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From Confused to Confident: My Journey Learning to Crochet With Granny Square Academy

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This post contains affiliate links.

I’ve always been drawn to the gorgeous granny squares I’ve scrolled through on Pinterest. The colors, the texture, the endless variations … they just vibe with my boho spirit.  I’d daydream about all the things I’d make… but every time I actually tried to learn, I got overwhelmed.

Crochet felt like a secret language I couldn’t crack. Between having ADHD and having kids with ADHD who wanted to learn alongside me? Forget it.

Then I found Granny Square Academy by Shelley Husband.

This book completely changed the game for me (along with the small tweak of banning anyone from being around me while I learned the basics). Instead of just showing you how to make one or two granny squares and calling it a day, it teaches you how to understand what you’re doing. Shelley walks you through each stitch, each concept, and each square in a way that actually makes sense — even if you’ve tried and failed before (🙋‍♀️).

The best part? It builds your skills as you go. Every square introduces something new, but never in a way that feels intimidating. Shelley’s don’t-worry-about-it guidance at the beginning the hand I needed to hold until I gained confidence. Now I understand how to recognize and count stitches, how to read those cryptic patterns, and I’ve been making actual squares that I’m proud of.

If you’ve ever felt like crochet just isn’t clicking for you, especially when it comes to granny squares, I can’t recommend this book enough.
(affiliate link here too — maybe a button that says “Check it out on Amazon”)

Below are more of the squares I made while working through the book and it’s companion ebook for beginners. I’m still learning, but I finally feel like I get it, and that’s an amazing feeling.

Note for Beginner-Beginners: If you need the very basics, like I did, Shelley has an ebook that quickly gets you up to speed with Granny Square Academy!

Granny Squares I've Crocheted

Chibi or Not to Be? My First Attempt at Drawing Chibis

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In my ongoing quest to expand my artistic tool box, I’ve started exploring the world of chibi characters. Chibi is a Japanese word meaning “small” or “short”. For context, think Hello Kitty.

Chibi and kawaii (Japanese: endearing/cute) styles dominate the adult coloring industry right now, and I want to try to put my own spin on that. 

There are a few different proportions chibi characters can have. I used this delightful video to get the basics.

https://youtu.be/ygWBopE8Z-U?si=UjMeW5icsQNxKMkc

I chose the Two-Head-Height proportions, and got to work. 

I use Procreate for all my digital art. First, I stacked two circles as a guide. After this, all my layers use the symmetry guide. 

And, naturally, I started creating a mini-me. This is technically my second chibi attempt, so I had a better idea of how I wanted the body shape.

Since I live (LIVE) in my strawberry blanket hoodie, she was the obvious choice of attire. 

After I got the form more or less the way I wanted, I added another layer and traced in a contrasting color. This allowed me to firm up my lines while making a guide for my finished drawing. 

On this layer, I switched from the 6B sketch brush to the monoline calligraphy brush. 

Then I popped in some color. When I drop color onto my images, I like to duplicate the drawing layer and then put the color on the bottom of the two. I like to have to confidence that I’m not going to screw up my image and it has the added benefit of keeping my outlines crisp on the final image.

After checking a photo of me in my Strawberry Hoodie Era, i decided to update the neckline, and it looks much better/less weird. If I were to add anything to this character, it would be trying some shading techniques, but I’m very pleased with this early version. I will probably use her to learn the basics of poses and facial expressions. 

Proof. Also, I know dinosaurs.

If you’re dying to shop this look, and of course you are, I don’t have the link to the actual one I got a few years back, but the image below leads to some adorable variations.


Shop My Self-Published Books and Tools I Use With Them

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Over the last year and a half, I’ve been putting my creative focus into digital art. Soon I hope to relaunch this blog to better align with my current vision. For now, here are some things I’ve been working on! I’ve added my Amazon Affiliate links to any featured products.

First up is Flowers Vol. 1: A reverse coloring book by Rebekah Robson. This book provides images for you to doodle on. I get asked all the time about what pens are best for this book. I’ve used Micron Pens and white Gelly Roll gel pens for accents on brighter pages. Another cool tool is a Pentel Fude Brush Pen. It has a refillable ink well, and it’s so fun and satisfying to use.

Birds Vol. 1: A coloring book by Rebekah Robson
I’ve tried out a few different types of coloring tools for my coloring books. My favorites so far are Prismacolor Pencils and Ohuhu Alcohol Markers. Alcohol markers bleed like crazy, so a protector behind your page is a MUST, but the vibrancy of the colors makes it so worth it to me. Of course, you can always use the classic Crayola Crayon for that nostalgic coloring-on-your-belly-as-a-kid vibe!

Cat Magic: A coloring book by Rebekah Robson
I haven’t gotten to color in this book yet, but I am dying to use Crayola Glitter and Pearl Crayons when I do! That will look seriously magical!

Doodle Bugs: A coloring book by Rebekah Robson

I don’t currently have physical copies of them, but I’ve been trying my hand at making activity books, starting with word search puzzle books.

