Crochet can seem intimidating at first with all of the different types of yarn, hooks, patterns, and stitches. Today I will walk you through the basics of crocheting to learn how to make the single crochet stitch. I will show you what you need to get started with picking out the right hook and yarn. After you know these basics, you can make endless things with crochet.

 

THE SUPPLIES

Yarn:

When starting a new project I always get my inspiration from the yarn, so that is where I like to start. Pick out a yarn that you love! Pick out something in a nice color, something soft, or something that you can see yourself wearing! When you are first learning crochet you want to start out with a more basic yarn. I recommend The Hook Nook Main Squeeze yarn. This is a great yarn to begin because it isn’t too big or small and shouldn’t get tangled easily. 

Hook:

Picking the right hook size is the next step. Usually on the yarn packaging there will be recommendations for what size hook you should use. If it is not on the yarn it should be in its online description. The recommended hook size will make for a fairly tight stitch. If you want a looser stitch, pick a larger hook to work with. Usually for beginners I recommend using a hook 1 size bigger than recommended because when first learning people tend to crochet very tight, and this leaves a little more wiggle room. If you are using the Main Squeeze yarn that would be a size J hook.

 

This is a chart to reference if you don't know what size hook you should use with your yarn.

LET'S GET STARTED!

 

I also recommend having The Hook Nook How to Crochet Booklet to reference as you are learning. In the booklet you will also find other beginner stitches to try out.

Good luck, Cherries!

-Jessica

 

 

Posted by Jessica.

 

If you have done paint pour, you know that a lot of paint drips off of your canvas and ends up getting thrown away. But using this technique you can save it to make a "skin" which can then be glued onto almost anything! In this tutorial I will be putting the skin onto a Dylusions Kraft journal.

 

Here are the supplies you need:

 

    Paint Pouring Acryic Paint, Strong Crafting Glue, Cutting Mat, Craft Knife, and Wax Paper.

 

 

 

Step One: Do what you normally would when making a paint pour painting, only difference is have a piece of wax paper underneath your painting to catch the drips. For my skin I collected the drips from three different paintings. Let them build up a little bit and be able to cover a large enough area for what you want to wrap with your skin. You don't want your skin to be too thin because that makes it rip easily when taking it off of the wax paper; mine is about 1/16 inch thick. Let it dry on the wax paper until it is completely dry. (You can also make a paint pour directly onto the wax paper).

 

 

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Step Two: After completely dry, carefully peel the paint off of the wax paper.

 

      

 

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Step Three: Plan where you want your skin to wrap around the journal.

      

 

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Step Four: Glue the skin on starting at the spine and working out.

     

 

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Step Five: After glue has completely dried use a sharp knife to cut off the extra skin around the journal.

 

        

 

Step Six: Enjoy your new journal! The skin is flexible and bends around the spine of the book nicely. I am so happy with the result and I am going to save all of my paint pour drips from now on!

 

        

 

I would love to see what you create using this technique! Post your project in our Project Gallery or tag us on social media!

 

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Posted by Jessica.

Paint Like Pablo Painting Kit

This painting comes as a kit where you can make it your own with the brushstrokes and colors you chose. The paint is very vibrant and flowed nicely onto the canvas while painting. This painting took about 25 minutes.

Supplies you need:

This kit contains everything you'll need to paint like a pro! You get a 12x18 canvas that has a pre-printed image of the painting featuring fruit and a vessel, a set of 12 acrylic paints, and a paintbrush, and a step by step page explaining how to make the masterpiece come to life! There is also a small painted version of the painting so you can see the colors that are recomended. On my painting I chose to follow the colors for the fruit but have a more colorful and vibrant background.

Additional Supplies you may want:

 

 

 

 

Once your masterpiece is finished you can mount it on a board, put it in a frame, or crop and pin it to the wall. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and are inspired to paint!

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Posted by Jessica.

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