Hobbies, Crafts, and Art Supplies | Pad Patter 06.03.23

What are your favorite hobby, craft, and art supplies (other than Photoshop/PSE digital scrapbooking )?
Yarn... I love yarn lol! I crochet as a hobby... I don't do anything fancy, but I love that I can do it while watching tv. I just bought some gorgeous hand dyed yarn to up my game... but I'm scared to use it! I feel like I need to have a really special project in mind before I start working with it!

Is there any craft or art supply you bought that you now regret?
My daughter talked me into a Cricut a few years ago and I have used it exactly once. I know people love theirs but I just haven't found a reason to use it.

 

What are your favorite hobby, craft, and art supplies (other than Photoshop/PSE digital scrapbooking )?
I love Sharpies permanent markers. All the different colors make me happy!

Is there any craft or art supply you bought that you now regret?
Sometimes I regret buying a sewing machine because I bought a super expensive one and should've just bought a cheap one because it rarely gets used lol

 

What are your favorite hobby, craft, and art supplies (other than Photoshop/PSE digital scrapbooking )?
Colored pencils. I'm into adult coloring and love just sitting down at my desk coloring the day away on a Sunday. It's so calming and relaxing and I love all the colors I get to use. I have one set of cheap alcohol markers for coloring too, and I don't like using those as much. I have 3 sets of colored pencils. I've got the "professional" Prisma and love the way they lay down in my books. I also have some cheap Kalour's that are very similar to Prisma, but not quite...and I can tell. I have a regular color set of those and a pastel set of them. I use these more, just because I color so much and I don't want to "waste" the Prismas since they are expensive. lol
I also buy notebooks, pens and journals a LOT. I use them for everything and love pretty covered ones. Especially for writing my poetry.

Is there any craft or art supply you bought that you now regret?
I guess those alcohol markers. I have tried them but I like colored pencils better. I'm glad they weren't super expensive.

 

I sold and gave away all my scrap supplies but I used to love coloring with copics and colored pencils. I had a very large set of every color imaginable. Stamping and coloring were so much fun and relaxing. Watercolor stamping was fun too.

I never regretted any mixed media supplies I bought but I did regret buying a sewing machine that cost a fortune and then I only used it a handful of times. I just didn't have the patience for it.

You are so creative and sounds like you've got a great stash.

 

I tend to go from craft to craft so I do have a fabulous Viking sewing mach8ne from my quilting days. I need to get back to that.
For my planners, I use my silhouette constantly as well as colored pencils and markers. I do some painting but haven’t really stuck with that so I have some random watercolors and acrylics around.

 

I have pan and tube watercolours. I prefer pan when I'm out and about, but tubes when playing at home. Have fun with yours when you get them. I used to love playing with my gelli plate, but haven't got it out recently. My preference in physical art is mixed media, and collage.

 

See... I think that's what got us started on wanting one. She was still in high school and there were always fun party favor type things to make. We talked ourselves into getting it during the height of the lockdowns thinking it would be something fun to play with... but then it was a pandemic, so not a lot of party favors to be made

 

Ok... first of all... I wish I lived near you Lisa! I think we'd get along smashingly and could talk about art supplies and hobbies and craft projects for eons and never get bored.

I am super lucky and have a huge "craft room" in my basement, which is good and bad. I love that it's out of sight, so my hubby doesn't see all my messes laid out over several tables when I'm in the middle of many projects, but it's also bad because I have the room to store so much stuff! I will say though that I use almost everything I own at least once a year. I do a lot of creative projects and I love having a varied stash of goodies to play with! Lol.

So my favorite hobbies aside from digi-scrapping right now is art journaling and also, funny that you mention it, I just learned how to carve blocks with the speedball cutters a couple of months ago. I've carved lots of the rubber blocks (bought some speedball and some generic on Amazon) and those are definitely the easiest to carve. The process of tracing a design and re-tracing with a permanent pen and then carving is so relaxing to me! I also bought some linoleum sheets and blocks to try carving those too. That is harder to carve, but you can get much finer lines in the lino than the rubber, so they both have their purposes. I also bought one tube of waterproof ink to try printing with so I could print the lines and then paint over with watercolors to fill areas in. I just framed one little print this weekend.

I also love to crochet (in the cold months) and I paint with acrylics and used to paint with oils. I used to do stained glass and really want to get back into that because I have a half finish lamp shade that I really want to finish. I quit when I had kids because it was too dangerous to leave out and I just didn't have time when they were little and once it was packed away, it was harder to drag it all back out.

The one craft supply that I completely regret buying was the dylusions ink sprays when I was getting into art journaling. They are pretty and bold colors, but you cannot paint over them. They bleed through every single layer no matter what I do and no matter how long they dry between coats. So now I have about 12 of those bottles just sitting there. Lol. I ruined several good projects before I realized they just weren't going to work the way I wanted them to.

I have also dabbled in watercolors. I have tried liquid (they works but don't seem to age well), I done the pan sets, but my favorite is a set of tubes of watercolor I bought on amazon. You buy an empty pan set and squirt a bit from the tube into the pan and let it completely dry, essentially making your own pan set. Those have the best colors that I own and don't have bits of grit in them like some of the other purchased pan sets I've tried.

Oh and I love woodworking too! Soooo many hobbies.

 

After a nearly 30 year break, I'm starting to cross stitch again. I have a zillion counted cross stitch patterns, along with a number of unfinished projects. I stopped cross-stitching when my grandkids were born ... there just wasn't enough time or space for me to stitch or keep my projects laying out.

Youngest grandkid will be graduating high school on Wednesday and is talking about moving out to live with his older brother (10 years older). If he does, I'll get my office back.

 

Oh dont get me started..
I love Art supplies. One quick thing about watercolours, if you are going for student grade,still get the best of them. Like Cotman from Windsor and Newton,or the sminke student range,any thing else will end up frustrating you,because you have to use to much making it to wet just to get enough pigment on your brush,thereby ruining your paper.
And talking about paper,get the best you can afford... paper is everything, I learned the hard way. Having said that,it is good to have a cheaper pad (like a Faber castell ) to practice on,and experiment with colour.. and they have 2or 3different types too.
I love my watercolours,my watercolour pencils,and my pastel pencils. I have 2 sets of graphite drawing pencils with different lead sizes different brands. Both great. And charcoal of course....lol. also inktense pencils... and normal colouring pencils .
Never tried a mechanical pencil for drawing.
I love the needed eraser too.
I do have acrylics ,but they are not my favourite medium.
I do love the yummy thickness of oils, but I don't have many,would love some more.
And I don't seem to be able to pass a pad of paper without having to buy it. Alcohol pens I am learning to love....
And I am thinking hard about buying pan pastels,but so far I have been able to control my self.... so far.... lol
I will not start on my card making supplies...
Reading this through I guess I need an intervention.....
Conclusion I have way to much stuff ,despite giving lots away to charities that does craft projects with kids or the elderly.
All my quilting stuff went to one of those lately ,apart from the half finished quilt that is in my cupboard...
So I guess that at is my regret buy . Way to much materials and threads and waddling,for a hobby that after all that ,turned out to be too structured,needing to be too precise ,and the attention to seam width drove me nuts. But I still love a nice quilt.,as long as it is made by someone else.
Have fun with your watercolours,and your stamp making.....