Love Story & Fairytale Themed Word Search

Cat Compendium: A word search by Rebekah Robson

Delightfully Random Word Search (Published under RR Puzzles, which I intend to continue for future puzzle books)

I would be remiss to not mention this diva! My brother-in-law gave me this vintage inspired book clip for Christmas, and I absolutely adore her! If you follow me on Instagram, you already know she is the real star of the show.

Next post I will highlight some of my favorite print on demand products in my Redbubble shop!

1985: Bruce’s Origin Story (Sort of)

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1985. Acrylic. 8×10. Artist: Rebekah Robson. 2016.

Bruce Charles Wilson was born June 28, 1985.  I don’t remember much about him at that time, but his birth brought me the greatest gift of all: a plastic charm bracelet (you 80’s girls know what I’m talking about).

I painted this entire piece upside down to try to focus on shapes and colors vs face/hand/eye etc.

I must have felt an intense responsibility for Bruce, though. The first dream I can remember occurred during that time. I’m carrying him and I discover he has a fatal shrinking disease. Soon, he can fit in palm of my hand and I have to keep him in a plastic bag to protect him. I still feel a little scared and frantic when I think about that nightmare.

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This is my favorite part of the whole painting. I could look at this for days.

Deborah, my younger sister, also wanted to protect our new baby. She turned his bassinet over once while trying to comfort his cries.

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Deborah’s face was the most difficult part for me. I’m not even sure why. But I loved the end result so much.

One day, Bruce would grow into a little boy with crazy-curly hair and permanent coating of dirt, but those stories are for another time.

Visit my website to view and purchase prints of my work. Sign up for my newsletter for more awesome content and to be alerted when new prints and originals are available.

To learn more about Bruce, the full-grown chef, visit his food truck page on Facebook.

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This is my first attempt at a gif. It doesn’t appear to be playing. Please enjoy this still frame of the original sketch while I sort out my technical difficulties.

Learning For Life

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I was commenting on another blog post, and I realized I’d typed something that I’ve wanted to say for a while. So I pasted it here as a jumping off point:

I’ve just accepted that I’m always going to be in the learning phase, and that it’s ok. It’s helped me a lot to hear pros say they toss about half of everything they create. I used to treat everything like it was going to be THE masterpiece (and still struggle with that) so I’m not willing to take risks, and it makes me wait until I am super inspired. I’m working really hard now to reframe all my work ask practice, at least for now.

I’ve been more or less hiding the painting above for a week or so. I put a lot of time into it, but it wasn’t working. I finally decided to go out on a limb and try some dramatic coloring. I definitely learned some beneficial things, but this wasn’t the fix I was looking for. I was disappointed. So I hid it.

But that’s me slinking back to my old ways of only showing my work when I feel like it’s good enough, trying to pretend like I don’t create bad work.

So I’m a learner. So I mess up. A lot. It’s going to be ok… it’s going to be ok.

Inspiring Artists: Lachri Fine Art

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I came across Lisa Clough-Lachri of Lachri Fine Art when I was searching for YouTube videos about motivation to paint and becoming better at the business side of art. I connected immediately with her videos. It was like she was answering every question I’d ever asked.

This was one of the first videos I watched and it was enormously helpful to me. She recommends putting thought into your sensory experience while painting, which was really intriguing to me. Sounds, smells, having tea while you paint (if you feel safe drinking in your studio!)… just setting up this routine that engages your senses and lets your brain know what mode to be in.

A few others I heart:

7 Tips to Improve Your Art

5 Think You Should Do to Improve Your Art (This is more about setting goals than about specifically improving your artwork)

5 Ways to Get More Followers For Your Art on Social Media

How to Cure Artist Block

Ok, I could keep linking these for a very long time, but I’ll stop there. Check her out, she’s great!

Shnoof Learns To Draw

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Shnoof Learns to Draw. Acrylic, Crayon, and Collage on Canvas. 16×20. April 4, 2016.

I finished my newest piece, Shnoof Learns to Draw, last night and wanted to share my process.

I don’t have an exciting story for how this painting popped into my head. I’d already completed the background and was sort of staring at it to decide what I wanted to do and then the idea just sort of unfolded. I based the mouse on a face my niece does along with some features from my 18 month old.

First of all, I am TERRIBLE at translating images from my head to paper. I have to just sort of feel my way through it. For a long time I’ve been embarrassed by that, but it is what it is and I’m making efforts to improve. Don’t let fear and self-consciousness prevent you from creating! All artists struggle with something. 

I currently enjoy sketching my figures into a sketchbook, cutting out the image, and then adhering it to my canvas with matte medium. This time I actually made a photocopy for my work so I could keep the original.

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I didn’t photograph the process of creating my background. This particular piece was made by covering a canvas with an old sketch of mine, painting the image, then ripping off strips of the paper. I then laid down several washes to create the look I wanted for the floor and wall.

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I had my baby help me with the crayon scribbles because I wanted it to look authentic. I held his hand and helped him make the recognizable shapes. He loved this part and was really upset when he had to stop. (I’d like to add a note here for artists who are moms, or even artists who have day jobs and are crazy busy and never have time to paint: I did this painting largely in 15-20 minute bursts. I often fail to create because I think I don’t have time, but by carving out tiny chunks here and there, I was able to put my vision on canvas and still have time for my other roles. When my baby got tired of playing alone and couldn’t take it anymore, I just stopped. When my older son wanted me to play Minecraft with him, I’d tell him I was going to set a 20 minute timer and then spend time with him. I hope this is an encouragement for those of you who are struggling to fit it in as well!)

