I just added a bunch of pieces to my shop — I’ve been digging into my collections of bits and pieces, wrappers, bottle caps, boxes, tins, and matchboxes over the past few months and I’m so happy to finally share them! 💕
These pieces and more are in my shop at supermakeit.com (you can also tap to view or click on the link in my bio)
💕
Thanks for taking a peek!
Was so much fun to make these flower cards for the current (May) issue of @highlightsforchildren by printing (stamping) paper with balloons! You don’t really have to cut out the flowers but it adds some nice dimension, especially along with paper leaves, branches for stems, and collaged-on newspaper bouquet holders (swipe)
💐 🌸 🌷 💐 🌸 🌷
Make one for Mother’s Day or for a special someone! ❤️
I’m working on a bunch of new pieces for my shop, and I’ll be sharing them tomorrow. In the meantime, I thought I’d give a little tour of some of my collections of the materials I use!
(This is the opposite of a spring-cleaning inspiration post….more a celebration of hoarding!)
As much as I love cleaning out my house and keeping things minimal, I’m very attached to my collections, thanks to a lifelong obsession with matchboxes, bottle caps, beautiful paper packaging, and more. I’m also a gatherer of less precious items like toilet paper tubes, colorful plastic packaging, milk cartons, tins, etc. —the kinds of things I use in the kids’ crafts I create for brands, publications, and my books.
I’m using these items in my current work and it makes me feel less bad (actually...happy!) that I held onto it all for this long!
More tomorrow!
P.S. Excuse my beginner-level video editing...and exclamation point abuse (I’m aware of the problem but have no plans to change it!!👈🏼)🤪
Week 3 of daily 5 min watercolors complete!
One thing I have been thinking about this week is visual voice…and how these sketches don’t “feel like me” (whatever that means!🤪) or the kind of work I’m usually drawn to! But! It’s only 5 (or 10) minutes and I’m just focusing on seeing and capturing light (and, unrelated to the actual work, just practicing *having* a practice of any kind), so maybe that’s ok. More of a tool-sharpening than an artistic exploration. Getting better control of a medium before trying to say something with it. Maybe this will come with time and I just have to let it happen naturally. Or maybe it won’t and it’s ok to just enjoy trying.
Anyway, I’d love to hear any experiences you’ve had…not feeling in control of what comes off your paintbrush or pen!!
xo
Week 2 of daily watercolors complete!
🎨 🖌️
I recently started a tiny creative exercise: a 5-minute watercolor sketch every morning (more info 2 posts ago).
One thing I learned this week: while trying to “get better”, I cheated a few times and a few minutes longer and really disliked the results. I tend to like the ones I do quickly. With more time I fuss and overwork things.
I highly recommend starting the day with an exercise like this, even for one minute! I’ll repeat my tip that using good watercolor paper makes a big difference. I cut mine into small pieces, about 4” x 6”.
And, as I mentioned in my last post, I use one color only in these sketches. Removing color as a variable helps me focus on tone, just light and shadow.
Please tag me if you do it, I’d love to see!! A few friends are doing this too and it’s been so much fun to follow along!
❤️
First week down!
🎨 🖌️
A week ago I posted that I was starting a tiny creative exercise: a 5-min watercolor sketch every morning, mostly to practice *having* a practice. Also to kick-start getting myself back on social media after a tricky year. Also *also* (and oddly less importantly but still a goal) to get better at watercolor, a medium that has always eluded me.
I’ve been posting them every day in my Stories and once a week—like today—I will share a round-up of the previous week. Happily, a few dear friends joined in and it has been so much fun seeing their work every day too! ❤️
It’s only been a week but it has felt really good to just have a plan and stick to it. I did cheat and go longer on a few (the dogs) but since this was mostly a way of getting myself to do something daily, taking extra time feels like an ok violation of the rules. Also, there are no rules. I hope you’ll join in anytime! Even for a one-off!
If you try this, I highly recommend getting very good watercolor paper and cutting it down into small pieces, like 4” x 6”. As I said in my last post, I use one color only in these sketches. Removing color as a variable helps me focus on tone, just light and shadow.
Years ago, when I first tried doing this daily, I did 1 minute sketches. It became frustrating, but it broke the ice! You can’t feel bad about what you make in only 60 seconds. Give that a try if 5 minutes seems like too much. And please tag me if you do!!
