Hand Painted Wood Ornaments

A while back I bought a box of little wood slices with the intention of painting them all with little landscapes and giving them as gifts. If I could get enough of them painted before Black Friday, I was considering selling them to hopefully make a few bucks before Christmas. It was mid November before I painted any, so yeah, I think I’ll have to buy another box and try again for next year.

Instead of stressing over getting a bunch of ornaments painted and shipped before Black Friday, I prepped all of them with Watercolor Ground and had the kids who joined us for Thanksgiving paint them. Ages ranged from 4 to 18 and they went to town making some really awesome ornaments. I brought Tombow markers, some inexpensive acrylic paint, and a set of iridescent watercolor that was on sale. I was so proud that they all had fun and spent a good amount of time painting their ornaments on Thanksgiving. It was a great activity for them to all do together that wasn’t a video game.

Watercolor Ground is a painting medium that can be painted onto porous surfaces to allow them to be painted with watercolor or gouache paint. I applied two coats to each of the wood slices and it allowed the wood to behave a little like watercolor paper. It’s not nearly as absorbant and you do get some bleeding or weirdness from the grain of the wood, but it’s overall a much easier surface to paint on than if I’d just painted on raw wood.

Of course I had to paint one wood piece to see how it would turn out and made this little painting of Half Dome from Yosemite National Park. I LOVED how it turned out. The medium doesn’t behave exactly like watercolor paper, but it’s close enough to make for some fun little paintings. On this one I used a combination of watercolor, gouache, and water-based brush pens. I made a TikTok video showing this process that you can see here.

I had so much fun with that first ornament that I had to make another one… or a couple more.

This time I tried for an epic sunset at Joshua Tree National Park. With the sunset I tried harder to get more of the look of a watercolor wash. The paint doesn’t blend quite as well as it does on paper, but I was happy with what I was able to achieve. Then I used gouache and brush pens for the trees and foreground. What a fun and unique park to explore! Here’s is the TikTok video I made of the process.

The next one I did was a Christmas gift for my son’s 2nd grade teacher. She has two parrots and my son had the genius idea to paint her beautiful birds onto one of these ornaments. He sent her an email asking which breeds they are (Blue Fronted Amazon and Solomon Island Eclectus) and she sent him a few photos. I was more than happy to paint them onto the little piece of wood and he wrote his name on the back. You can view the TikTok video here.

The next ornament I made for my sister of Babylon Arch. She and I hiked to this beautiful arch in southern Utah last year while we were both on a women’s retreat. It’s such a magical place with beautiful views of the Virgin River and gorgeous Navajo sandstone. For this ornament I used gouache for the whole thing. It’s been fun to re-remember how to use gouache, get the right consistency, and how to layer to get the affect I want. Here you can view the TikTok video.

For the last ornament I made this year, I made this scene from Coyote Gulch for my friend Michelle. She and I, along with another rad woman, backpacked to Coyote Gulch this past spring. I wrote a long blog post about it earlier this year. The third night of our trip, we camped under this alcove and it was such an epic camping spot. Here’s the TikTok showing this ornament’s progress.

Making these ornaments has been such a joy this fall that I'm planning to order more wood slices and then spend the spring and summer next year painting a stock of them that I will sell online and locally. I am hoping to get into some local arts and crafts fairs and festivals next year selling prints and stickers, so maybe I can sell some of these ornaments there too.

What are some epic locations you’d like to see painted on an ornament?

15 Stocking Stuffers for Artists

Artists are often pretty easy to shop for. It’s even easier when you know what kinds of materials and tools they already love because they will always be appreciative of you restocking their supplies. I always have some art supplies on my wishlist; whether they are items I already use and love or items I want to try out, but maybe I’m not willing to spend the money on them yet.

There are lots of affiliate links in here and some that aren’t. If an item isn’t available on Amazon, then it’s not an affiliate link. Shopping thru Amazon links earns me a few cents and is greatly appreciated. If you shop from any non-affiliate link, then you’re just supporting an awesome, small business.

