Category Archives: Crafts


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Super Mario Bros Toad Hat (Head) DIY

For my second post in this year’s Mario Month I’m going to demonstrate an easy DIY for Toad’s hat. I know – it’s been officially confirmed by Nintendo that it’s actually Toad’s HEAD and not a hat…but most people still refer to the white and red bulb as his hat so I’ll be calling it such in this post.

This is Toad:

A costume for a Toad is pretty simple as almost any colored vest, white pants and dark shoes will get the gist across. The main feature of all Toads and Toadettes is their big, pouffy toadstool-esque hat. Whether you call it a head or a hat there’s no doubt that it’s a needed part of any Toad cosplay and here’s how you can make your own!

What you will need:

NOTE: As with the rest of my Mario costumes & props this hat was needed for a stage show which meant it had to be durable enough to last for a number of rehearsals, dress rehearsals and then stage performances. As such while you can use cardboard to do these first few steps I chose to use plastic canvas for extra strength. The plastic might bend but it would be unlikely to tear or break making it more reliable for quick changes where the hat would get tossed around backstage.

The hat needs structure to support its height so I started by aligning two sheets of plastic canvas vertically and whipstitching the side edges together. I repeated this with a third sheet and then tested the fit around my own head as the wearer would be another adult. I marked the appropriate row, cut away the excess and then whipstitched the final seam to create a tube.

I measured the diameter of the tube and traced out a circle of a matching size on a fourth sheet of plastic canvas, then cut it out. I could have whipstitched around the edge here as well but didn’t want to risk mis-aligning the pieces so for an easier option I used some of the white yarn to tie the disk to the tube in one spot with a knot. I then made another knot directly opposite the first so the disk was centered. I then knotted at the halfway point of each side so the quarters were each tied in place. This ensured the circle was evenly placed on top of the tube. Then I continued, knotting in pairs on opposite sides, until the disk was fully attached.

Try on the hat at this point. The tube will sink down so the disk rests on top of the wearer’s head. For the best result the lower edge should fall just above the wearer’s eyebrows, so if your tube is too long trim the bottom edge accordingly.

For the white outer shell of the hat measure the height up one side of your tube, across the top disk, and then down the other side. Add 2 inches for a generous seam allowance (1″ on either side). This will give you the diameter of the circle you will need to cut from your fabric. I didn’t trust myself to freehand an even circle so I divided this measurement by 2 to get the radius and tied a pencil and sewing pin the radius’ length apart on a length of yarn. I pinned the pin into the center of my fabric and swung the pencil around, keeping the yarn taut, to trace out the shape.

I cut a length of white sewing thread about 1.5 times as long as the outer perimeter of my circle and then sewed a running stitch all the way around, about 1/2″ in from the edge. When I got back to the beginning of the circle I snugged up the ends doing my best to keep the gathers even all around.

I inserted the plastic canvas tube into the bonnet-like white fabric and stuffed all around the sides. Don’t forget to stuff below the tube too so the top of the hat gets its round, puffy shape.

To join the fabric to the plastic canvas tube I switched to white yarn for strength and stitched around the open edge of the tube, through the white fabric. It’s a good idea to keep checking the look of the hat as you go, adjusting the gathers or adding more stuffing if necessary.

Here’s the finished puffy tube. I could probably have added more stuffing but I’d ran out.

Toad’s hat has 5 colored spots. I found a bowl that was a good size for the appropriate scale and traced it out 5 times on some red felt. You can sew the spots in place if you like but I chose to hot glue them instead.

Voila! Your very own Toad hat/head.

The hat can be worn as-is or you can add a chin elastic if needed to secure it in place on the wearer.

It fit our Toad cast member perfectly and just like all the other props and costume parts, lasted through all rehearsals and performances without any signs of wear or damage.

Even through vigorous dance routines and quick changes between numbers!

Other Mario-themed projects you might like:

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.


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Super Mario Bros Princess Peach Star Wand DIY

Can you believe it’s March already? It’s the 2nd annual Mario Month here on the blog and this year’s first post of the Super-Mario-themed collection is a DIY for a star wand you can carry as part of a Princess Peach costume.

I’d been asked to make the accessories for a Mario Bros skit and was given the above example of the desired wand for our Princess Peach character. Easy-peasy! Most of the needed supplies can be found at the dollar store or you might even have them on hand already.

