Sometimes all you want to complete a piece of artwork or print, either made yourself or purchased, is a nice clean and simple looking frame. Floater frames are a great way to do this but they can be quite pricey when purchased in-store. In this post I will show you have to make your own slim-style floater frames for a lot less. Once you see how simple it is, you'll want to make frames for all your pictures! Let's take a look...

Art Series #18 - "Cheetah Cub" Oil Painting & Chat

Today I am back to show you one of the itty bitty paintings I recently finished. Check out the time-lapse video in this post if you want to see my oil painting process for this little 4 x 4" piece...

Art Series #17 - "Éffluerer" Oil Painting - My Compositions

In this Art Series post I have another one of my oil painting time-lapses for you! This piece is my favourite I've completed to date and in the time-lapse of it's creation I share about how I named it and the feeling/meaning behind it. I also talk about how I create my original compositions, and also about developing my art style and how I feel about having an art style.

DIY Farmhouse "X" Bench With Breadboard Style Top

When I set out to design this bench I wanted to build something that would obviously fit in our modern farmhouse style decor, that would fit under our picture window in our livingroom for our dog to lounge on--she loves to watch the people and animals outside--and would have a bit of storage incorporated into it. I found many other benches that inspired me, check out my 12 Farmhouse Bench Inspirations post to see those, and I took bits and pieces of those designs to come up with my own. In the end, the storage that I would have been able to implement into the design wouldn't have been worth it with the way I wanted my bench to look, so I nixed that part, and this is the bench design I came up with...

DIY Wood Crate Side Table - Quick, Easy, Inexpensive!

I know a lot of DIYers like projects that are super quick to do, but the reality is that a lot of the time to create something that is really nice, you trade the cost savings of doing it yourself for the time it takes you to create a beautiful final product... but not this time! If you are one of those people who want a quick DIY project that is really simple to achieve, this is a great project for you! I bet it takes longer to cut your wood and drill your holes for this DIY Wood Crate Side Table--which doesn't take very long--than it takes for you to put it all together! And look how great it looks in addition to being quick to make! Let's take a closer look at the project...

Large Scale Printing Using A Standard Home Printer

Have you ever done any sketches, line art, or rough drafts of art that you wanted to display on a much larger scale? But now you have to re-draw it again; that can be a pain in the butt for sure... at least that's how I feel. Well, I have a solution for you in this post! You can actually print your images much larger than you realize with a standard 8.5" x 11" printer! I learned this tile printing method early in my graphic design career in order to create quick mock-ups of posters, banners, or ads which I used to double check everything worked aesthetically, and to present scaled drafts to clients or my boss! In this post I'm going to teach you how to print your images as several tiles to create a large enough template for tracing, or larger reference material to refine as a completed piece!

DIY Faux Shiplap & Templating An Alcove Area

I've finally gotten this tutorial done! Phew! It was tough trying to get Vada to cooperate with me--often she didn't--and you'll see evidence of that in the video in how many different outfits I'm wearing, indicating how many different days I worked on it. Little by little I got it done though and so here is my tutorial for DIY Faux Shiplap Walls. Take a peek...

Art Series - Post #13 - Oil on Canvas "Girl Blowing Bubbles"

Well, it's been a while since I've posted -- this is my first post of the New Year! Whaaaaat?! I've had an awesome break for Christmas and New Year, spending time with my family and enjoying a nice relaxing break! The past couple of weeks I've begun planning projects and other things for the blog for this year, and have been thinking of goals for myself as well! One of those personal goals is to be selling some of my art as prints by the end of the year, so that means a lot more art creating--which always seems to be a goal for me every year--and, in return, having a lot more art to feature over here on the blog. So, to kick that off, I'd like to share this oil on canvas piece I did, which if you haven't seen the final piece already it just means you aren't following me over on Instagram or Facebook!

DIY Rustic Wood Drawer Box Centerpiece

Things are beginning to come together in our house--I still can't believe we have our own home--and it's been fun for me. I've decided to tackle projects space by space--upstairs first--leaving the bedrooms for later. So my first area, since it is an open concept layout, is the dining/kitchen/living room. I've got all the walls painted and am just finishing up the decor in the dining space. So today I'm showing you how to make this great Rustic Wood Drawer Centrepiece that I made for our dining table. Let's take a look...