Pocket Palette - The first on my list are my Pocket Palettes; hands down. They are compact, convenient, and customizable. The creators of the Pocket Palette have made three different sizes: the Original Pocket Palette, the Demi Palette is a little smaller, and the Folio Palette is the largest of all three. I have two each of the Pocket Palettes and Folio Palettes; keeping my cool colors in one and warm colors in the other. The magnetic base makes it easy to remove pans for cleaning, refilling, and reorganizing your colors. Pans are available separately too in multiple sizes. I wrote more about my love of the Pocket Palettes a while back, you can read it here.

Collapsible Cup - For watercolor or acrylic painters who love to paint en plein air, there are lots of water brushes on the market that have a little reservoir of water in the handle. Honestly, I don’t love using those brushes. I much prefer to have a cup of water to use and I was thrilled to remember there are about a million collapsible cups on the market that will work. After reading reviews and thinking about how I would use it, I settled on a cup from Sea to Summit. It’s large and wider than most others, so the risk of it tipping over is less; which is nice since it’s usually perched on a rock or tree stump. It fits perfectly in my Art Toolkit too.

Pocket Art Toolkit - I bought myself the larger of Expeditionary Art’s Art Toolkit years ago and I have loved using it when I travel, hike, or whenever I need to take a few art supplies somewhere I will be able to paint. They added a smaller, Pocket Toolkit recently and it’s so stinkin cute. It works wonderfully with the Pocket Palette, a couple of travel brushes, pens, and a 4x6 sketchbook or watercolor pad. It will be my go-to for backpacking next summer. A while back I wrote about how my Art Toolkit helped me get back into plein air painting in 2020, you can read it here.

Wireless Speaker - For an artist who loves to listen to music or an audiobook when painting, consider a portable, wireless speaker for their studio space. I have one from Jabra and it does a wonderful job and can get quite loud when I need it to.

DaVinci Cosmotop Travel Brushes - I stumbled on these brushes at random a few years ago and I bought one to give it a try. They fold down so tiny and they are fantastic. They fit beautifully in my Art Toolkit and can easily be thrown in a backpack pocket if I need them on their own. The handle comes apart in the middle and the brush fits inside the handle where it’s protected.

Fingerless Gloves - My hands often get cold in the winter when I’m painting, and it causes my joints to hurt. I started wearing fingerless gloves when painting or working at my computer and it has helped a ton with joint pain. The fingerless part still lets me have the motor control and dexterity.

Pocket Tripod - I bought this on a whim when I saw it advertised on Instagram one day. It’s a little device that’s about the size of a credit card. It folds into a tripod that can easily hold my smartphone for when I take video of me painting or even just a way to get myself into photos. I have used it quite a bit! It’s lightweight, durable and takes up hardly any space. They are adaptable to any mobile phone too!

Travel Sketchbooks - You can never go wrong with a travel sketchbook. They come in all shapes and sizes, with simple covers or something elaborate with leather. If the artist you know does mostly watercolor or gouache, then I’d look for a book of watercolor paper, or at least mixed media paper. You can level up on your gifting game and head to Etsy for a personalized sketchbook with the artist’s name or a favorite quote on it.

Brushes - For anyone who paints, doesn’t matter if they use oils, acrylics, gouache, watercolor, or any combination, they will always be appreciative receiving paint brushes. If you can find out their favorite brand, then I’d recommend getting them. Watercolor brushes especially, can be prohibitively expensive, so when I can find a brush that does an amazing job and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, I am happy to share. My current favs are Princeton Velvetouch because they’re versatile, can be used with a variety of mediums, and are quite affordable. Trekell is another brand I really love and I recently bought vegan watercolor brushes from an artist I follow, Polina Bright, and they are so dreamy to use!

Apple Pencil - For any artist with an iPad Pro or any other model that’s compatible with the Apple Pencil, consider getting one. It opens up a whole new world of digital media for your artist and it fits wonderfully in a stocking.

Palm Rejection Gloves - For the friend or family member whom you bought an Apple Pencil for, consider spending a couple more bucks for a palm rejection glove. This is simply a glove that only covers the pinky and ring fingers and makes it a lot easier to draw on an iPad and not have your palm mess with your drawing. This is especially handy with drawing apps like Procreate.

Electric Eraser - For artists who do a lot of drawing with graphite or even a painter who starts out with pencil drawings, consider getting them an electric eraser. This thing is awesome at erasing the smallest of lines and smudges and it’s wonderful at getting very precise areas. Plus, it's really fun to use!