You’ll need:

Other supplies that I used for the plastic canvas insert step but are not necessary if you use heavy cardstock and/or don’t need your wand to last as long as we did:

Start by scaling an image of the Starman to the proper size for your wand and cut it out of regular paper. (Alternatively you can draw a star shape freehand but I ALWAYS mess those up!). If using heavy cardstock for your star you can jump to the next step. My bag was the perfect color but a bit flimsy, and this prop had to last for at least 6 shows and a dozen or so rehearsals, so I chose to reinforce mine with plastic canvas inserts. If you would like to do the same trace your star template onto plastic canvas. It’s a good idea to mark which direction is “up” so your stars will be sure to align.

NOTE: I should have made my plastic canvas inserts SMALLER than the Starman template. As you’ll see below, I ended up trimming them down so the yellow stars could meet evenly at the edges. To avoid this mistake trace a second line about 1/4″ inside your original edge and cut out on that line.

Wrap your dowel evenly with yellow electrical tape. You can paint the dowel yellow instead but for our purposes the electrical tape was more durable and waterproof. It also allowed me to even out areas where the bamboo was uneven by wrapping more (or less) in those spots. Then wrap again with the silver ribbon, spacing out the wraps to create diagonal stripes. You can secure the ends with regular scotch tape or more of the yellow electrical tape – neither end will be visible once the wand is complete so use whatever you’d like.

Cover the bottom end of the dowel with black tape. I used my fist as a rough guide for how long I wanted the handgrip to be and then wrapped more black tape, padding out the bottom edge slightly for a comfortable hold.

Optional: I debated hot-gluing the plastic canvas to the dowel but was worried it would break or separate during rehearsals (we were a rowdy bunch lol) so needed something permanent and secure. I decided to use the holes in the plastic canvas to my advantage and sew through the dowel to keep it in place. I marked holes on the dowel using the plastic canvas as a template for placement and then drilled directly through the bamboo dowel with my Dremel. I have a Dremel drill press which makes this step super easy but it’s 100% NOT necessary.

Now it’s time to trace your Starman template onto your yellow paper/cardstock.

I used carbon paper to trace onto both pieces at once to be sure both stars would be the identical size/shape, but this is totally optional. Just be sure to trace on the reverse side so in case you leave any pencil showing it will be on the inside of your finished star. I tested the plastic canvas inserts and realized I hadn’t left any clearance so had to trim down both of my stars to ensure the paper pieces would be able to touch. As mentioned above – if you do this be sure to cut your plastic stars smaller to start.

To attach the stars to the dowel I sandwiched them on either side of the bamboo and sewed a running stitch from one side to the other, then up to the next hole, and back to the first side…repeating this until I’d worked through all the holes. I was able to fit my yellow yarn but you can use doubled thread if your yarn is too thick. This will work best if you pre-mark your hole locations onto both pieces of plastic canvas first, to ensure you’ve sewn both stars to the same height and equally centered.

Use yarn to whipstitch the edges of the star closed.

I used the carbon paper again to trace Starman’s eyes and then colored them in with black Sharpie and a white POSCA paint marker.

Cut out both sides of your Starman. As one final layer of stage/rehearsal protection I sealed the paper’s surface with a layer of clear packing tape on both sides. This would ensure that the paper couldn’t accidentally rip or tear.

The final step is to sandwich the yellow star layers on either side of the plastic insert. Place the face side (with the eyes) in front of you and lay a few strips of packing tape evenly across, leaving a few inches of extra tape all around. Carefully pick up the taped piece and turn it over so the sticky side is facing up. Put the wand/plastic piece in place and then lay the back of the star down, yellow-side out, being very careful to line up both stars perfectly. Apply more strips of packing tape so the sticky sides meet and lock the stars together. **It’s a bit awkward to keep the back star aligned while laying the strips of tape which is why I do the face side first.

If not using a plastic insert then before placing the second side use extra packing tape to tape the dowel to the inside of the first side.

Press the tape together really well all along the edges of the star to really seal the front and back together, and then cut around the star leaving a thin strip of taped edge. It won’t show much (especially from the stage) but it guarantees you don’t trim too close to the paper and create a gap between the pieces.

Enjoy your star wand!

Ours worked great – lasting well through all rehearsals, tech week, and performances!

Other Mario-themed projects you might like:

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.


