Play with pattern

When I was learning to paint and teaching, one thing I loved was combining different elements to create something different.  Whether you have learned daisies, roses, ribbons or all three, there are numerous ways you can combine them to create something unique.  There were always some elements for me though that pair so well together, I found myself pairing roses and delicate lace time and time again in different ways.

This month, for our theme in April we are focusing on pattern and I just couldn't help but look through a few of my old pattern folders and came across this design.

Mixing vintage roses, flat brush leaves and lace, it creates a delicate pattern that I will be working with throughout the month. So join me as I play with colour and play with this design to show you how you can create many different looks with just one design.  

If you would like to have a go at painting this design and want to join in and discover all the different looks you can create throughout the month, you can download the design from our Pinterest Folk It pattern board.  

I do hope you will join me on this journey :) 

Love, Carol x 

Falling in love with Mandalas

When we chose September as Mandala month, we wondered whether it was a little ambitious.  We admire mandalas across social media on a daily basis but the great thing about them is that there is so much variety. From dotty mandalas to more intricate designs, they can truly be as unique and beautiful as each individual snowflake that falls. 

This gave us the idea that for September, instead of getting overwhelmed by all the different mandalas we could create, we would use one mandala template and have fun finding different ways to decorate it.   

Each project we have created we have started by transferring our design onto our journal using transfer paper before choosing our colours and designs.  Sometimes, we have had an idea in mind of the techniques we wanted to use like the one below... 

Here Carol used a simple floating technique to float DecoArt Americana in Snow (Titanium) white

 (this is a technique Carol teaches you in our Cupcakes and Babushka Flat Brush kits). This created such a delicate, ethereal look we couldn't help but love it.  

Keeping things simple, using DecoArt Silver Sage Green, Carol painted each line using comma strokes with her liner brush before adding a few dots and filling any gaps with tiny hearts and a little French Mauve and warm white.  

Here, Rose chose to round off the mandala to simplify her pattern and filled it using our Delicate lace pattern and a few comma strokes.  

Adding a touch of DecoArt Shimmering Silver along with Razzleberry and Teal Green, we used a mixture of dotting, delicate lace and comma strokes to decorate this one.  Delicate lace and comma stokes are a great way to fill a large area without painting solid blocks of colour and creating a more delicate mandala.

Our customers also decided to use our design and paint their own mandala.  Here, Vanessa from The Arc Shed has been inspired by the colours of Jamaica and we were amazed at how well our rosebuds work as the centre of this mandala. We would never have thought of it but it looks fantastic! 

Still a work in progress, we are interested to see how this one turns out.  The painter behind At the Painting Table has combined a limited set of colours to create a mandala with quite a bit of unfilled space but instead of looking empty, it looks striking! 

Our painting challenge is open to everyone so if you fancy using our mandala or creating your own, we would love to share it.  Just tag us or use #funwithfolkit. You can find a copy of our mandala here. 

We are so glad we tried something new this month, we hope you will be too x 

5 ways to decorate with our Delicate lace kit

Knowing you have found the perfect gift for a loved one is a lovely feeling but how do you present it? Gift wrapping and presentation often fills people with dread but it doesn't have to. This month, we have been having fun decorating a few gift boxes to create beautiful packaging that will be as memorable as the gift itself.

Basecoating our Kraft box using DecoArt Chalky Finish paint, we began by painting two diagonal lace strips across our gift box and of course, sprinkled it with a dusting of Crystal Glamour dust. 

The great thing about our Delicate lace kit is that it compliments our other designs well.  For this box, we painted our delicate lace and once it was dry, we added our Vintage roses over the top.  

One of the boxes we recently created for our Hochanda show recently. This time, we ditched the base coating and paired the kraft box with a plain white design.  We teach you how to paint these pretty little angels in our Christmas kit along with 4 other designs but these angels go so well with our lace, we had to pair them up :) Use this at Christmas for a lovely wow factor. 

Getting more adventurous, for this gift box, we drew out a square and designed our own lace trim to compliment it - find out how to design your own lace pattern here. 

Instead of using a square, here, we used a circle template to create our design and used the steps outlined here to create the pattern.  Inside, we used the template we provide in the Vintage roses kit to paint the centrepiece and create this vintage inspired box. 

There are so many possibilities when it comes to decorating your own gift boxes and the great thing is that base coating your project means that you can even upcycle old packaging and transform it in to  a box worthy of gifting to a loved one.  However you choose to decorate your gift packaging, relax, let go and have fun, after all handmade is always better. 

Happy Folking, 

The You Can Folk It team x 

Tutorial: How to design a delicate lace pattern

Our Delicate Lace pattern is a fantastic design to add borders and edging to your project. Use it on its own or combine it with one of our other kits, it is so versatile and looks lovely wherever you paint it. Today, we will be teaching you how to get the most out of your kit and showing you how to design your own delicate lace patterns. 

The equipment you will need for this is...

• tracing paper 
• a marker pen 
• a pencil and eraser 
• light or dark transfer paper depending on your project 
• different sized coins 
• low tack masking tape
• paints and paintbrushes of course!

Before you add your delicate lace, first basecoat your gift box in DecoArt's Chalky Finish paint in 'Relic', a gorgeous dark grey. (No primer needed)

DecoArt Americana paints needed: 

Carol used DecoArt's American acrylic in warm white from our Series 1 kits to paint the delicate lace .
The vintage roses (our Series 1 add on kit) were painted using DecoArt's Americana acrylic in: Plum (from our Series 2 Starter kit) and warm white.  The leaves were painted using Avocado from of Series 2 Starter kit. 

How to design your Delicate Lace:

 Step 1: on your tracing paper, draw out the rectangle/square you wish to edge in a size you need. Then mark it into quarters.

Use a marker pen to draw the square/rectangle so you can rub pencil marks out later - designing lace is a process of trial and error (as all the best things are!)

Step 2: make lines as shown here onto your chosen coins - you can choose whichever size you like but we like 10p and 5p coins :)

Step 3: using the lines you've drawn as a guide, start drawing your scallops. Begin in the centre and work outwards.
The scallops will either fit nicely or need spacing out slightly - this is where you will need your eraser.

INSPIRATION: before you paint your scallops, play with designs - try diagonal, horizontal and vertical lines. Edges can be finished with dots and comma strokes. You can also add dot hearts, dot roses or daisies into the scallops themselves! This is another excellent addition to a painting journal.

Step 4: before painting your lace design onto your object, use your transfer paper to draw your scallops out and mark off your rectangle.  Depending on the design you wish to paint in the centre, you might want to use low tack masking tape to mark it out.

Step 5: Add your lace design to frame your design.

When the low tack masking tape is removed, your design will look as though it has been cut out giving it a completely different look to a more structured design that would simply sit in the centre. Draw out your semi circles and fill them with your chosen lace design. 

Before you sit back and enjoy your creation, take a look to see if you have overlooked any details.  Why not add patterns to the rim of the lid to complete your project.

All that is left to do now is enjoy your box. Whether you choose to use it an alternative to gift wrapping or keep it for yourself, it will be admired by anyone who sees it :) 

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and as always, we would love to see your designs on our Facebook page. If our Delicate Lace kit is not in your collection already, you can find it here.

Happy Folking, 

Carol x