katbelcreates

[katbelcreates]

Story Time:

I have a bunch of chores I've been putting off, but I just don't have the spoons to deal with them right now. Whilst avoiding the inevitable doing of things, I think to myself, "self! Some coffee will surely get me out of this funk." So I pop a cup into the Keurig and add my creamer and go to my utensil drawer for a spoon only to find I am out of literal as well as figurative spoons. I stir my coffee with a fork, looking at the dishes and praying to the mental health utensil god to send help with my soon to be had caffeine.

[katbelcreates]

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

It is national talk like a pirate day so to get into the spirit, I did a few Wreck This Journal prompts.

Trace your toes - grass theme (not really pirate-y, but I wanted to get the other foot related prompt out the way)

Float this page - IT themed (S.S. Georgie) I had a little help from my sister as I tend to get easily frustrated by the ancient art of origami and am liable to rip the paper. For this prompt I also borrowed my mom's pool, in which I had learned to swim as a child, to determine the sea worthiness of my sisters origami. For picture instructions for the boat we followed: stem little explorers how-to-make-an-origami-boat

Stand here - beach theme I just painted the bottom of my feet with sand colored paint (brown lightened with yellow and pink) with a splash of blue for water and white for the foam.

I also included tips on dressing pirate-y with just what you got at home. As a hoarder I obviously have more than most to work with, a prime example being the eye patch, which I have had since I was little, but I digress. 1) Flowy shirt (think poet) 2) Dark pants or shorts, brown or black are best 3) Scarf as a belt 4) Boots, ones with buckles are best 5) Accessories: Eye patch, cloth cover for head, jewelry, whatever you have that is pirate-y.

[katbelcreates]

Dracula Daily - Foul Bauble

Today on Dracula Daily: Rest in Pieces poor Jonathan’s shaving mirror, yeeted before it’s time!

I had a lot of fun with this upcycle project. I especially enjoyed the handle, which I dry brushed to get a more convincing wood look. The mirror paint was a little finicky, but the end effect was not bad. Looking back now I wish I went for a more gothic lettering for the back though. Overall it was a fun, yet time consuming project.

[katbelcreates]

Dracula Daily - Recipe

I made this awhile back, however, it is relevant again since Dracula Daily is back and Jonathan is once again on his way to Castle Dracula.

"We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. (Mem. get recipe for Mina.) I asked the waiter, and he said it was called “paprika hendl,” and that, as it was a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians."

— Dracula, Bram Stoker

For the recipe follow this link: https://www.flapperpress.com/post/dracula-s-paprika-chicken

And to see me try it out watch the video below:

[katbelcreates]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Hope no one got pinched today!

I had a lot of fun with rainbows while looking for a pot of gold this March.

I had this boring wood frame for the longest time! It is one of those craft items that are just add “whatever art medium you like” and viola. The rainbow only had space for three colors initially, but through the power of color theory and blending I managed to squeeze in six colors! My favorite color was sadly left out, but it does make a comeback in the bottom part of my sky gradient, so at least I have some purple. Also I could not get my oh so shiny foil to stick to the frame. I wanted the horse and stars to be extra, but they plain for now. I did review my video, where the foil does work, so I am hoping Mod Podge will come in clutch and save the day . . . eventually.

I also made a special St. Patty’s Day meal. I made a chicken, “rainbow” rotini (really only tricolor, why are all my rainbow only three colors lately), pesto dish. I was feeling festive so I also mixed a drink with a clover stir stick (recent find from the hoard)! The drink is a non-alcoholic margarita mix with a green sugar rim, and I did not have lemons or limes so I improvised and added a bit of honey to the rim. Honey worked even better than lemon juice, it is the perfect stickiness and holds the sugar in place nicely.

[katbelcreates]

Valentine’s Day!

I did a couple art pieces for Valentine’s this year and I am pretty pleased with how they turned out.

First I did a couple painting for my sister and I. We grew up watching Pokemon and enjoyed the theatrical antics of Team Rocket. I went for a silhouette look and I absolutely love the finished pieces! I have used this technique before with Sailor Venus, though I did need to do some touch ups for these, overall it worked out fine. I may use card stock next time or go a little lighter on the background color in order to keep the paper from getting wet and sticking to the previous layers.

