Inspired by music and having #funwithfolkit

This month, our challenge has been to find inspiration in music.  While we may turn up our favourite tunes in the studio while we paint, that is usually where our inspiration ends! We are pleased to say however, that our inspiration and yours has taken us by surprise. Pairing our painting kits with music has created a range of great ideas and we thought we'd round up a few for you.

Musical notes - when you're practicing brushstrokes, it can be fun to create something new with them and play with ideas without committing too much time in case your idea doesn't work out.  These daisy notes by In Blume are a lovely twist on our Daisy Details kit.

                         

At the Painting Table has created this lovely card by painting a little music using her liner brush.  Painting with your liner brush is a little different to painting comma strokes but once you've mastered it, this brush is perfect for painting more delicate designs. 

Carol recently went to visit friends in South Africa and got creative with her friend Ronel.  Armed with some free music sheet printables, she used them to create a border before adding some liner brush patterns and hearts.  We think the black heart would make a great Valentines card for the music lover in your life. What do you think? 

Take a silhouette and decorate it with a few liner brush strokes to create your own unique design.  Sandra used a mixture of comma strokes, lines and dotting to create this pretty pattern.  For the strings she used a Micron pen.  If you don't feel comfortable using a liner brush for the longer lines and swirls, why not use pens or colouring pencils and just use the brush for the comma strokes?  

Get your hands on some old music sheets to create some Vintage vibes? Here we toned down the background (you don't want the music distracting from your painted design) using a little Antiquing.  If you want to know more about how to do this, check out our You Tube tutorial. 

Use a little music to create a centrepiece and add a little lace around it.  Learn to paint our delicate lace design using our kit and then follow our great tutorial to build on those skills and learn to create your own patterns. 

Jo from The Original Craft Co doesn't get much time to herself but inspired by this months theme, she knew the perfect project.  Sitting unloved in a corner of her home, she dusted off her tired looking radio and gave it a new lease of life with our Vintage Roses kit.  

Inspired by a song, At the Painting Table searched for this pretty flower and used her Folk Art round brush skills to create a version of her own.  Once you've learned the techniques from our kits, it just goes to show you can create and paint so much more.  

When we first came up with our monthly themes for our painting challenge, we thought it would give us a focus, a way to inspire us and we are so pleased that it has done that and so much more.  Once again, we are blown away with all that you can do with a few brushstrokes.  

Happy Folking! 

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 

How to paint wreaths - part 3

We may have welcomed another month of the painting challenge this August but our head is still buzzing with ideas from last months wreath theme. The answer? To combine them both of course! This August, we took out our bright paints and set to work creating this beautiful heart wreath. Painted wreaths can come in all shapes and sizes as you demonstrated last month and we love this heart shaped one.

Here's the colours we opted for - styling our roses with a lighted background and more vibrant petals to really make them pop but have a play with colour and see which colours you prefer and find a look that suits your style.  

When we began to paint this idea, we did wonder what we had let ourselves in for. After all, when you have a new idea buzzing away in your head that you are excited about, it can be a little scary to try and translate that onto the page for fear that it won’t measure up to your imagination. We were so pleased when the risk paid off and so we have put together a little tutorial to help you create your own heart wreath. We have drawn the template using circles where the roses should be painted, however there is nothing stopping you from replacing those circles with daisies, oriental blossom flowers, or even butterflies if you’re really thinking outside the box. Try something new today.

Step 1: Using your template and transfer paper (this can be found in the starter kits or in our online shop) to transfer the po using your template and transfer paper (this can be found in the starter kits or in our online shop) to transfer the pattern to whatever surface you’re working on. Depending on surface you may need to resize the pattern to fit.

Step two: Begin by painting the circles that will make up your Vintage Roses. Using the role of three/five from the first instalment of this wreath series, we filled in 5 circles using the pink and three circles of each other colour. If you are painting on black paper as we did,  you may find you need two coats of paint for each circle.  When these are dry, add the centres and the petals.  As you can see we have alternated the direction of the flowers around the heart and this has been marked on the pattern for you.

Step three: Once your Vintage Roses are dry, begin filling in your leaves. Here we used the round brush leaves as taught in our vintage rose kit.

Step 4: Once your leaves are dry, add the fillers to your heart. Here we used plain dots as well as dot roses in a variety of colours but you could add Dottie daisies or any other small design you wish.  As we mentioned earlier in the series,  keep taking a step back to look at your design as a whole and see if there is anywhere that needs filling.

Step five: finally using the liner brush from either  of our starter kits, add stalks to the leaves using comma strokes.