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Reversible Fandom Keychains

You may have noticed that when possible I like to tie my posts to something topical. Today is National Cherry Pie Day and amazingly enough I do have a cherry pie-related craft to share!

It all began with a craft exchange in an online group. Members would fill in a little questionnaire to summarize their favorite colors and fandoms and the like and then were paired with others in the same geographical area (for shipping considerations) and would make them something related to their faves. One year I was matched with someone who included Firefly, Star Wars, Star Trek and Supernatural in hers. I relate hard to that list and wondered if there was a way I could create something that would incorporate more than just one of the fandoms.

The result was these reversible keychains.

Made from plastic canvas and yarn, these were a quick project but SO MUCH FUN to make! I started by thinking about an iconic symbol from each show. For Firefly it was immediately Jayne’s hat, and then I wondered what would be the same shape/size. R2D2 fit perfectly and I love how it looks like he’s got a pompom on his head. For Star Trek I thought a Tribble would be funny but what round shape would work from Supernatural? I was hesitant to make any kind of pentagram or devil’s trap because it might offend the recipient. Of course there was another perfect round answer – Dean’s fave – good ol’ cherry pie!

I drafted out each shape in Excel to get the sizing down and make sure I had enough room for the designs. I then cut out each shape twice from plastic canvas and cross-stitched them with yarn from my stash. To create the lattice top for the pie I did 6 crochet chain lengths and used the tails at either end to secure them into place.

Once each shape was complete I held them back-to-back and used black yarn to whipstitch around the outside edges to sew them together (in progress in the lower pics above). This hid all the messy ends on the inside as well as gave each item a defined outline. I also used the edge stitching as an opportunity to add a jump ring, stitching a few times around the ring to secure it in place. This allowed me to attach a claw hook (lobster) keychain ring to each grouping so the recipient could hang these fandom charms from her keys or bag if she liked.

Final steps were to make and attach the pompom and use a craft needle to tease out any trapped ends of the fun fur yarn to make the tribble as fluffy as possible.

This project was so much fun to make and gift and I was thrilled that the recipient loved them and immediately attached them to her Tae Kwon Do gear bag and backpack. For both gifter and giftee this one was a hit!

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.


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Easy Custom Marker / Colored Pencil Holders DIY

If you’ve ever struggled with storage solutions for your markers or colored pencils then this is the post for you! I’m going to show you how to make your own custom elastic holders to fit all your supplies no matter their diameter.

I love this type of pencil storage case. In fact, I own a number of them where I’ve divided up some supplies by type (ie: water-soluble pencils, kid-friendly sets I’ll let my children use, etc).

What the pre-made cases offer in convenience is offset by the limitations of the number of slots and the spacing they provide. Some supplies (like the mechanical pencil and Prismacolor colorless blender) are too thick for the majority of slots and could only fit in one of the few wider spaces inside the front cover…or you want to have room for other supplies like perhaps a ruler or notepad.

Sometimes your supplies all fit but you want to be able to remove the pages to either take only what you need or to be able to see more of the colors at once. They do offer these elastic pencil holders as 3-ring binder options:

but I found they didn’t come with enough room for my purposes and were prohibitively expensive.

The solution? Make your own!

This DIY can be customized for any size binder. I was trying to store over 160 colored pencils plus all the sketch pencils, fineliners, highlight options and blending supplies all together so I went out searching for the largest binder I could find and wound up with this big boy: The Case-It The Dual 2-in-1 zipper binder.

Having found the perfect case it was time to tackle the main issue – the pencil holders. Elastic was an obvious requirement, and thread to sew it down. It was the backing that stumped me for a bit…it had to be easy enough to sew through without heavy duty equipment but stiff enough to support the supplies it was holding. It also needed to be durable so repeated handling wouldn’t wear it down or tear through the binder holes.

Finally it came to me in the form of one of my favorite supplies: plastic canvas!

For my proof of concept sample I didn’t cut the elastic as I wasn’t sure how much I’d need to fill the plastic canvas “page” with slots. Knowing I intended these sheets to go into a binder I left a margin at the left edge. After tacking down the elastic at one end, about centered in the remaining space, I set about figuring how much elastic to use for each loop and many holes-worth of space to leave between them.

Leaving one unused hole between folds works perfectly for most colored pencil and thin marker brands. It also works with gel pens though you will want to position them with the caps on alternate ends.