I am also determined to finish my Wreck This Journal by years end and decided to do some prompts that I had ideas for that were love themed. I was gifted the journal by my aunt for my birthday back in 2018 and honestly most of the finished pages were done around that time. I think the reason I had so much trouble with it is that I had too many ideas for the prompts and so many people had such cool journals that I wanted mine to look good too. I have come to terms with the fact that I am just a hobbyist and my art may not be perfect, but better it exist at all than simply be a perfect idea in my head. The idea is the WRECK the journal anyways, so the art will come out how it comes out and I have accepted that truth.

I started with the Trace your hand prompt with Love & Peace in homage to Vash the Stampede from Trigun. My trusty old Crayola marker betrayed me a bit, but I still overall like the piece 

For the prompt Find a way to attach these pages  I relied on the red string of fate tying my OTP Ran (Rachel) and Shinichi (Jimmy) from Detective Conan (Case Closed) together. I used references from the first movie The Time Bombed Skyscraper including the red and blue wires from the final bomb.

And finally for the Draw with glue prompt I did a faux stained glass rose referencing Beauty and the Beast. It came out a little messy but after it dried I really liked the feeling of the page!

[katbelcreates]

New Year, New Me?

I started vlogging/blogging my creative journey in July of 2021. For many years my aunt had complained about me going “Oh, I bet I can make that!” and then ... just ... well not following through. It got to the point where I was fed up with myself as well, and so I decided to make my creations public as a way to motivate myself to do and make more. Shout out to my just over a dozen followers on YouTube!

I still have a lot of projects I would like to attempt and I have a backlog of items that, in my opinion, need makeovers. This year I would like to focus on the projects that are taking up storage or have been on the idea backburner for forever, like my unicorn wreath I finally finished. I have had this wreath form and idea for several years at this point and it is a load off my mind to finally have a hangable wreath instead of a bag of parts.

And though I may be off to a bad start this year I would also like to blog more this year as well as keep more up to date on sharing my vlog.

[katbelcreates]

Posca Testing

I have been testing out Posca Paint markers and so far they are my new favorite thing! I did learn that I have to be patient and give them time to dry else they smear and the layering is a little challenging, but overall they are great for detail work.

I tried the Posca pens on this wooden desk sorter and they went on so easy! It was literally like drawing with a marker. I have so much control and there are no fraying brush tips or messy paint palettes to worry about. Overall the experience was really good, though like I said waiting between layers is very important and not pushing to hard when layering I think is important.

I tried them again, this time layering Posca on top of my normal acrylic paint and that worked really well. I was basically tracing a design, so the control of the markers made a big difference. I really don’t think I could have pulled off the design of this paper towel holder without the Posca pens.

[katbelcreates]

Magic Ice-cream!

As seen on Dylan’s Kitchen

The Recipe: (as by Dylan, my recipe was halved and used Lemon flavor)

1 package of Raspberry Jello (NET WT 0.6OZ)

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup sugar

3 cups milk

Vanilla (unspecified amount poured directly from bottle likely a table spoon, but let your heart measure!)

Let stiffen in fridge (at least 40 minutes my sugar free took an hour, sugar one took even longer)

Whip 1 cup of cream then Fold whipped cream into stiffened Jello mixture (if not folding nicely refrigerate longer)

Once fully incorporated cover and freeze until firm

Results: The sugar free one tasted more like milk ice, which could have more to do with the non sugar sweetener than anything else. The sugar one had better texture once it was finally done, but it took forever to stiffen initially. I will probably try again eventually with the sugar free Jello and regular sugar to see if that changes anything.

[katbelcreates]

Unicorns!

I love unicorns and as such I get a lot of unicorn themed things as gifts. I got this Marquee light from my Aunt, but thought it looked rather plain so I made it more interesting with a pastel galaxy vibe!

Overall, galaxy is super fun to paint and I had a lot of fun with this project, though I did have some issues with the Gesso. I thought Gesso was supposed to help the paint adhere better, but sadly it did not in this case. I have seen some people sand slick surfaces down before using Gesso so next time I may try that.

Additionally, I have been wanting to hang something up to decorate my wall and I have finally done it! I made a few DIY paper flowers and added a unicorn to the center to make a last unicorn theme backdrop. I am super happy with how it came out, especially the Red Bull for some reason.

[katbelcreates]

Projects Hoops: Final

Jokes about this being the part of the project where I dye (die) aside. For the hood and beak I went with a tulip brand tutorial whereby you brush the color onto the fabric for an Ombré look. By far most fun part of the project, but also stressful. Stressful, in the sense that I did not want to screw up at all as the dye is permanent pretty much once it touches the fabric. Fun in that the process is rather enjoyable.

