The Crafty Chica

DIY The Little Mermaid Mickey Ears + Movie Giveaway

Disney’s The Little Mermaid debuted this month as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection. As of today, it is on digital, 4K Ultra HD, Movies Anywhere, and on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray™ – I think that’s a great reason to make a set of Mickey ears! I’m also giving away two digital copies of the film, complete with extra featurettes, scroll to the bottom to see how to enter!

The classic…

7 Ways to find your signature style as a working creative

You have a creative spirit and a head for business. You want to jump to a higher level, get noticed and stand out. But how? But what can you do to draw attention that will catapult you to superstar status?

Sharpening your signature style is a good way to begin.

Find your secret ingredient. Some kind of formula that is all YOU and can’t be copied by anyone, not even a sci-fi clone. Whatever it is…

Here are some free Valentine printables! You can use them as coloring pages or templates for embroidery, whatever you’d like! If you decide to use them, make sure to post your work on social media and tag me!

Right click to save to your desktop!

If you are in the mood for even more Valentine’s printables, check out my friend Crystal Domi! Click here and then sign up for her VIP Chica Club

Easy Ways to Teach Your Kids Money Tips!

  As adults, finances are always at the top of our to-do list. But how much do we invest in offering our kids good money tips? My parents were very hard workers, they always provided what was needed and more, yet us kids had no idea how. It’s almost as if it were taboo to even ask. The last thing we wanted was to offend them!

As a mom, I approached the topic a bit differently. I often…

Stamped & Handbuilt Clay Mugs

It was only a matter of time before I cross-pollinated my favorite crafty habits. These stamped and hand built clay mugs are proof! I’ve been working with clay for years. I’ve made bowls, hearts, shrines, plaques – but never made mugs because I thought I needed a wheel. I learned building mugs from slab clay isn’t only easy, it’s super fun too.

Disclosure…this was my FIRST attempt, so let’s go…

Testing out craft kits + giveaway

Faber-Castell was kind enough to send me an array of craft kits to review recently, and last night I spent HOURS going through all of them! And I’ll give one away to one of you. Just leave a comment at the end of this post sharing your favorite and i’ll choose one name next week to receive a kit!

Craft kits from Faber-Castell! Rock painting

I didn’t even know where to start with these…

6 Life Changes to Help You Grow

  The new year is always about “resolutions” – but I look at it differently. Technically, every day is the start of a new year, a chance to start over and make life changes. But there is something about ringing in a new year that pushes us to reevaluate everything!

I’m totally game for that. But the thing is, many of us will fall back into our old ways and then it will be this time next year…

My new book + a weekend trip to Mexico City!

I’ll get to my trip to Mexico City in a sec, but first…I’ve only had a handful of blog posts this month, but for good reason! I’m authoring my tenth book! I spent much of the summer working on the writing samples for the publisher, and just as I let it go to the universe for “whatever is meant to be” – I received that golden email of approval! It’s by Adams Media (Simon and Schuster) and it…

Crafty Chica Affirmation Candles

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These Crafty Chica Affirmation Candles have been months in the making! I’ve ALWAYS wanted to have my very own candle line.

I knew exactly what it would consist of – affirmations!

This is how it all came together – our Phoenix shop, Mucho Mas Art Studio shares a building space with another small business called Galeana 39. Curtis…

Podcast #19: How to make a media kit

I have a new podcast episode: How to make a media kit that rocks! My friend and marketing expert, Rosa Pruneda, visited Phoenix recently and sat down with me to spill all the goods on this topic!

Here is a link to the podcast if you can’t see it below!

Rosa knows this topic very well because she worked with influencers at a national publicity and marketing firm. Her job was to match up the…

Stamped clay bowls are my recent obsession. I’ve “burned” through 50 pounds of white clay making dozens and dozens of these little colorful trinket holders. It’s kind of a long process, but worth it for the big reveal. I use low fire white clay to start and it takes two fires in my kiln to get this result.

I form each one by hand, I even have a makeshift slab roller – I line up two yardsticks…

Podcast Ep 18: 3 Etsy store tips by Christina Martinez of VeryThat

Are you in need of Etsy store tips? This is the podcast episode for you! My guest is celebrated Etsy seller, Christina Martinez of VeryThat.com. A San Antonio resident, she launched her online shop two years ago and has become the ultimate “one-stop Chicana shop.”

From paper goods to coasters, jewelry y mas, she is always creating new products, and she now employs a string of staffers to help…

Random artful thoughts from a Saturday night

Patrick is performing out of town tonight and at first, I had an entire to-do list planned for the night. But then…I just didn’t feel like doing anything. Seriously, who tends to a to-do list on a weekend evening?

So here are some random artful thoughts.

This summer has been nuts with events – cool events, nothing at all to complain about! In addition to running Mucho Mas Art Space, I’ve been…

Here’s an easy way to print your art on a canvas

As artists, we’re always looking for easy ways to monetize our work. I’ve been looking for an easy DIY canvas method and it was right under my nose – Canvas on the Cheap!

Last month a representative reached out to me to give their service a try. I started with seven prints of one of my paintings and they just arrived yesterday! OMG! Game changer!

Here’s a discount code so you can try it too!

It…

REVIEW: ColoriQue on Metal

One thing I love about attending the annual craft convention is checking out all the new products! That’s how I found out about ColoriQue. It’s a new paint developed by artist Lisa Marie Jimenez and manufactured by ClearSnap.

I watched Lisa demo it at the show (Creativation) and after seeing me ooh and ahhh, she offered to have ClearSnap send me samples. I decided to give them a try on some large…

Spicy & Glittered Paletas #PaletaWeek2018

Lola’s Cocina has started a new annual tradition – Paleta Week! And I’m so honored to be a part of it with my Spicy Glittered Paletas! There is a score of talented bloggers who have contributed very impressive recipes to Lola’s series. I love them so much, I even created a round up of 25 paleta ideas!

But for now, let me share my spicy, glittered paletas!

Here’s the deal. If you are in a hurry,…

Sewing for stress relief

These past few weeks have been such an emotional ride for everyone, everywhere. Not only the news headlines, but it’s this time of the season that my dad’s health began to decline nine years ago. I can’t stop thinking about that time period. The only way I can process it all… is to power down, lock myself in the studio and make stuff.

This time around, I cranked up my sewing production.

Here’s…