Tag: craft

Make Market 16×20 Halloween Diamond Paintings

On By Michel McDonaldIn diamond painting, HalloweenLeave a comment
Castle and Owl
Jack-O’-Lanterns
Skeleton Lovers
Regency Skeletons

I just realized that I forgot to post the 16×20 Halloween diamond paintings from Make Market that I made.

So the first one is the Castle and Owl and I made that for myself and then my life partner told me that someone would buy that at the craft fair and that didn’t even occur to me to sell these there, so I ended up buying more because he told me that. I did bring this one with me to the craft fair and nobody wanted it. Every time somebody looked at it, I would tell them that it glowed in the dark and they would say oh that’s awesome, but still nobody wanted it. After the craft fair, one of my Etsy customers bought it as a Christmas gift for a friend of theirs.

So, I posted a video on TikTok about all of the diamond paintings that I bought for Halloween from Michael’s craft store and someone actually told me that she wanted the Jack-O’-Lanterns and so I told her what my price was and she accepted. So I made it and I sent it to her, but I didn’t have one for myself and I originally wanted this for myself and Michael’s had already sold out of this one, so I went to eBay and found one and I actually paid $30 to get it. The one you see in the image above is the one that I made for myself.

I didn’t want to get the skeletons because I wasn’t even sure if I would even hang them because of the morbidity of them being skeletons you know. But of course for Halloween that’s a totally different story, but still, I wasn’t sure I would even hang them in my room. Before I even went to the craft fair, I showed these two skeleton diamond paintings to my neighbor and she actually told me that she wanted to buy the Skeleton Lovers. So I did not bring that one with me to the craft fair. I actually brought the Regency Skeletons with me and nobody wanted it. A couple of people thought it was cool, but not enough to want to buy it. So I did hang it in my room and I actually love it. I actually fell in love with the Skeleton Lovers and wish that I could have bought another one when I had the chance. They actually restocked it on the Michaels website and I bought one, but it didn’t come. They gave me something else instead. Something that I already had, which was really disappointing because I really wanted that one for myself.

I actually have many more Diamond paintings that are in a drawer that I wasn’t able to make before Halloween, but I have a whole year to make them before next Halloween, and I’m very excited to make them. I have all four of the mystery Diamond paintings and I love them all. One of them is flowers and that one is supposed to be for Halloween, but a lot of people think that it was not Halloween related because it’s flowers, but it does look like a Halloween type of flowers to me. Another one is a skeleton in a frame and it kind of looks like the Regency skeleton collections that they had at Michaels for this season. Then there is another one that is a skull sitting on a book and that looks pretty cool. Then the fourth one is actually Jack-O’-Lanterns with a crow. That one is a glow in the dark one and I really look forward to making that one.

And then I have some other ones that are square diamond paintings. I have the Haunted Mansion, the Headless Horseman, Three Ghosts, Spell Book, the Cat with Pumpkin (which is actually round and not square) and the Wondering one which is Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

Haunted Mansion
Headless Horseman
Three Ghosts
Spell Book
Cat with Pumpkin
Wondering

I clearly have a severe case of FOMO 😂. But the reason why is because I discovered that once they sell out of all of these for the season, they will never have them ever again. And I wanted them, so I bought them. I actually have two of the Spell Book and two of the Three Ghosts and the reason why is because I bought another Skeleton Lovers and another Jack-o’-Lanterns and they didn’t come, instead I got these duplicates. But that is okay because somebody on TikTok wants me to sell them the Three Ghosts kit and I also want to make the Spell Book for someone and I also want to keep the other one for myself. So it all worked out in the end.

I remember when I finished buying all of the summer diamond paintings saying I don’t think I will buy any of their Halloween diamond paintings because even though I love Halloween, I don’t love it that much. Well, I bought every diamond painting they had for Halloween lol. I have no regrets.

A new craft to relax

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I don’t know exactly how long diamond painting has been a thing, but I’ve avoided it because holy cow, I have way too many crafts already that I just don’t really want MORE craft supplies taking up space in my bedroom. It’s already overwhelming with all the plastic lanyard, yarn, a huge box of plastic canvas, drawers and drawers of cardstock for my box cards and all of the many things I need to make the box cards look cool, like inks and rhinestones and whatever else lol. I have a lot of things taking up so much space in my room, I just didn’t want to add to it.