This would look great painted on to a A4 board and framed or onto a canvas.  If you have a go at painting this gorgeous wreath, do tag us on social media or use #funwithfolkit 

Happy Folking x 

How to paint a wreath - part 2

So, the other day, we had a go at building a floral wreath, combining a few flowers and features to paint a full wreath.  This week, we are going to look at a few other options to consider when you are designing your own unique pattern.

Option 1: The incomplete wreath

This option works with a circle but instead of wrapping your design around the whole circle, it consists of two halves.  Here, we used our Oriental blossom which gave us an irregular shape but you could adapt this to use Rosebuds, daisies or a mix of flowers.

Step 1: Draw your circle lightly using a compass and pencil or by drawing round a circle using the chalk paper to transfer your markings.

Step 2: Imagine you cut your circle in half horizontally. Like last time, we are going to work closely to the circle but won't be afraid to detour slightly.  Starting just above the half way line on the right hand side, draw your branch outline and finish at the opposite side. Add small branches on both sides of your line, again following the route of the circle.  Next, leave a gap and draw a similar line from the left side round to the right.  Now you should have two branches trailing the circle shape.  Paint your branch using a shade of brown of your choice.

Step 3: Using the rule of 3 or 5, add your blossom flowers where you like.  This will mean you will end up with 1 or 2 on the bottom branch and 2 or 3 blossom flowers on the top branch depending on how big your circle is and what you prefer.

Step 4: Finish your wreath by adding individual petals one by one.  This is where you will need to keep taking a step back and seeing where your design looks too empty or where you need to even up your pattern.

Option 2: The Floral wreath

This wreath is quite tight and is perfect for those smaller flowers like rosebuds, lavender heads or dotty flowers.

Step 1: Begin by drawing a short line from your circle towards the inside of the circle, following the line of the circle.  Next, about 1.5cm/2cm along the line, draw a line away from the circle. Continue to draw alternating lines around the whole circle.

Step 2:  Using your liner brush, paint a line around the circle (but don't paint the stalks yet). Add a rosebud to the end of each line you have drawn (as you can see each rosebud follows the direction of the stalk).

Step 3: Fill in the gaps between each rose bud with s stroke leaves.  As you can see, we could fit one leaf in most of the spaces in the inner ring and 1 or two leaves between the roses on the outer circle.  Keep observing your wreath as you paint. The key to creating an eye catching wreath is to space out your elements and not squash too many things in to one space.

Step 4: Using your liner brush, paint stalks from the rosebuds and from each leaf to your original circle.

Step 5: Take a look at your wreath. Are there any areas that feel empty? We found a few and used the small end of our dotting tool to add three dots in places to complete the design and even up the wreath.

Option 3: The curved wreath

This is a great design for when you want to paint a limited number of elements such as lavender or foliage.  If you haven't attended one of our painting workshops and aren't sure how to paint lavender, you can easily use our dotty lavender from the Flat Brush Starter kit 

Step 1: Imagine you have used a curved line to divide your circle in to sections.  Draw the last section of these lines across the circle, keep turning your page as you draw each one to make sure they flow in the same direction.  You should end up with something like this (above). If you do not feel confident drawing out this template, pop over to our patterns board to use ours.

Step 2: Using your round brush or dotting tool, paint each lavender stalk using purple (we used Plum from our Flat Brush Starter kit and white).  If, like we found, this created a nice wreath but left quite a bit of space in between the stalks, add extras in between to fill your wreath out nicely.

Step 3: Step back and take a look at your wreath.  Are there any spaces? Using your liner brush and some green paint (we used Hauser light green) we added a few long comma strokes to fill some areas.  We also used the small end of our dotting tool to again even up the circle.

We do hope you enjoy these patterns and ideas and if you do create a design after reading this post we would love to see it - just tag us or use #funwithfolkit to share.

Happy Folking x

How to paint a wreath - part 1

Wreaths are everywhere at the moment aren't they?! Whether they are being handpainted during an Instagram video, adorning a greetings cards or being featured on some gorgeous stationary, their popularity shows no signs of waning.

We have certainly seen the attraction of wreaths since launching our Folky Christmas kit a few years ago.  There is something so relaxing about layering up the different shades of paint and creating the wreath design to create a beautiful festive greetings card. However, what was once a symbol of the Christmas period has now become much more versatile. Whether they are made of flowers, ribbon, photos or pom poms, there is a wreath for every style and every occasion and this is also becoming the case for those wreaths we paint.

