KatBel

After years of saying, “I bet I can make that!” I am determined to make all the things so my Auntie can stop with the “yeah, when you gonna.”

[katbelcreates]

Chocolate Covered Fruits

I decided to try chocolate coating some fruit, to varying degrees of success. The strawberry roses turned out great and the banana sunflower was not completely unfortunate looking. Candy melts, however, remain my kitchen nemesis, but one of these days I will get it right. So overall, though some things came out better than others, I imagine that they will at least taste fine, therefore I will be considering this a win!

I have been working with candy melts to varying degrees of success with It's the Witching Hour Somewhere, however they remain my kitchen nemesis! These were from the My Bloody Valentine collection, which I am most proud of.

[katbelcreates]

Queen Watevra Wa'nabi Mini Piñata

My cat Autumn tried to help with this one, bless his little heart; for some reason he likes to try at eat my pencil when I draw. Anyways this project has been on the idea list since practically the first time I saw Lego Movie 2 on TV (I don't go to the movies often since they can be pricey, I need my popcorn and soda!) Since she is so tiny, being a mini piñata and all, the base color layer and the fringe was a bit of a struggle. She was worth it though! Overall, I am very happy with the results and that is the important thing.

[katbelcreates]

DIY Wood Stain - Bunny Rescue

While the basket as a whole was a mess, the bunny topper, though broken, was too precious to toss. I typically dislike covering a nice wood grain so this makeover was a great opportunity to test out a DIY wood stain recipe I saw online. I know the internet is full of lies and misinformation, but vinegar and watercolors worked pretty well for my little bunny friends, so thanks internet!

The brown and green worked especially well, though the pink for the ears was pretty good too. I tried to lighten the right side bunny, which sort of worked, but I'm not too sure it really did anything.

[katbelcreates]

Handwriting Note Editing in Photoshop

3rd year anniversary of my Aunts passing. She was my last Aunt and my favorite, no offense to her sisters, all offense to my Dad's sister!

Anyways, I took a note that she had written and used it to make a composite with a water feature photo I had taken at my local park.

[katbelcreates]

Flowerpot makeover

I gave a flower pot a bit of a glow up. It was already Green Lantern themed so I decided to roll with that. I'm pretty happy with the result though I did make a few mistakes here and there.

[katbelcreates]

It's the Witching Hour Somewhere

I have been helping my cousin planning and making meals based on horror movies so check out It's the Witching Hour Somewhere on Instagram and TikTok!!

Made these fun Lucky Charm treats for The Leprechaun, which terrified me as a child. I was channel surfing and accidently saw a bit of the first movie. I could not eat Lucky Charms for a year, nor go with my mom down the cereal aisle at the grocery store.

[katbelcreates]

Wreck this Journal

Some prompts for Valentine's Day!

This one is probably my favorite for this bunch, though I loved all the prompts for this one!

Trace your hand - Love and Peace! in homage to Vash the Stampede from Trigun

Find a way to attach these pages together - Detective Conan (Case Closed) Movie 1 - The Time bombed Skyscraper Ran and Shinichi (Rachel and Jimmy) and the Red Thread of Fate

Draw with glue - Rose stained glass from Beauty and the Beast

Prompts using only office supplies!

I enjoyed the process with this one, but I felt the art could have been better or more meaningful overall.

Make a paper chain

Cover this page using only office supplies

[katbelcreates]

Happy Friday the 13th!

I made this dessert spread with caramel popcorn, carrot cake, and cream cheese frosting in the image of Jason from the Friday the 13th franchise.

This year has so many Friday's landing on the 13th! A little off season but I made this when there was a Friday the 13th in December back in 2024 and thought I'd share.

[katbelcreates]

New Year, new problems

First of all, I am super proud of how this project for Ted Raimi turned out! We got the chance to meet him at the Days of the Dead horror convention in Vegas and show him the plushies. On the left is Joxer (big sis's plush), dressed as the Character Joxer, who is played by Ted Raimi, from Xena Warrior Princess. On the right is Maria (my plush), dressed as Gabrielle, also from Xena.

Joxer's tunic is made from a scrap of fabric from an old T-shirt and the armor is mostly paper mache. Maria's skirt is scraps from the same T-shirt and two different colored felts stitched togeher.

It also occurred to me, after we got to Vegas, that the Aunt that gave us the plushies might have gotten them in Vegas. She used to go every year and would bring back keychains, magnets, a slot machine bank once, you know the usual tourist stuff. Anyways, I'm pretty sure they came from Sin City, so a nice chance for them to visit home.