So I was watching TikTok and some videos about diamond painting started appearing on my FYP, and I sat there watching them the whole way through, because they were interesting to watch. But then more videos started appearing, and live creators were making these live on TikTok, and suddenly my FYP started changing to mostly diamond paintings. Oops.

Mysterious Starry Sky

Someone had a diamond painting with the Starry Sky painting with the TARDIS from Doctor Who, so that got me really interested, because I had assumed they only came in whatever you found at the craft store. I didn’t realize they had so many different images to choose from. So I bought this one from Amazon and made it, and this is what it looks like after I added all the diamond drills.

You tend to lose a lot of details when they are as small as this. This particular one is 12″ x 12″, which I discovered is actually the size of the actual canvas, and not the image. The actual image is more like 11.8″ x 11.8″. Which is fine because I think how it works is you buy the 12×12 frame and it has one of those borders that covers up the outside of the canvas, so you’ll see the actual image you made with the diamonds.

I bought this and another on Amazon and then I found some on Temu, because of course I did lol. I found another one similar to this, but much bigger. This is the image, but I won’t know how the end product looks until I make it.

I really do like this, and it is relaxing. However, it is frustrating because no matter how hard I try, I just cannot get the diamond drills in the actual spot they are meant to go on, so they start looking crooked and the diamond drills are all over the place and look like I just slapped it together in a hurry. I have a tool that I bought that has a thing that you can slide through between the diamond drills that’s supposed to keep adjusting them so they are straight, or more uniform, but that doesn’t actually work too well. You move them and they move right back.

I was watching another video on TikTok and this person had this stainless steel alignment ruler that you lay on the canvas and you put your diamond drills on, and it puts them in the exact place you need them to be, and they don’t move when you remove the stainless steel alignment ruler.

The entire left side of this new diamond painting called the Tree of Life that I started making that goes all the way to the top, I did that without the tool, because I saw the TikTok video after I did all that. So the right side that doesn’t go all the way to the top was made with the stainless steel alignment ruler which is to the right of that, if you can see it. If you are able to zoom in, you will notice a huge difference in how uniform they are in the new section with the metal tool as opposed to how wonky they are on the left side.

I couldn’t justify removing all those diamond drills on the left that I made before I got the new alignment ruler because to be honest, you won’t really notice it when the entire diamond painting is finished. You’ll probably only notice because I told you. The canvas of this diamond painting is going to be 35.4″ wide by 12″ high, but the actual painting will be determined when I finish because the Amazon listing did not specify the actual image size, only the canvas size. But this is what the image is on the listing.

BOHADIY DIY 5D Tree of Life Diamond Painting

So what I discovered is this is really relaxing because I am so focused on this and not on anything else. All my tics mostly disappear, and I lose myself in the art work. I can relax and just lose myself for a few hours or whatever amount of time I decide to spend before my neck or back starts to hurt. I usually have either music or a YouTube video playing on the TV that I’m kind of paying attention to, but not really lol.

And of course the tools they include in the painting kit are ok, but you really want to buy some other tools. For example, I’ve learned you want to buy the little release paper sheets to cover the sticky parts rather than have a long thin piece of plastic hanging off the canvas. It reveals small sections to work on so the sticky parts don’t start getting dust and hair on them before they get the diamond drills. You’ll want a new pen tool with the different attachments that screw on that give you the ability to pick up 1 diamond drill at a time, or 2, on one end, and then whatever amount up to 10 on the other end. I haven’t had so much luck with picking up too many because they are never close together when I pick them up, or the wax is stuck inside, so I only get half of what I was trying to pick up. It’s a learning process. It’s also relaxing to just do 1 at a time. It takes longer though lol.

This wonderful stainless steel alignment tool. Oh and they give you these little ziplock bags that are supposed to hold the diamond drills, but I’m told they will add a lot of static to the diamond drills. I bought a diamond painting storage container that has all these little boxes that are very similar to tic tac boxes. You add the diamond drills and add a sticker to the top with the DMC number on it, and it keeps them all together and safe in the organizer box.