Tip: Carry your thread up the back to each new stitching location and knot it in place before and after completing each loop. This way if you pull too hard on a loop and accidentally tear the stitching the rest of your loops aren’t at risk.

Once you figure out the spacing that works for you mark off the elastic at regular intervals of your custom measurement and then sew the elastic down through the holes in the plastic canvas.

These sheets are going in a binder, of course, so I marked off where the 3 rings would go and removed the plastic inside a grouping of 4 squares to create a hole. I made sure to inset these holes by at least 2 full rows for structure and stability.

The final step is the tuck under the elastic’s loose end and sew that down, for a neatly finished look as you see in one of the finished sheets above. Because the materials are so inexpensive you can make as many as you’d like and can space out the elastic to fully customize it to your exact needs. This was a super-quick project that took only one evening to make a dozen sheets.

And they’re super secure!

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.


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Coloring with Kids: Cookie Cutter Coloring Game

If you’re home during the holidays and are looking for a kid-friendly and fun craft activity for your family, this boredom-breaker I came up with a few years ago could be just the thing. It’s quick and easy to set up and can be done with nearly any supplies you have on-hand.

What you’ll need:

  • paper
    • Any writing surface will work: computer paper, cardstock, construction paper, even the back of all that wrapping paper from holiday gifts. We used cardstock.
  • something to trace
    • This is perfect for using the cookie cutters you pulled out to bake holiday cookies. Use simple shapes like we did or have fun and find unusual ones! If you don’t have cookie cutters you can get creative and trace tissue boxes, tape rolls, erasers, little toys, etc… We used the shapes from a large assorted set like this one.
  • something to trace with
    • Anything you have on hand! We used a pencil.
  • something to draw/color with
    • Once again anything you have handy will work. Crayons, markers, colored pencils…even ballpoint pens will work just fine. We used Crayola Super Tips.

Start by assembling your materials. I used a ruler to divide our pages into even sections but that’s unnecessary.

Figure out which cutters (or household objects) you want to trace and lay them out in a pleasing manner on your paper of choice.

Trace the objects and repeat so you have one set of tracings for every child or adult participating.

That’s it! That’s all the prep work you need! The goal of the game: be creative and turn each traces shape into something new.

It was fun to do and kept the kids occupied for ages while they tried to “out-think” the rest of us and come up with the most unique, original ideas. (Though as you can see from our sheets they managed to think themselves right into some similar outcomes!)

There’s no desired outcome so you can have fun and see where your kids’ (and your own!) imaginations run. In our case we ended up with:

Circle – a Pokeball, an emoji, Harley Quinn
Oval – an egg, an unimpressed balloon, a chick hatching
Rectangle – Adventure Time’s B-MO, a 500lb weight, Nyan Cat

Star – a Mario Bros star, a rainbow shooting star, Spongebob Squarepants’ Patrick Star
Square – DanTDM’s Minecraft avatar, a Minecraft Creeper, Adventure Time’s Finn the Human
Triangle – Gravity Falls’ Bill Cipher, another Bill Cipher (or general Illuminati reference lol), a poop emoji

Hopefully this easy coloring “game” can inspire imagination in your family like it has in ours.

Happy holidays!

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.


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DIY Custom Wooden Puzzle

Like many others, my mother got really into puzzles during the pandemic. So when Hanukkah rolled around the boys wanted to give her a custom puzzle as a gift. Being a maker I knew we could make one ourselves, and here’s how we did it. With 3 weeks left until Hanukkah and even longer until Christmas you’ve got plenty of time to make a custom gift for the puzzle lover in your life.

To get started you’ll need a puzzle to customize. We wanted a wooden one to be sure it would hold up to being painted then colored. We found this one at our local Dollarama but there are a number of good options on Amazon. You can get a 4-pack of flat puzzles or go for a cube style and make a custom puzzle with multiple images!

Assemble the puzzle over a drop cloth or protective surface. If your puzzle has a gift box or lid you’d like to decorate as well, open it flat. Our box simply unfolded; if yours is glued together you can ease it apart and re-glue it later, or prime it in sections.

You have two options for primer – you can go with a spray primer option like we did, or you can use white gesso and foam brushes and paint it on instead.

Use light, thin coats of primer to get a solid, even coverage. If spraying indoors like I did make sure your drop cloth covers ALL nearby surfaces. (My black dining room chairs now have faint white stripes…oops!).