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I started layering paint when I had time. I tried out a new wet into wet technique using a mop brush (which is made out of goat hair and definitely smells like it). You can find the tutorial I used here. I don’t have an airbrush so I had to stop when my paint started drying. But just the small bit I did made a huge difference in my color blending!
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In the name of transparency, I will show you a failed attempt at fur. I used my palette knife to hold my paint and a tiny brush to try to add fur on the stomach and muzzle. No no no no. I had to cover all that up. It did not go well.

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To finalize the piece, I went over the scribbles that I wanted to stand out. Once I finished filling in my image, I went around the entire thing with a brown black outline.

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Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear if you try any of these techniques in your own work and tips for how you fit creativity into your days!

 

Lemonwood Clock on Facebook

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This is a short and sweet post to announce the launch of the Lemonwood Clock Facebook page. I took a creative break due to random life events, like growing a baby (that’s still creative!) and badly breaking my toe (I found a creative way to do it too!! I can’t stop!).

I’m really excited to share quick progress updates and amazing tips I’ve been learning and to share other artists that have been inspiring me. I also want to create a space where other artists can feel encouraged and have conversations about their experiences as well.

Hope to see you there!

(Pssst, also look for lemonwoodclock on instagram!)

Sup

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Soooooo… I've been MIA for a really long time. I have great excuses, including having a new baby (yay) and just getting burned out on the crafting/blogging/wash/rinse/repeat system (boo).

I've been feeling the blogging itch again, but I'm just going to sort of do it on my own terms (wasn't I already?) and just post whatever I want, when I want.

Unfortunately, having been away a while means that everything looks different, so I feel a little lost. Expect my first couple of posts to look weird

Now that I've done my 'splaining, here's what I'm up to these days:

1. Not much. New babby is keeping me busy. He is cuuuuuuuute, and he is totally a mama's boy. So a lot of my time is spent in snuggle mode.

2. I'm reading some, that's cool. You don't care, really. That's cool too.

3. I'm really into building, nay, *currating* a capsule wardrobe, so expect that to be featured soon. Or don't. If you've been around a while, you know not to expect me to follow through on blogging promises (Hi, Mimi!!). I actually started working on my capsule wardrobe over a year ago, and I totally planned to blog about it, and then I got pregnant and stopped doing everything. Now it seems like EEEEEVERY blogger is talking about their capsule wardrobe. And hopefully I will be, too.

So there you have it. My fairly dull, information-free foray back back into the blogging world. You're welcome.

*Full disclosure: I wanted to move my meme to the end of my post, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. So now it feels even more appropriate. Do me a favor, pretend you didn't see it already and that it neatly follows my last line of text and that I look cool for having such and awesome meme-ending to my post. And pretend I'm better at not creating (currating?) run-on sentences.

 

Fox Applique Tutorial and Pattern

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This post is waaaaaay overdue, and I’ve been trying to work on it for months. I think I made my fox tee back in April. I don’t have any absolutely amazing photos of it, as creative documentation and I are sort of at odds with one another these days. I’m just excited to finally be sharing!

I’m gonna give a special shout out to my husband, who saved me from the pit of PDF-sharing ignorance and despair. And I’m dedicating this post to Mimi, who never gave up. 

Now that the credits are out of the way…

I give you the fox applique tutorial and pattern. You may remember this design from my *ahem* award-winning version of the Archie Doll.

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1. Print and cut.

If you’re making your own tee, the pattern I used is Dana’s Basic Tee. You can find my fox pattern here. 

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I did not include a pattern for eyes and a nose, but you guys should be able to figure that out. They’re just circles and a rounded triangle. 

Oh, and I should say that I did this applique with knit, so, when sewn, the edges will be left raw. And I sewed my applique onto my tee front *before* I assembled it, so that my t-shirt and sewing machine wouldn’t get into a fight. And use a ball-point needle!

2. Determine your placement and start sewing.

I don’t have pictures that get really specific about this, but pin on your first layer (the orange fox face), and sew the edges first. Then layer the whiskers and do the same thing. Now, I placed my whiskers a little high for my tastes, I meant to place them flush with the bottom of the fox face. So that’s the one change I’d make if I were doing this again. 

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3. Sew on the eyes and nose.

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4. Sew on the white ear pieces. And throw on some eyebrows for good measure.

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Then, if you’re making your own tee, assemble it. Boom, you’re done! 

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My shirt looks a little weird because I scaled up the pattern to a 5T, but I forgot to make the arms bigger. It doesn’t look as weird when Dex is wearing it. But if you resize a pattern, just remember to resize all the pieces!! 

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Dexter has worn this shirt like crazy for the past few months, mostly because I put it on him every single time it’s clean. 

I’d love to see if anyone recreates this! And, as usual, I’m cool with this being used for personal use, but not for monetary gain.