ARTDOT Diamond Painting Storage Container

I had so many diamond drills leftover from the Mysterious Starry Sky painting with the TARDIS that I am just keeping them in their containers, so when I opened all the diamond drill bags for the Tree of Life I’m making now, I’ve pretty much used most of all the rest of the containers. I think I need to buy another box of these containers before I start making more paintings.

Oh and one thing that is really helpful is to have a light box under the painting, because it allows you to see everything much easier. Not just the numbers or letters or symbols, but you can also see the mistakes you’ve made so you can fix them. Amazon has this TOHETO A4 Light Board for Diamond Painting that is 14″ x 10″ for only $20. I have a Cricut Bright Pad that costs $70 on Amazon. I actually got this for free at Michaels when I got my first Cricut. It’s been collecting dust for more than 5 years. I haven’t had a reason to use this until now.

I’m sure there are more tools that I don’t know about yet, but I’ll continue researching products. This is a cool new craft that will actually add something nice to the walls of my bedroom when I finish.

Oh and yes, this has a lot of Amazon links and I have included my associates codes, but I assure you that this is not a sponsored post. I just wanted to talk about this new craft of mine and share the links for the products I have bought. I couldn’t include the Temu links because all of the products I have brought from Temu aren’t even available anymore.

Update: I’ve finished making the Rainbow Tree of Life diamond painting, and here it is.

Norwegian Christmas Stockings

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment
HJEM TIL JUL
Christmas Stocking 2021

I learned how to knit when I turned 18 years old and it didn’t really go that far because I just couldn’t get the hang of it, but I never gave up on it. Several years ago I started watching knitting YouTube tutorials and I found these guys named Arne and Carlos and they are in Norway. They had a video tutorial to make a Christmas stocking and at the time the stocking pattern was free on their website and I downloaded the image which is a graph and I watched the video instructions for the toe and the heel and how to do everything else. I loved the pattern so much and the next year I decided I wanted to make another stocking and they put them on their website for sale. I ended up buying the one that they had which is a 2019 stocking.

NISSE Christmas Stocking
TOMTE Christmas Stocking

That first stocking, their instructions for the toe were different and I don’t think that I was able to understand it. So for some reason I did that one and that one was clearly the wrong choice because it looks terrible LOL. I also used knitting needles that were too big and the stocking was humongous. A newborn baby could have probably fit inside there. The second stocking was the 2019 stocking and I made the correct toe on this one.

So I was thinking I wanted to make another stocking and I went to their website and they had a bunch more stockings, and so I bought the one that I posted the image of above and it only took me a couple of days to make. I had a little trouble with the heel because it was an afterthought heel and I apparently did not know about lifelines using floss and I completely messed up trying to put the knitting needles in there, but now I know for the next time.

I paid $7 for this pattern a few days ago and then I went to get some yarn and that was another $15. After I finished this stocking tonight, I went back to their website to see if I wanted any of their other patterns because I finished this one so fast. I thought I might as well make another one and they’re on sale for $2.80 right now. So I bought all of the rest of the patterns that they have except for the one that has pictures of cars on it. I now have 10 stocking patterns from them.

Their website is https://www.arnecarlos.com/home/. They have a YouTube channel @arnecarlos with lots of knitting tutorials.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that they have some really good patterns that you can buy and they’re really not that hard to make. And like I said, I made this stocking in like 2 or 3 days. I barely used any of the green and I still have enough yarn to make maybe two or three more stockings. I think this is a really good buy. I’m going to start making another stocking using the same colors since I still have so much yarn left over.

Two Magic Pixels C2C Pixel Art Crochet

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Uncategorized1 Comment

I made this blanket for my Aunt several years ago. I found the pattern from a website called Two Magic Pixels. I wrote a blog post about it.

I learned to crochet when I was no longer homeless when I turned 18 years old. Never in my life did I think I would ever make anything like this.

The last few nights I have been going through Two Magic Pixels patterns because I wanted to make another blanket for myself. Last night I went to log in to my account on their website, but I didn’t have my password available, so I clicked “forgot password” and it asked for my email address to send me a link to reset my password, but it said we don’t have an account with that email address. I had only bought a few patterns, and I know I have them on my computer, so I thought ok, that’s fine. I’ll just create a new account. When I did, it said we actually found the patterns you have bought because you used that same email address to buy patterns using Paypal. So yay for me lol.