Once the primer is fully dry you’ll want to disassemble the puzzle and lightly sand the edges of each piece. This will ensure no primer dripped down which could prevent proper assembly later.

Put the puzzle back together and you’re done! You now have a blank, white puzzle and box ready to customize however you’d like.

From this point it’s no longer a tutorial as there are unlimited ways you could decorate your puzzle, but I’ll show what the boys did for their grandmother.

They used the Crayola Air Marker Sprayer Airbrush Kit. I’ve got a full review of the airbrush coming soon but spoiler alert – it’s great! It comes with a few markers in the box but we’ve found that it’s compatible with all Crayola markers that have the same barrel size, so I picked up this pack of 16 Crayola Pip-Squeaks washable markers so the kids would have extra colors to choose from. They worked perfectly with the airbrush and washed off all hands, clothes and my plastic protective cloth.

The boys took turns adding colors to the puzzle and then used the airbrush kit’s included stencils to add little details like the stars and sun.

The primer does keep the water-based marker ink from absorbing as quickly as it would into paper, so it’s a good idea to let it dry fully before handling. While ours was drying the boys took turns decorating the gift box.

They had fun testing out the different stencils and playing with color, and then we let everything dry further.

The final step for the kids was to use glitter glue to add sparkle to the puzzle, and then let that dry as well.

Here’s their completed puzzle:

It reminds me of the tie-dyed scarves we used to hang on our bedroom walls in the 90s!

A combination of the puzzle fitting really well together and the primer filling any residual cracks meant that there was no bleed-through of the primer or marker spray onto the back of the puzzle.

They added more glitter glue to the gift box and a few extra details like a birthday message and some outline work.

I’d accidentally left the plastic window on the box when spraying it so I cut a new square of plastic from some leftover packaging and glued it into place. Then I put the plastic handle back onto the box.

With that the boys had a completely unique gift for their puzzle-loving Bubbie.

There are SO MANY ways you can customize your own puzzle! These can be painted, colored with markers, watercolor, colored pencil, or even decoupage with tissue or thin paper (and then re-cut the puzzle shapes with a sharp blade). You can even play with the texture of the primer you use, like giving a waterfront scene sand medium for the beach and texture medium for the lapping waves. The possibilities are truly endless.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.


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Play Furniture and Pretend Food From Recycled Materials

November 15th was National Recycling Day and I thought it would be fun to share some toy accessories that you can make by recycling materials you have on-hand.

This all started back when Henri had received a Zhu-Zhu Pets toy hamster for Hanukkah one year. It wasn’t long before his “pet” needed to have its own house and so we adapted a shoe box into rooms with a garage.

Of course every home needs furnishings and that’s where these projects came in. According to Henri there was a bedroom, kitchen and living room, so I tailored what I made to that, but you can easily adapt any of these little projects to your rooms of choice.

The first recycled materials to be used were an egg carton and a plastic bendy straw. Cut out sections of the carton to create different types of furniture.

The cups that hold the eggs became armchairs (when the upper rim was kept on 3/4 of the edge) and a table (when flipped upside down and trimmed to have legs).

Two of the flat base of the egg cups were cut out to become vessels for food and water, and finally the divider piece that separates the eggs was cut out to become a lampshade.

One of the cup bases was painted silver to become a serving plate and the slightly deeper one had the inside painted blue to appear like water. To make the most out of using what I had on hand (pun intended!) I painted them both with nail polish!

The lamp shade was painted Henri’s color of choice with regular acrylic paints and then set aside to dry.

Once dry it was time to assemble the lamp. You need a base that’s sturdy and heavy enough to support the weight of the shade. You could use wood blocks, a little box filled with rice or sand, or anything else heavy enough. I used a few spare washers I found in my toolbox.

I cut a felt circle for the base and hot-glued the washers on top in descending size order, making sure to keep their holes lined up. I also glued a decorative bead to the top of the lampshade.

The shade was filled with hot glue to set the straw in place and then more glue was used to attach it inside the tower of washers.

With that, the little hamster’s living room lamp was complete!

The bendy bit of the straw was a nice touch, allowing the lamp to be angled wherever the little guy needed.

The silver platter received a coat of clear nail polish to seal it and the water bowl was filled with more hot glue to look full.