Big Voluminous Curls Hair Tutorial

I had a request for me to do a tutorial on how I get my curls. After some polling over on Facebook it seemed like it would be a good idea, so today I bring you my Big Voluminous Curls Hair Tutorial! In this post you'll find my very detailed video tutorial on how I create these big curls, because there's nothing worse than not having enough info to do something, in my opinion! Furthermore, if people have time to watch an 8 minute video on how to style a messy bun, then the time it takes to watch this more involved hairstyle and techniques tutorial should also be worth it! Beautiful hair takes time, my friends! (Calm down, Samantha! And breathe...) You'll also find some additional tips and tricks that I didn't talk about in the video. So keep reading if you want to get these big curls in your own hair, or you're just curious how I do it!

Art Series - Post #9 - "Nanny" in Graphite

Heeeyyy!

In this installment of my Art Series posts I wanted to share with you all a graphite portrait drawing I did of my grandmother as a gift to my mother on her birthday this past April! 

I saw a picture of my grandmother’s huge family from when she was a little younger :)… I think maybe 16 or 17 years old (she just had her 74th birthday this past May), and thought how beautiful she was. I immediately knew I wanted to draw her. With my mom’s birthday coming up, I figured it would be a meaningful gift! Here she is:

Drawing a portrait of someone you know and someone you love and respect so much is difficult because you want it to be just perfect. I’m a perfectionist as it is!! He he. You just want to make sure it does look like them so you need to get certain features just right. This one is still hard for me… it really does look like her and I am quite proud of it… but there are things I’d like to fix. Maybe I’ll do another one. :)

DIY Snazzy Studded Clutch Purse!!

Hellllooo there!! 

Okay, finally, finally, finally I have my new video ready for you all! Phewff! ;) I actually started this video while I was away back home with the intention of getting it up for you all even though I wasn’t at home… things did not work out that way, as you may have guessed. But, it’s ready now and I am excited to have it done for you! This one was a lot of fun and it gave me a lot of other ideas for possible future video!  Okay, so, this video is another DIY project. Check out this photo of what I’m helping you make:

I got the inspiration for this project from an amazing looking clutch that I came across online. That one was much more expensive than this one will cost you to put together and this looks just as snazzy! Now, before the video, here is a list of the items you will need for this project… it’s a short one this time: 

VOTING TIME!! 100 Subscribers 'Thank-you Prize' Poll

Hiiii!

So, I’m back home from my little adventure this past weekend. As I said on facebook, I have a few things to blog about this week and I will be blogging more about that adventure with photos in the coming days! 

First, if you remember from one of my blog posts a couple of weeks ago, I was about to reach my 100 subscriber milestone on YouTube, and I did, a few days after that. If you're following me on facebook, then you already know this. But, yes, it was just over a week ago now… now I’ve got 126 subscribers! :D It’s so exciting and almost hard to believe, at times, that 100 (now 126) of you lovely people out there want to watch my videos. I am so, so, so, soooo grateful for each and every single one of the people who have subscribed to my channel and I love you all and welcome anyone else who wants to become a part of our little YouTube fun family! So, if you’re reading my blog for the first time, or haven’t subscribed yet, know I am waiting to welcome you over there on my channel http://YouTube.com/TheCreativeGlow. ;) 

DIY Blooming Flower Mirror - Easy and Inexpensive

Hi Everyone! How was your Easter? I had a pretty great one! I made a yummy Ham dinner with a delicious sweet glaze! SO GOOD!

So, I have a new DIY video for you guys! Today, I’m showing you guys how to make this cool mirror from plastic spoons! This mirror can be combined with other wall décor or made as part of a series of 3; a large flower mirror in the center and a smaller flower mirrors on each side. It looks really awesome. If you want to make your own, it’s pretty easy and pretty inexpensive (Here is another inexpensive Mirror DIY I did). Below is a list of all the items I used for my spoon flower mirror along with prices (CAN dollars) and then below that you’ll find the DIY Video. I’ve also included, as mentioned in the video, the amount of plastic spoons I used for each circle layer so that you can re-create this exactly as I have.

Knotty and Nice Bracelet & Paper Beads

Hey All!! 

So, I’m finally able to show you guys this video. If you’ve been join me over on facebook then you’ve probably seen my posts about how this past week was a doozey for me. So many things kept preventing me from getting this started, and then throughout the project I had set-backs (mostly too much noise above me to record anything), and then I was behind by a couple days and staying up until 4:30am each night just trying to get this done. But that’s the life of a blogger (as I’ve heard) and though I have these kinds of weeks sometimes, I just still love doing this so much! I love it and I love you guys! :D And, actually, besides all the delays of the week it was pretty great; I reached 70 subscribers on my YouTube channel and gaining traffic right here on my blog! It makes me feel so happy because I do love doing this and people are liking it in return! So, yes, I made it through the week and I now have a new video for yoouuu! Yayyy! I feel like this is a fun one… I know I had a lot of fun doing this project (despite the set-backs).