I bought these 3 patterns and they are all in my account, although I only made the Betty Boop 007 blanket. I bought the Mini Spiderman and Mini Superman patterns because I thought they were cute and I thought I would make them, but I never did. I am considering buying a different pattern to make for myself though. I’m thinking more of a rainbow pattern or something abstract, but I do know I want to buy it from Two Magic Pixels again because they have some really cool patterns. There are a few others I would like to make, like a Buddha or a Star Trek pattern, maybe the Scooby Doo pattern lol. I just cannot commit to one.

They have so many patterns and it’s really hard to pick just one pattern. The reason I have to choose is because it took me a month to make the Betty Boop 007 blanket and it cost me $60 for all the yarn. Not to mention the fact that I have carpal tunnel syndrome, so I can only make 1 blanket, and then I won’t be able to make another one for a very long time.

I really like the rainbow flower one because it reminds me of when I was a kid in the 70’s. I can also use that as a backdrop if I decide I want to continue making videos for my YouTube channel, then I’ll have something fun to look at.

People commented in my Betty Boop videos that they wanted me to teach them to crochet like that and I’ve told them that they should go to the same channel I learned to crochet like this from, which is the crochet crowd.

Anyway, it’s a big decision because I will have to live with that pattern. I can still buy the patterns whether I make them or not, but I still want to choose one. I think I really want the rainbow flowers blanket.

Controlling my paper craft hoard for my Cricut

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

I have a Cricut Explore Air 2, for papercraft. I have collected a lot of 12×12 paper pads over the last 2 years for making box greeting cards. Collecting a lot of different designs requires enough space in your crafting area, which happens to be my bedroom.

A couple of nights ago I had a mini avalanche. I was trying to find a specific pad so that I could get the specific patterns for a card, and the loose scrap paper and a opened pad with 50 pages of white 8 1/2 x 11 sheets fell behind the cabinet that the paper was sitting on. I wanted to buy this cart for a long time, but it was so expensive at $80 from Michael’s. The Avalanche of paper made me decide I really need this cart now.

We went to Michael’s to buy the Essex cart from Recollections (which is the brand of all my paper pads) and I put it together and then started filling it up.

There are four drawers on the left side that hold the 12×12 paper and then two deep drawers on the right side that hold all my 8 1/2 by 11 paper. I don’t have that much 8 1/2 by 11, so I put scraps in the bottom deep drawer.

On the right side there is a tray that you can lift up, but it only holds 2 lb and I’m probably never going to use it, so it can just stay down. The shelf in the middle has more 12×12 pads that the drawers could not hold, and they are mostly glitter paper, vinyl and envelope paper. Then I also put some other craft tools and supplies on the shelf.

I feel so good that the paper pads are cleaned up. this will make finding specific paper pads that I need easier because I put all of the Christmas pads in the top drawer, Valentine’s day and Spring are in the second drawer, and then random designs that aren’t holiday related are in the third drawer. All my 12×12 scraps are in the bottom drawer and they used up the whole drawer.

It’s nice to be organized and to have a clean space for once. I’m so glad I got this.

PlayStation Vita

On By Michel McDonaldIn GamesLeave a comment


I have a Nintendo Game Boy that my partner bought for me in 1994 or 1995, I honestly can’t recall when. I was so bored because we didn’t have much in the way of entertainment, other than the TV with 7 channels of course. He used a Sears credit card to buy the Game Boy and he would buy me games every now and then. It took me months to play one game, and if I knew we couldn’t afford a new game, I would just play the game multiple times. Occasionally we needed the money for food, so we had to sell the games to game stores. We only got a fraction of what the games were worth, but desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s sad too because I still have my Game Boy, but I only have 1 game; Tetris.

In 2007 I bought myself a PlayStation Portable Slim aka PSP -2000. I bought many games, and didn’t have to sell any for the money. I played the heck out of that game system, and now it’s tricky just to turn it on. The power button is glitchy, so it’s difficult to turn it on or off. It still works, but it doesn’t connect to our WiFi because the security is different from when I first bought it, so I can’t buy and download games. If I want to buy a new game, it has to be on the UMD format which I can only buy on Amazon and eBay.

