Ivy Lily Creative

Last month I wrote a blog post about how I make my Youtube art and craft videos . The basics from the filming equipment to camera set-up and editing. I mentioned I'm struggling to film straight down and usually film from the side. I have a cheap tripod, but I can't use it to film straight down, because it will just film its own legs. Desktop monopods allow you to film straight down, but they're pretty expensive so I can't buy one at the moment. However, I decided to try and make my own DIY "monopod". I used this to film most of my Tribal and Gradient Flower Pots video.

If you feel like you never have enough pots for flowers or houseplants, this is a cheap way to make some cute ones yourself. You can turn old yogurt buckets into flower pots by covering up the original text and pictures with acrylic paint and removing the handle.  If you eat yogurt a lot (I do, with berries) and have a lot of these 1 liter yogurt buckets, you could make themed flower pots for different seasons (like red, green and gold for Christmas and pastel colors for spring). You can also use these pots as pencil holders etc. for desk organization. Watch the video tutorial or read on for tips and ideas on decorating old yogurt containers.

My newest painting was inspired by photography of Indian children in traditional costumes and this Indian girl drawing by Janina Brandão . I took the reference photo of my niece, who is not Indian, and gave the painting an Indian feel by adding jewelry, make-up, bright colors and gold details (all that also aged her quite a bit, she was actually 4 years old in the reference photo). I'd love to paint someone of Indian origin someday, too (free reference photos are welcome). Watch the video to see a sped up version of the painting process in under 4 minutes (the painting part is actually less than 3 minutes, I sped this one up more than my previous videos). 

I have a box full of handmade envelopes I've made of old magazine pages, but I thought it would be fun to actually draw an envelope design. And since it's a black and white line art of tribal patterns, it doubles as a coloring page for kids and grown-ups. Both freebies are available for download and print here . Just cut, fold and glue together the envelope and it's ready to use for sending snail mail. Or you can color it in first just like the coloring page.