This project includes making your own paper beads (cool) and learning how to tie a Celtic knot. Take a look at the final product:

I just love the idea of paper beads, just seems so neat to me. And, plus, since you use about half of a 99¢ piece of paper to make enough beads for one bracelet, this is a fairly inexpensive project that doesn’t look cheap! I love that! Let’s take a look at what you need:

Art Series - Post #6 - Graphite & Time Lapse

Hi! :D

So, in last week's Art Series Post you might remember me saying I was going to hopefully have some progress to show you on the comic book project I am working on... yes? No? Either way, I did say that and I am happy to also say that I have made some progress with the character designs... but, I'm sad to say that I've chickened out on posting to show you all just yet. :/ I've got one entire character designed and two others that are just faces at this point. I just feel they need a little more... finessing before I introduce them. So, at this point, I am going to aim for next week. Yes, that's my goal, I will show you all next week... no chickening out! :)

Now, for this week, I will show you another old graphite drawing I did back in July of 2009. I wish I had a better quality image and video to present to you all, and I know I have somewhere with old files but I'm not quite sure where they are. I've searched and couldn't find them. Anyway, here is the drawing and below you will find the time lapse video if you're interested.

Nail Art Tutorial - Vintage Pattern Inspired

Hi all you awesome people! 

Today is a great day, not only because it’s my birthday, but because I’ve got another video tutorial for you!! Yipee! 

The video I have prepared for you guys is a Nail Art Tutorial. I really love the sorta vintage color scheme of blush and turquoise and, from there, I’ve really taken a liking to other vintage looking things recently, like the pattern that inspired this nail tutorial. What was once old becomes new again. I like to call it ‘Modern Vintage Style’… is that already a ‘thing’? ha ha. Here’s a look at the nails I’m showing you how to do:

I think it looks super cute and I’m pleased with how easy it actually was to do. If you can hold a paint brush, I’m confident you can do this yourself with watching my tutorial. So, here you go, watch this and then get to it! 

Mason Jar Vase Piece - Distressed Shabby Chic

Hiiii! HI! 

I am so, super, dee duper excited to show you guys my newest video! I’ve been wanting to make this for myself for a while and decided it would be great to do as a DIY tutorial for all you guys, too! So I did! I love it, I love it, I love it! It turned out soooo AWESOME! Okay, take a looky at what we’re making: 

Isn’t it the greatest? Oh, I know I JUST LOVE IT! :D Okay, so, before I get to the video, I’m going to tell you guys everything I used and what you’ll need if you want to make one for yourself.

So first, I’ve chosen this color scheme you see in the photo because it goes a long with the color theme I’ve started in my art room, which you may remember from way back when I did the post about my new art room, if not, you can click here to check out that post. I should do an update on my art room soon, now that I’m thinking about it… anyway, back to this crazy awesome project! 

Art Series - Post #4 - 'Boat Launch' Watercolor

Hey all,

I've got a new Art Series post for you today! I've had to wait a while to show you guys any of this project since it was one that was a Christmas gift for my boyfriend's sister and her husband. Since they live a few hours away from us we had to plan a visit in order for me to give it to them and that was this past weekend. Now I can show it to all of you! They seemed to really love it (that made me feel so happy) and I hope you all will too! 

I'm going to show you the painting as a finished project first, but if you scroll down you'll be able to view the time lapse video I put together from the photos I took of my progress along the way. So, here is the painting in it's completed state:

This painting is done in watercolor. It's painted from a photograph I took in Salmon Arm, BC in June of 2013 as the sun was setting. This is where my boyfriend and his family lived for many years and where he and his siblings grew up. This painting looks out over the Shuswap Lake right next to the Salmon Arm Wharf, which you can see some of in the painting.

DIY Jewelry Dish Project (IKEA Hack) - Fun, Easy, Inexpensive!

Bonjour, Friends!!!

Today I have a fun crafty video tutorial for you guys! When you take your jewelry off at the end of the night do you end up with little piles of jewelry on your night stand or perhaps on your bathroom vanity? Well, I do. I’m always so tired and I don’t feel like having to organize them in their usual home at that point, I just wanna go to beddd! If you’re like that too this project will be great for you or even if you just want a cute way to display some of your favourite jewelry pieces. I’m showing you how to make your own jewelry dishes and very inexpensively, too! BONUS! ;) Here, take a look at what we’re making:

So, if you wanna make some of these, first there’s a few things you’ll need to pick up and some things you’ll probably already.