Markers - For most artists, you can’t go wrong with some nifty new markers. Whether they’re high-end brush pens, calligraphy pens, or more, most of us are happy to have them to doodle. My favorites are from Tombow and Copic, and I love my watercolor brush pens from budget brand Arteza. I love Zebra Fude and Faber Castell for waterproof markers where I can draw first and then use watercolor on top.

Mini Canvases - Painting on an itty-bitty surface can be a really fun challenge; especially if someone is used to paining on a much larger scale. It’s amazing how small canvases come these days. I have a few that are 4x4 inches on my fridge and even some that are 2x2 inches that I’m hoping to turn into ornaments. I have even seen some that come with little easels to display the little canvases.

Stickers - Support an artist and buy stickers of their artwork. As an artist myself, I always love to buy stickers from fellow artists. Sometimes it’s the most affordable way for someone to own a piece of art. Artists I follow who sell gorgeous stickers: Drawn To High Places, Block21Prints, Claire’s Wanderings, Karen Hallion, Sophia Trinh, Lizzy Dalton and MY SITE.

I hope this list helps a little when it comes to shopping for the artists in your life. If you are shopping for a young artist then obviously all of these apply to them as well, but for even younger, check out this post: 15 Gift Ideas for Young Artists.

If you’re an artist or creative, what would you add to this list?

15 Gift Ideas for Young Artists

Do you have a child in your life who is interested in art? A kid who always wants to draw or color, the kid whose eyes light up when there’s a craft project to work on, or the kid who proudly displays their artwork on the fridge? I was totally that kid growing up and nothing made me happier around my birthday than to receive new art supplies. I’ve compiled a list of items I would have loved to receive when I was a budding young artist.

Real quick…

One thing I would AVOID is probably kind of frustrating because it’s an easy gift: those big art sets that have a little bit of everything… colored pencils, watercolor, oil pastels, acrylic or oil paints, markers, and more. They are essentially a “try everything” set for new artists. I remember receiving a these sets when I was a kid and determining that I hated oil pastels or watercolor or colored pencils. I didn’t actually hate those mediums, but the quality of them in those sets was really low. They are some of the cheapest quality materials out there and when you’re learning how a medium works, they are really frustrating to create with.

Instead, find out what medium they are playing with at the moment and buy some higher quality versions; depending on your budget of course. If you can only spend $20 or $30, get a smaller set of high quality markers like Copic or Tombow. Get some fine line pens from Zebra Fude or Faber Castell. Consider some quality watercolor pencils and a brush or a dabbler set of paints from a known and easily available brand like Grumbacher, Daniel Smith, Holbein, or Winsor & Newton. You can usually buy these at Michael’s or JoAnn or shop online at Blick Art Materials. Blick even has a couple of brick & mortar stores in the US.

Still not sure what to get? Reach out to an artist and ask. I’m always happy to make recommendations!

Lots of affiliate links in this post. If you shop from them, please accept a wholehearted thank you!

Sketchbooks - Sketchbooks come in a seemingly infinite number of sizes and styles from pocket-sized to oversized with just as many varying types of paper. If your budding artist likes to do both painting and drawing, consider a sketchbook filled with mixed media paper or watercolor paper. If they are only into drawing, charcoal, and/or markers, then a drawing pad or sketchbook would be great. I’d stay away from newsprint because the paper is very low quality; think of the quality of newspaper. You can even level up on your gifting game and head to Etsy for a personalized sketchbook with the artist’s name on it.

Drawing Set - Different from low-quality art sets! It wasn’t until I was in middle school that I learned about the different hardness and softness of pencils and what I could do with them… and why I always smeared everything I drew with a No. 2 pencil with the palm of my left hand. My son was impressed when I explained why I didn’t want to use his No. 2 pencil to sketch out a watercolor painting because it would leave me with smeared graphite that I would have to erase. A drawing set along with a year subscription to Skillshare or another online learning platform would make for a wonderful gift.

Mini Canvases - My kids and I love to paint on little canvases. We have some 4x4 inch canvases right now, but I have seen as small as 3x3. And some of these little canvas kits come with a tiny easel to display the canvas. They are seriously so cute and can make for fun, custom ornaments if you can add a string or hook to the top.