To make the pretend food for the hamster takes only three supplies – a pool noodle, fabric paint, and scissors.

That’s right – all these little pretend foodstuffs are actually squishies! They’re really easy to make: simply cut pieces of the pool noodle foam into the general shape of the food item then use fabric paint to make them look like their respective foods. A toothpick comes in handy instead of a paintbrush when working at such small sizes. I scaled my foods to the size of the egg carton “plate” and made (clockwise from top right) pepperoni pizza, chocolate chip cookies, donuts, a cheeseburger, and a chocolate cake.

The food storage bin was made from plastic canvas and yarn scraps.

First I made a base large enough to hold all the food. The lid is the same size but less deep, and the faux latch is simply stitched on top. The lid was sewn to the base all along the back edge but I used the same gold yarn as the latch to embroider 2 fake “hinges”.

The living room furniture was painted black and copper “studs” were added with a paint pen. One neat thing about using the egg cups is that the furniture will stack which makes putting it away after playtime that much easier.

Finally the hamster’s cardboard box bed was upgraded to one with a full headboard and footboard, and painted with gold glitter paint.

I used scraps of white felt and stuffing remnants to make a mini mattress and pillow, and leftover sock yarn knit up quickly to make a colorful blanket.

One evening of crafting and by morning the hamster had his house completely tricked out. Henri was really excited to set everything in place and added more to the decor by painting a rug in the living room and even drawing a TV on the wall!

Bonus – I wanted to take some current pics to show how well these little accessories held up after 6 years and we thought it would be really cute to include Jakob’s REAL hamster for scale. Here’s Dusty enjoying a little nap…

…and here he is foraging in the snack box looking to see what other treats there might be.

These were such simple, quick and easy DIYs to make and became playtime accessories that were loved and used over and over, AND held up incredibly well over the years. I hope this post gives you some ideas on how you can recycle items from around the house and give them new life with a new use.


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The Secret to Blending Crayola Markers

In a recent post celebrating The Princess Bride movie’s 35th anniversary I shared my completion of a double-page spread from the official The Princess Bride adult coloring book and teased a special secret that allowed me to blend Crayola markers as if they were Copics.

We’re not talking some special “Premium” art supply here – these were regular old water-based Crayola Super Tips markers, and as you can see in the finished page not only was I able to blend two shades each of red and green to get a subtle watercolor effect in the roses, but I was also able to get a beautiful gradient using 5 shades through the sunset and again in the hill.

Even preschoolers know that if you try to layer non-alcohol markers on regular paper you end up with streaks or smears and not a blended gradient, just like you see in example B below. While the paper in this book is decently thick it’s still just regular light cardstock – heavy enough to hold up to water applications but definitely not special blending paper.

Same 5 markers, same paper.

So if the trick isn’t the markers, and it isn’t the paper, what is it?

It’s what goes in between!

Clear gesso!

That’s right – this painter’s supply is an excellent addition to a coloring crafter too. Unlike the opaque white variety that is generally used to prime wood or canvas for painting, clear gesso is completely transparent and can be used on regular paper or within coloring books to protect the page from water damage and bleed-through. I don’t claim that using gesso in a coloring book is my unique, original idea. However it is the unexpected benefit of what this will allow you to do that I haven’t seen shared anywhere before.

Any brand will work, with the main distinction being that you use clear and not white. Liquitex is a great brand, I used Mont Marte as it’s what I happened to have, and Amazon has the U.S. Art Supply brand for a good price.

The idea came to mind when I picked the As You Wish/silhouette roses spread as my WIP. Not having used clear gesso before, I felt it would be smart to test it out before tackling my coloring page. I wanted to make sure that not only would I be able to see the printed lines clearly, but that they wouldn’t smear or bleed. I was also curious if the gesso would discolor the paper.

In order to properly test things out I marked off a square in a corner of one of the tester pages at the back of the coloring book and painted it with clear gesso and allowed it to dry fully.

While there is clearly an addition of texture to the page I was very happy to see that there was no discoloration or ink smearing. I then got to work testing an assortment of media to see how they worked with the gessoed page.

At the time I’d been debating painting the background black, so I tried that at the top of the page, followed below with black and colored Sharpies. I did a little colored pencil (the pink and yellow stripes) and a little with my brush tip/fineliner markers (the ones I used for the Eagle pointilism image), but spent most of my effort playing around with the Crayola Super Tips I intended to use on the actual coloring page. In order to compare the difference between the protected and untreated paper I deliberately overlapped my testing samples across the border of the gessoed section.