And finally the hoop skirt! Which did not work out really, but hopefully with modifications, that I do not have time for right now, I can get something workable at least.

[katbelcreates]

Project Hoops: Sewing

Finally with the sewing parts of the project! I am a beginner at sewing, but all things considered it went really well. The Serger is still my favorite as it is more straight forward, but I hope with time I will grow on the sewing machine and we will become friends in the end.

The hood was supposed to take 2 hours to make and of actual sewing time the pattern was telling the truth. I did spend some time off camera over thinking about things, but that is more on me than the pattern.

The beak was a little more complicated than the hood as I had edited the pattern so it was a lot more “winging it” involved. The important thing is that is worked out in the end.

[katbelcreates]

Project Hoops - Implementing Phase - Design and Gather

I may have gotten behind in posting to tumblr, but I am back with updates from project hoops! At this point the project is already complete, but you can continue to enjoy my process below.

Design phase involved getting the pattern and figuring out how to do the actual making part of the project.

Gathering phase is an interesting part of the process as we already own much of the stuff we need. The issue is finding particular items in the hoard, rather like looking for a specific needle in a pile of needles.

This is not a procrastination thing, I promise. The more we prep the more smoothly the create phase will go. 

[katbelcreates]

Project Hoops - Implementing Phase Part 1 - Plan

Project Hoops is now in the Implementing Phase. We have a rough plan on how the project will progress with a working schedule and budget. Now is when the actual work begins.

Now that we are on step 4 of the 6 step approach, we can start on activities to reach our project deliverables. The first deliverable for this project, ironically enough, is a plan. This is different than the Project Plan, which covers budget, schedule, responsibility matrix, etc., this plan is for research on the project.

Deliverable 1 - Plan is broken into two parts tools & equipment and materials. We need the definitive list of items that are required to pull this off and then update the non-HR requirements and budgets in the planning documents.

Deliverable 2 - Design is where we compile the research into how to actually make the various parts of the project. Research on how hoop skirts are made, various sewing techniques, making patterns, etc. will be noted and used in helping finish Deliverable 1 and the budget. Once we know how to make the piece and how much materials should be used we can finalize the plan (deliverable 1) and the planning documents (non-HR requirements and budget)

This week we focused on Activity 2.1.1 and items under Deliverable 1. So far we are working within expectations as outlined in the schedule, but will my track record in procrastination I am keeping a close eye on time management.

[katbelcreates]

Project: Hoops - Planning Phase

With mask mandates and social distances rules become less strict, I decided it was time to bring back the hoop skirt that was popularized in the early pandemic. I was let go off, uninvited to work, as it were, so during the early pandemic so I stayed at home 90% of the time, leaving only to forage for necessities. I have a high risk person at home, while she is no longer working remotely, which is totally ridiculous, I can control who I come into contact with and lessen her exposure that way.

Thus I am starting what I call Project: Hoops, which is a plague nurse inspired costume. The project includes a hoop skirt, hooded cape, and a plague nurse style half face beak mask. I am currently in the planning phase; to avoid procrastination I am following what I learned in Project Management and working out a schedule that I will most definitely follow!

As previously stated I am in the planning phase, which is the third step in the core section of Project Management. I will be working on this project for the next few months and hope to finish the outfit by the first week of June. Updates to follow

[katbelcreates]

PomPoms

There are so many ways to make pompoms but I have never seen anyone make them like my Auntie does, so decided to throw another technique out there.

The hand technique has the least amount of tools, but leaves one hand preoccupied the whole time. Other technique use things one may have on hand, such as a fork or toilet paper tubes, facial tissue boxes are also sturdy enough for the DIY templates, but these things need to be collected or prepared before hand. Lastly pompom makers are easy to use, but have to be purchased. So there are pros and cons to all the techniques, but overall it is a fun experience and a quick craft.

[katbelcreates]

Rainbow Cat

I made this just for funsies! So please enjoy my rainbow-fied cat! Look at him with his little tie! Such a sweetie baby!

For this project I used Adobe Photoshop. 1) I used the lasso tool to clear out the background 2) Under the filter menu I used the halftone filter found under pixelate (used the preset options) 3) Added a full color clipping mask to each layer at 25% opacity.