For our #funwithfolkit painting challenge this month, we have been focusing on wreaths and it is clear that this has captured the imagination of so many of you.  If you don't fancy creating your own classic foliage wreath from our Dotty Collection painting kit, we thought we would put together a few steps to help you create your own painted wreaths using the kits you already have.

Step 1: Create a guide for you to work to by drawing round a circle or using a compass.  If you feel like you would like more structure to work with, draw a smaller circle within the larger circle.

Step 2: When creating your wreath, it helps to balance out some of the larger elements (e.g. vintage roses or daisies) with smaller elements (dotty flowers and leaves) The great thing here is that there are no limits - you can include what you want and leave out flowers or brushstrokes that you are less confident with.  A good tip to remember is to stick with odd numbers.  On a smaller wreath, work with three larger elements like we did here. If you are working on a larger wreath, use 5 flowers and so on to suit the size of your finished piece, this will make the finished piece more aesthetically pleasing.

First, mark out where your largest flowers will be.  Here we began with roses arranging them around the circle.

Step 3: Next, because we had enough space, we rotated our design and added three daisies before adding leaves with our round brush (again, adopting the rule of 3 to add leaves to each side of the roses).  Remember: You can work slightly inside and outside of your guide (as we have in the placement of the leaves) but always try to stay close to your original guide to prevent a wonky or uneven wreath!

When creating a wreath, you may be the type of person who likes to plan where you will add each element. To do this, you can draw out a pattern in a sketch book to trace and transfer it to your painting journal.  The important thing is that you find a process that suits you.

Step 4: Once you have added the larger flowers and details, take a look at your wreath to see where there are gaps and fill with smaller details like dot flowers, rosebuds, a sprig of lavender or berries....anything that takes your fancy.

Step 5: Once your wreath is complete, sit back and admire!

If you have created it as you paint and would like to keep the pattern, leave your design to dry before covering with transfer paper and drawing out a rough guide of where everything is.  As you can see, we have traced within the edges of the painting. This means that when you come to paint it, you will cover the lines you have transferred.  This is a great way to build up a collection of patterns and it means that you can try it again using different colours.

We'd love to see your finished wreaths - tag us in your social media posts and use #funwithfolkit

Happy Folking xx

10 painting projects to inspire you

Well another month has flown by and so has another monthly theme for our #funwithfolkit challenge.  When we posted our first Flora and Fauna themed project, we never expected it would be as popular as it was, getting thousands of views within the first week of being posted.  If you haven't seen it yet, why not pop over to the blog post here for a look. 

It seems that there are two camps for these challenges, those that love incorporating the themes in to their Folk It designs and those that run with it to create their own unique ideas.  However you interpret them, we love them all.  Here we have rounded up our favourites for the month of June.  

Jacky from Chloe and Kato recently rediscovered her painting mojo and created this beautiful spray of daisies and roses - inspired by her favourite mug! We have to say though, it is definitely cuter with a few ladybugs. 

Painting on fabric takes practice, painting on silk is a labour of love but Jackie from Jacbnimble Crafts has done brilliantly creating this scarf for her friend.  

Jaxs from Vintage Crafts by Jax has created these gorgeous purple plant pots using our Butterfly and Vintage Rose kits.   By using a limited colour palette she has created a beautiful set of gifts that really stand out.  

The lovely Folker from At the Painting Table has got creative to add the cutest bees to these delightful yellow roses - the perfect painting project for summer

Vanessa has found this lovely dragonfly shape to decorate for the Flora and Fauna theme.  Dot daisies, dot roses and other dot patterns, it's got it all!

Stepping away from shapes and projects, Helen has used the Flora and Fauna theme to inspire her colour choices in her practice pages...what a great idea.  

Sandra felt inspired after creating our Bee tutorial to create a different project.  Featuring a unique Dragonfly design on the lid, she added a few dot daisies and vintage lace to the box to complete it. 

These ducks are so popular at the minute with crafters.  Using a French blue base coat and our Vintage Rose kit, Nazlie from Cositas Bonitas has turned this into a real centrepiece. 

Who would have thought a Folked up owl would look so pretty! Helen from Mindful Crafts used our popular Round Brush Starter kit to decorate this owl beautifully.

Vikki discovered our stand and our kits at the Handmade Fair and she's been hooked ever since - we love the original and unique designs she has been creating with her dotting tool and this Dragonfly design worked perfectly for June's theme! 

So as we head in to July, this month in our #funwithfolkit painting challenge, we are concentrating on wreaths.  Whether they are dotty or festive, floral or not, we can't wait to see them all! 

Happy Folking!