A quick look at the back of the page showed it was working! None of the media bled through the treated side of the paper!

This is also where I first realized that the Crayola markers were blending. To be sure I tested across both sides of the paper and, indeed, on the gessoed side the orange and red were forming a gradient whereas on the plain paper side they were overlapping with blocky, chunky edges.

Now that I knew it would work I was able to start on the actual pages. A little goes a long way with gesso and it didn’t take much to evenly coat both pages with a thin layer. I like protecting the underneath pages with a bit of wax paper and the lid from a takeout container makes a great palette.

This is a closeup of the dried, treated page. As you can see there’s no discoloration to speak of and no ink smears. There is a faint bit of grainy texture which would make this an equally excellent tip for use with colored pencils though you’d need to be conscious of your brush strokes and try to keep everything even and not streaky.

The coloring part itself is no different than were you to be using colored pencils or alcohol markers. You can blend the shades by overlapping them and blending out with the lighter color. In this example I colored horizontal sections of the 5 colors chosen for my sunset and then blended them by using the lightest yellow overlapping onto the yellow/orange, and then that marker overlapping onto the orange, which then overlapped onto the red, and then finally overlapped into the darkest red section.

Much like alcohol markers you have a long working time as applying new color will allow you to mix and move the colors below.

Just keep in mind that since the gesso stops the water-based markers from absorbing immediately into the page they will be transferrable until they dry completely. So be careful to avoid smudging or smearing the wet marker with your fingers or the side of your hand.

I found this to be a wonderful, fun process and absolutely adore how the final image turned out. I enjoy finding new ways to use existing supplies and love that this one product opens the door to so many coloring possibilities!

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.


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Mythomorphia’s Chinese Dragon in Pointilism

In celebration of today being “Circle Day“, I’m posting the process of coloring the Chinese Dragon page in Kirby Rosanes’ Mythomorphia coloring book.

Can you tell why I’m posting this today? Look closely – every single drop of color in this image is created with a tiny circle. That’s right- over the course of the entire month of November 2018 I painstakingly tapped markers to the page to color in the whole picture with teensy little dots.

(The glare from my mini clip light makes for a bad photo but was a fantastic way to help see all the millions of dots without going cross-eyed!)

Of course a project of this scale requires fineliners and so I pulled out my pack of Soucolor markers. Not only do they come in 100 colors but while one side has a fantastic brush tip, the other has a 0.4mm fineliner tip, making these markers great for coloring books and perfect for this attempt. (Note: I own these same markers by two different brands. The Soucolor ones only seem to be currently available in sets of 34 but they are completely identical to this 100-count set by Feela that I also use regularly.)

The best way to start a project like this is simply to just begin, so I found a small, contained shape in this lantern and began to tap individual dots of red and yellow, I worked tighter groupings of dots anywhere I wanted to create shading, like in the vertical ridges on the lantern above.

I then found the other lanterns in the image and dotted them with the same two colors, creating patterns and stripes for more interest.

Next I used a brown marker to fill in both areas of cherry blossom branches and two shades of pink for the cherry blossom flowers and blowing petals. I completed the jade charm in the center of the above image and then used the original red and yellow to begin the firecrackers at the bottom.

It’s very peaceful to tap out little dots and then step back and have a complete shaded area of color and to then watch the whole image come together in the same way.

After finishing the fireworks I wanted a change of color so hopped over to some lotus flowers, then a koi, and then a decorative fan.

More fans followed. I’d noted what colors I’d used where so it was easy to have the fan’s cherry blossoms match those of the larger image. I then completed the little temple area in the upper right and the sword just below.

The pewter-look goblet was next, followed by the porcelain china.

Sometimes, when pages are as busy as this, it can be difficult to tell what’s what. For example, I found myself needing to decipher if some curls were clouds or waves. To help visually distinguish individual sections I decided to begin filling in the background. I used two shades of pink and darkened the edges around each icon so that it would have a nice contract against the planned colors for the dragon, clouds and waves.

As background areas were completed and it was easier to pick out clouds vs waves I used different shades of blues and grays to fill in each section.

I moved around the page in this manner, working first the pinks, then blues and grays. If I wasn’t sure yet what a random swirl was then I would fill in the areas around it until it became clear.