Calligraphy/Lettering Book - A lot of creative kids these days are interested in learning calligraphy and stylized lettering. How about getting them a book that is geared to learn just that? This book is designed to help teens learn how to write in cursive too, since many schools aren’t teaching it anymore.

Brush Tip Markers - If you’re gifting a book on lettering or calligraphy, how about some awesome markers to go with it? Pricing can vary from brand to brand, but the ones I’ve used and love are Tombow, Prismacolor, and Copic. I have often seen Tombow and Prismacolor markers on sale at Michael’s. For black, waterproof markers I use Zebra Fude and Faber Castell Pitt. If I’m doing an ink drawing that my son is going to paint on top of, having waterproof ink is essential.

Tie-Dye Kit - How about teaching your child how to tie dye? First off, try to avoid using pre-mixed liquid dyes from Rit. Their dyes aren’t colorfast, which means they will bleed onto everything in the wash and fade little by little with every wash. Tulip makes wonderful kits that use a powdered dye that is meant to last longer after washing and the dye won’t bleed onto other fabrics when the directions are followed. This tie dye kit from Dharma Trading Co only has three colors, but it uses super high-quality dye and includes soda ash; an ingredient that guarantees more vibrant and colorfast results. When I’m doing ice dyeing, I use Procion dyes from Dharma Trading Co.

Window Crayons or Markers - Where were these when I was a kid?! I would have been ALL over these to decorate my bedroom window for every holiday. These are supposedly very washable and super fun to use. I may be getting those markers for myself this Christmas.

Scratch Boards - My my youngest son told me I needed to add this to the list. He loves these black scratch boards to draw on. He’s done a few kits that have a drawings already on there and some where he just draws what he wants and he loves them. Best of all, these are fantastic for travel as they use minimal supplies and are relatively mess-free.

Friendship Bracelet Kit - I have so many fond memories of making friendship bracelets when I was young. Most summers I had a bracelet-in-progress in my pocket or safety-pinned to my jeans. My kids recently asked me to make them a bracelet and I was both touched and kind of shocked. You can buy embroidery floss at craft stores inexpensively and put a kit together yourself or you can spend a few bucks more for a kit that includes an instruction book. I would typically opt for the embroidery floss on its own and then head to YouTube for instructional videos. For younger kids who might need help with the fine motor skills needed for friendship bracelets, I’d look at one of the looms out there, like this one.

Paint-by-Number Kits - There are loads of different paint-by-number sets out there with difficulties ranging from preschool to holy-crap-this-is-hard-for-adults. I spent a few months on a rather advanced one that I made for my son and even with my experience with painting, it was a really fun challenge. There are so many out there to choose from, so have fun. They are great for kids who don’t think they are “artistic” or they can’t think of what to paint when given a blank canvas. And this still gets them working on fine motor skills and helps them learn about color theory and using different colors to show depth.

Spirograph - I had a Spirograph when I was a kid and I would spend hours playing with it; creating fun designs. It’s a wonderful tool that uses gears to create beautiful tessellations. There are countless ways to create artwork. I remember learning about mandalas and applying them to my Spirograph creations. Drawing with a Spirograph also helps build fine motor skills and I’m sure there’s a math lesson in there too.

Travel Watercolor Kit - Multiple brands make travel-sized kits for travel that would be perfect for kids who are getting into painting. Teaching painting en plein air is a wonderful way to instill a love for painting and travel together and can teach about composition. These kits fit wonderfully in backpacks, fanny packs, and some are even small enough to fit in your pocket.

Paint Your Own Wooden Craft - Melissa & Doug makes kits for kids where they can paint their own race car, airplane, or train and the kits come with paints and a brush. There are kits where kids can paint wooden magnets, resin trinket boxes or a resin dinosaur or unicorn bank. How about a garden stepping stone or ceramic turtle? My kids have always loved these sets, but now that they are a little too old for Melissa & Doug kits, we cruise the aisles at our craft stores where they sell wooden treasure boxes, birdhouses, signs, and more. They’ll pick out an item along with a set of inexpensive, acrylic paints and a couple of brushes to make their own painting kit. We have also made these kits to give as birthday gifts.

