers the same color – so peonies were pink, chrysanthemums were orange, etc. I attempted to do a time-lapse video of myself painting, but didn't quite make it to the outlining stage before my iPad died. However, hopefully this video will give a good idea of how I painted my blobs:

Once the blobs were finished, I let the paint dry fully and then it was time for the outline! I recommend using a round brush (these are great) for the outlines. Keep in mind you will likely need a smaller brush than you think, because when you put pressure on the brush, it’s going to get bigger. So, it’s better to lean on the smaller side so that your outlines don’t become too big.

Can't wait till there are two sweet girls playing in this room!

Looking at my original sketch, I began to paint the outlines over my colored paint blobs. I didn’t worry too much about staying inside or outside of the lines – and purposely went outside the lines frequently. I used only 1 round brush for all of the outline, so that it was consistent throughout.

Once I was finished, I added some random colored dots/blobs of all the colors I used around the entire piece.

That’s it! I needed up having quite a bit of extra paint that I had mixed, and I didn’t want to throw it out because I’m a paint hoarder, so I went to the dollar store and bought some cheap plastic containers that worked perfectly for storage. Now if anything ever happens to the flowers (likely in our household), I have handy touch up paint.