I kept going, making more itsy bitsy dots, until the entire background was complete leaving only the central, most important image of the page: the dragon.

For the dragon’s belly I selected two colors that give a golden effect when worked together – a coppery-orange for the darker areas and a ocher-y yellow for the lighter. Each segment was worked with the orange first (as you can see in the upper left) and then finished with the yellow.

I took a video of the process for a closer look:

After completing the belly I used the same golden colors for the dragon’s face and whiskers.

Then I moved on to the dragon’s scales.

I wanted to give him an oil-slick look with purple reflecting to green, so used those shades in tighter and looser groupings to indicate shadow and reflection.

Here’s another video showing a close up with more detail on how the scales were done (above).

Eventually all the scales were done and the dragon was SO CLOSE to being complete! All that remained were the frilly bits along his body, tail and face.

To keep things cohesive on such a busy page I used the same yellow, orange, purples and green and filled in the sections more densely to have deeper, richer sections of color.

And with that, the coloring is complete!

This project was SO much fun to do even though it took SO long to complete. There was something incredibly satisfying about working on each small bit at a time, tapping dot after dot, and then backing up to see how the image all came together.

Kirby’s designs are great for a project like this because there are dozens of self-contained little sections and he includes just enough shading detail to give you a guide to follow.

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Paint Nite Cake and Cookies

A few years ago I made a dessert for my friend Debbie’s surprise Hallowe’en-themed party. I was given the option to make cookies or a cake, so I chose both! This Paint Nite-inspired cake and cookie set is easy to make and looks way harder than it is!

You can start with a store-bought cake, or bake one yourself and prepare it for decorating with a layer of fondant to look like a tablecloth. I used white so the rest would stand out but you could use any color.

To make the easels you will need narrow rectangular cookies. You can bake your own or go the faster route and buy them! I used Cadbury Fingers but any log or stick-shaped cookie will do. You will need candy melts as the “glue” to hold the easel together so just be sure to match the candy melt color to your chosen cookies. Note- you don’t want to use regular chocolate for this as it will soften at room temperature and your easels will fall apart.

First make an A shape with a cookie going horizontally across two others for the easel’s ledge, and then after the candy melts set up use a 4th cookie as the vertical support leg. It’s easy to work this assembly-line style, being sure to leave enough time for the chocolate to set hard. I found that I only had to hold them in place for about a minute before they were able to stand on their own.

Of course any Paint Nite needs something to paint on! You can bake cookies yourself or use any rectangular cookie that has at least one flat side, like Biscoff, butter biscuits or shortbreads.

To make edible “paint” mix icing sugar with small amounts of water until you get a loose icing consistency. Paint Nite projects often have a gradient background with a silhouette design on top, so I used that style for my mini paintings. I chose Fall colors with pumpkin orange and white for a sunset and as this was a Hallowe’en party I added a black cat on a fence silhouette and full moon. This also worked well with the Paint Nite habit of using few colors in beginner paintings.

I painted the cookies much as you would at an actual Paint Nite – first painting the gradient background, then once dry adding the top layer.

The fun part was making each one just slightly different, while still being the same image – exactly how the results at a true Paint Nite would be. Everyone follows the same process and comes out with mostly the same image yet they’re all slightly unique to the individual artists.

I also used a few extra cookies to write a message for the birthday girl on her big day.

Of course, every Paint Nite requires supplies, so we need to add the solo cups-as-water cups, Styrofoam plate “palettes” and big orange brushes.

I made all the accessories out of scraps of fondant. For the solo cups simply layer a thin strip of white on top of the red before cutting out a strip to roll into a cup shape. The brushes are narrow rolls of fondant with the brush end dipped into the icing “paint”. The plates are small discs of white fondant smeared with dollops of leftover paint from painting the cookies. To make the “dirty” paint water I swirled a bit of each paint icing into clear piping gel.

Staging the table was super fun! Unlike a real Paint Nite where I try to be as neat as possible, here I got to be messy! I “glued” the fondant accessories in place with a small dab of water and then added drips and splatters of the paint to really sell the “end of the night of crafting” look.

I was so thrilled with how the final cake came out! It was one of the most fun cakes to make and allows for a ton of personalization. All the components can be homemade or store-bought which means this design can work with all budgets, and you can tailor the paintings to match any theme.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.