Last Christmas my partner bought me a PlayStation 4. My PSP-2000 talks with a PS3, but not a PS4. If I want to play my PS4 games in the living room, I need a PlayStation Vita. I can also download tons of PS Vita games that I have gotten for free over the last year with my PlayStation Plus account.

I know that I don’t deserve to buy a PlayStation Vita because I haven’t worked for it. I know that I would prefer to play the games I own on my HDTV instead of a smaller screen in my hands, but I feel like there are times when I can’t play games on my PS4 because I’m watching tv in the living room with my partner. He stares at his iPad the entire time, that is if he’s awake, and I sit and stare at either my Nook HD+ or my phone. Sometimes I’d prefer playing Minecraft or whatever game I have instead of staring at Facebook. I have Minecraft PE on my phone, but it’s harder to play on a touchscreen because the screen gets too hot, that’s why I prefer to just stare at Facebook on my phone.

I know I’m coming off as the most spoiled brat in the world, and it’s true, I am. That’s why I haven’t bought the PlayStation Vitayet, because I know I don’t need, nor deserve it. I just want it, and that’s not a reason to spend the money I don’t have to buy it. I could put it on a credit card and pay it off over time, but it’s just not right for me to do that. I have this stupid need before greed thing, and I honestly don’t need it, but I would really love to have it lol.

When my hands heal from the recent order of 200 mini DNA keychains that I recently finished, I will start making different kinds of earrings and keychains to put on Amazon Handmade, that is if they approve me. I recently applied, and they don’t have a category for “Accessories” which is what I classified my craft as. I can’t really call keychains jewelry. My earrings and chokers are considered jewelry, but since they don’t actually have jewels in them, are they really jewelry? The earrings are plastic stems with plastic lanyard. The chokers are hemp with wood beads. Not exactly jewelry. I also make the friendship bracelets, which I really need to make more of. They sent me an email telling me I can change my category to jewelry, so I did. I can’t sell keychains as jewelry, but I can sell earrings, chokers and bracelets.

I’m sure I will need a huge inventory for Amazon Homemade, so when I can start working again, I will make a bunch of things and put them in a drawer to have them ready to ship if anyone orders them. If I make any money, I will keep the money in Amazon so I can buy a PS Vita. I could also start buying Amazon gift cards every month and put them in my account. I’m also playing around with Swag Bucks, so I’ll do surveys and watch videos and install useless apps for SB’s so I can get a Amazon gift card. If I do all those things, then I can say I deserve a PlayStation Vita.

By the way, all these links for PlayStation Vita will earn me money if YOU, the reader click them and buy one for yourself.

Friendship Bracelets Designer Program

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

lightning bolt in designer

I’ve been having a fun time with my new “My Friendship Bracelet Maker Clip Board.”  I’ve been working mostly on the beginner patterns, but there are some more complex ones that I’ve been working on as well, such as the lightning bolt for example.  They have this one listed as a beginner pattern, but when you actually look at the instructions, it says it’s intermediate.  Unfortunately, the instructions aren’t quite as clear as I would have liked them to be, so to be able to make this one, I had to open this program called “Friendship Bracelets Designer” so I could manually add all of the instructions so I could get a more clear picture of what I was supposed to make.

lightning bolt Last night when I first started making this bracelet pattern with the instructions on the MFBM website, I totally screwed it up and today I had to take every single knot apart and start over.  I had worked the entire pattern too and it was so screwed up, I couldn’t even begin to tell you what I had done, but it wasn’t good.  Now when I say the entire pattern, I don’t mean everything you see, the pattern only does 6 rows, so it wasn’t that much.

Using this program has really helped, as you can tell by the image above.  The bracelet on the right is one complete rotation of the pattern.  The pattern image you see to the left is the complete rotation.  That is only one rotation from beginning to end, you may need 3 rotations to complete the bracelet.  The instructions don’t see you all the way through for some reason, but this will.

If I have trouble with the instructions, I will be using this program again in the future, because it is so much easier to follow a visual map rather than written instructions, especially when it’s row by row.  There are some patterns like the cause ribbons and the BFF hearts that aren’t row by row, so those may be a bit more difficult to follow with this program.