I’m starting a tiny creative exercise today — mostly for my own sanity and accountability. Coming out of a year filled with a lot of personal loss for our family, I I was in need of a few boosts including a skills challenge, a routine or practice, and community (partly selfishly, for accountability). I realized that I can find that here, with so many creative people around (well, virtually “around”, but I‘ll take it)! ❤️
I’ve tried several times to do creative challenges: “100 days of ___”, “a ___ a day”, and never stuck with them. (So impressed with people who have!) The closest I came was one I shared with a friend (hi @tmalkinstuart !). Every morning we exchanged a 60-second watercolor by text — many of the sketches here came from that. I loved it, but I didn’t keep up. (I suspect that wanting to chat with my friend made it a longer exercise than was really keep-up-able.)
Anyway, I am starting again, committing to 30 days and announcing it here to keep me accountable!! Each day I’ll set a 5-minute timer and make one tiny sketch. I’ll post them in my Stories daily and share a roundup once a week on my grid. I hope you’ll try it too!
I chose watercolor because — even though I was a painting major in college — the medium has always frustrated me. Through those one-minute experiments I realized I was trying to make it behave like oil or acrylic, constantly working and reworking. I definitely don’t have a handle on it yet (as these sketches prove ), but here are a few things that have helped me:
- Don’t overwork it. Let brushstrokes be brushy and sparkly and let the paper shine through. Let the paint pool up in spots, let it bleed.
- Walk away, let it dry, and take a fresh look before touching it again.
- Use one color. Removing color as a variable helps me focus on tone, just light and shadow.
- Work from life. I sit near a window with an object or a mirror and just try to paint the light. Natural light is so inspiring!
- Use small paper. Good watercolor paper is expensive (but essential), so I cut mine down into little pieces — about 3×5 or 4×6.
If you want to join in, please tag me so I can peek at your work! Five minutes! (Or even one!)
These simple papercut valentines are a recent project for the wonderful @theweekjuniorus magazine, perfect for fans of paper snowflake–making! ✂️
Use the same fold-and-snip technique to create hearts with symmetrical designs from any thin paper you have, such as origami paper, wrapping paper scraps, or recycled papers like newspapers, magazines, or even sheet music.
You can make flowers, hearts, faces, or anything you’d like. (To make a face, fold a heart along the center line, then, along the fold, cut a small triangle for the nose and half a mouth. Use a hole punch for the eyes.)
❤️ ✂️ ❤️ ✂️ ❤️
A dreamy crafternoon activity for a cold winter day! Check @theweekjuniorus ’s current issue or their website for the full instructions and more Valentine projects.
For the recent Chinese edition of Wallpaper magazine, @yishankidschina asked me to create a project for their cover inspired by the issue’s theme: family and the joy of togetherness.
When they were little, one of my boys’ favorite activities was making soft pretzels with their grandma, Rosemary, my mother-in-law. This memory is especially tender, as we lost her this past fall. ❤️🩹 She and the boys would make the dough together, and then she’d let them roll it into any shape they wanted. It started with lines and blobs, then their initials, and as they got older, funny words to make her laugh.
For the cover, I wanted the word to be easy to read, so I first tried cookie cutters, but the shapes felt too perfect and not handmade enough. Instead, I cut strips of dough and shaped each letter by hand, “gluing” the pieces together with an egg wash.
The issue includes an interview and some images of my work. ( 👀 👀 👀 -> @a.mousetown / @margaretcmccartney and @nytkids photos by @_hannahwhitaker and @clairebenoist !
Thank you @yishankidschina !! ❤️
Last-minute gift idea mixed with BLATANT SELF-PROMOTION!!
📕 🎄
For the creative or mini-obsessed kid in your life, there is still time to get our book, Mousetown—either online via the link in Stories, or at (select) local bookstores!
📕 🎁
If you wrap it up with some crafty supplies, especially just some junk from around the house, you have yourself a DIY craft kit gift! Toilet tubes, corks, bottlecaps, and straws are some of the items that Mouse crafts with in Mousetown!
🐁 ✂️ 🐁
You can even print out Mouse or a mouse template for free on our website, TheMousetown.com (just click on “Mouse-sized Crafts”). Link in bio at @a.mousetown .
**swipe to see**
Happy Holidays! xo
Brooklyn friends! Please join us TODAY for a festive Holiday Artist Reception at @mpatmos ’s beautiful store. I am showing my handmade bugs and birds (like these!) along with work from artists @misterjamesgallagher@yep_jesse_alexander
……………………………………………..
Saturday, December 6th, 3pm-5pm
M. Patmos
358 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn
Please join us in welcoming James Gallagher, Jesse Alexander, and Jodi Levine to our shop whose art is featured in our new exhibit, “Flight Patterns” today, Saturday, December 6th, from 3pm to 5pm.
This is your chance to view the exhibit, meet the artists, and ask them questions about your favorite art piece. All artwork is available for purchase — just in time for the holidays!
Ps- James will be on hand all day today doing custom collage portraits.