Watercolor Pencils - Watercolor pencils are a wonderful way to introduce a young artist to watercolor painting and color theory. They draw or color with these pencils and then go over their drawing with a wet brush to blur lines or blend colors together. These are great at teaching how different colors blend into each other without having to be aware of what paint is on their brush. My youngest had been frustrated with his lighter colors getting muddy because he would forget to wash the brush when going for a new color. Using these pencils kind of skips that step and he loves getting to see how beautiful the colors blend together. These ones from Faber-Castell have an ergonomic grip to help little hands hold the pencils easier.

Craft Kits - Every craft store like Michael’s and JoAnn’s has a variety of different craft kits designed for kids. There are kits on how to make paracord keychains or bracelets, making jewelry, kits on crocheting, quilting, or knitting. An at-home pottery wheel, a kit for modeling clay, rock painting, and window sun catchers, and I have seen kits that introduce sewing, counted cross stitch, and embroidery too.

Whether your child is in preschool, high school, or in between, receiving a gift that helps fuel a passion for creativity sticks with them for a long time.

Laura's Holiday Card - 2020

I have had the privilege of creating some of the most creative holiday cards with Laura over the years. She comes up with some of the most fun ideas. Sometimes they are simple, and she does most of the work from a photography or Photoshop standpoint and all I’m doing is adding text. Sometimes it’s more elaborate and we have fun with Photoshop together. It’s an adventure each and every time.

2020 was quite a year, and her card reflected that sentiment exactly.

Laura did most of the Photoshop on this gem with the gremlins. How about a zoomed in look at those photos!

Click here and you can see every holiday card I’ve done for Laura. It turned out awesome. Thanks, Laura!!

Valentine's Day 2021

We’re still dealing with a pandemic and I fully expected our kids’ teachers to send emails asking us not to send valentines to school next week. Our 1st grade teacher actually did, and then rescinded and laid out plans to have us send valentines to school ahead of time and kids will do lots of hand-washing before valentines are exchanged.

My 5th grader informed me that this will be his LAST year exchanging valentines at school because in 6th grade, middle schoolers don’t do valentines anymore (insert eyeroll).

Since we spent the first half of the school year attending school virtually, it became apparent how valuable dry erase makers are in our classrooms. Dry erase markers are used every day in both my kids’ classes to reduce the amount of paper used and hopefully reduce the number of high-touch spaces. Caps get lost and markers dry out, they are played with, and our teachers end up going through Expo markers like water.

We wanted to do another year of candy-free and non-edible valentines, so it was fitting for us to give Expo markers this year and we brainstormed a bunch of fun, punny sayings to put on them.

To save time, instead of drawing my kids’ faces, I created cartoons using a free Photoshop Action Set. The drawings we used on last year’s valentines are now more than two years old and my kids’ hairstyles have changed a lot, it was time for something new.

Expo markers came in packs of 18 at Sam’s Club, so I bought four packs and bagged up the extras into Ziplock bags for both teachers with their own cards.

Supplies & Cost Breakdown:

• 4 packs of 18 Expo Markers - $54.96 @ Sam’s Club. I think they were cheaper at Costco, but my local store was out.

• 1 roll double-sided tape (I considered picking up washi tape, but decided to save a few bucks)

• 15 sheets of card stock

• paper cutter

• computer and printer - I used the free Toon Artist Photoshop Action from Adobe to turn my kids into cartoons. Then I created the heart pattern, added text, and put it all together in Illustrator.

I already had all of the supplies listed except for the markers, so the cost came out to $.94 per valentine. It probably would’ve been cheaper if my Costco had these markers in stock, online lists them at 18 for $10.99. A pack of 36 markers is currently $21.27 on Amazon, or a box of 12 for $7.95, but I didn’t want to wait for shipping. I probably used a few bucks in printer ink, but I use HP’s Instant Ink program, so I have no idea how much that ended up being.

These were definitely more than I would have liked to spend on valentines, but they turned out cute and heck, next year we’ll only be making them for ONE class.

And in true reMARKably average parenting fashion, these were done a full week early because I got my weeks mixed up and thought their Valentine’s Day parties were THIS Thursday instead of next Thursday. In the end, I didn’t really need to save time and I could’ve ordered Expo markers from Amazon. I’m going to bed now.