I had saved up last year to get myself an iPad for Christmas so I could switch to Procreate, since the free software is still giving me the business, and it is so much fun to play with! I had heard that working on your craft can draw customers to vendors at conventions or markets, and decided to give it a go. We didn't even cover the table cost, let alone travel and accommodations so that was a bust. This is the artwork I was working on! Though it originally said "All by Myself" since even though my sister and cousin were at this event with me I was the one manning the table mostly. This is basically my catsona, with the brown hair and eyes.

If the trip wasn't depressing enough when we got home, the cat ended up having issues which led to multiple vet visits and roughly $2,000 worth of testing and treatments. His kidney's are in a downward spiral and his vet says to prepare for the worst. According to her when he stops doing three out of five things he loves to do we may have to consider letting him go. I know he's not a baby anymore, but he's still my baby and the diagnosis is upsetting.

We were planning on doing more events this year since we have new products and were only short $30 in revenue overall last year, but with this disastrous first event and Autumn's declining health we decided to cut our losses early for the year. Hopefully the Red Bubble takes off, but until then I'm cutting back on my small business and seeking remote employment to cover vet bills.

KatBelCreates Shop | Redbubble

KatBelCreates is an independent artist creating amazing designs for great products such as t-shirts, stickers, posters, and phone cases.

[katbelcreates]

I'm back!

Seems fitting that the last post I made was about not having enough mental spoons. I don't even know how long ago that was, but I am trying to get better at updating. New Year, new me, and all that! So I have the last few year reviews (in reverse order so newest on top) linked below to get everyone up to speed:

[katbelcreates]

Story Time:

I have a bunch of chores I've been putting off, but I just don't have the spoons to deal with them right now. Whilst avoiding the inevitable doing of things, I think to myself, "self! Some coffee will surely get me out of this funk." So I pop a cup into the Keurig and add my creamer and go to my utensil drawer for a spoon only to find I am out of literal as well as figurative spoons. I stir my coffee with a fork, looking at the dishes and praying to the mental health utensil god to send help with my soon to be had caffeine.

[katbelcreates]

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

It is national talk like a pirate day so to get into the spirit, I did a few Wreck This Journal prompts.

Trace your toes - grass theme (not really pirate-y, but I wanted to get the other foot related prompt out the way)

Float this page - IT themed (S.S. Georgie) I had a little help from my sister as I tend to get easily frustrated by the ancient art of origami and am liable to rip the paper. For this prompt I also borrowed my mom's pool, in which I had learned to swim as a child, to determine the sea worthiness of my sisters origami. For picture instructions for the boat we followed: stem little explorers how-to-make-an-origami-boat

Stand here - beach theme I just painted the bottom of my feet with sand colored paint (brown lightened with yellow and pink) with a splash of blue for water and white for the foam.

I also included tips on dressing pirate-y with just what you got at home. As a hoarder I obviously have more than most to work with, a prime example being the eye patch, which I have had since I was little, but I digress. 1) Flowy shirt (think poet) 2) Dark pants or shorts, brown or black are best 3) Scarf as a belt 4) Boots, ones with buckles are best 5) Accessories: Eye patch, cloth cover for head, jewelry, whatever you have that is pirate-y.

[katbelcreates]

Dracula Daily - Foul Bauble

Today on Dracula Daily: Rest in Pieces poor Jonathan’s shaving mirror, yeeted before it’s time!

I had a lot of fun with this upcycle project. I especially enjoyed the handle, which I dry brushed to get a more convincing wood look. The mirror paint was a little finicky, but the end effect was not bad. Looking back now I wish I went for a more gothic lettering for the back though. Overall it was a fun, yet time consuming project.

[katbelcreates]

Dracula Daily - Recipe

I made this awhile back, however, it is relevant again since Dracula Daily is back and Jonathan is once again on his way to Castle Dracula.

"We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. (Mem. get recipe for Mina.) I asked the waiter, and he said it was called “paprika hendl,” and that, as it was a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians."

— Dracula, Bram Stoker

For the recipe follow this link: https://www.flapperpress.com/post/dracula-s-paprika-chicken

And to see me try it out watch the video below:

[katbelcreates]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Hope no one got pinched today!

I had a lot of fun with rainbows while looking for a pot of gold this March.

I had this boring wood frame for the longest time! It is one of those craft items that are just add “whatever art medium you like” and viola. The rainbow only had space for three colors initially, but through the power of color theory and blending I managed to squeeze in six colors! My favorite color was sadly left out, but it does make a comeback in the bottom part of my sky gradient, so at least I have some purple. Also I could not get my oh so shiny foil to stick to the frame. I wanted the horse and stars to be extra, but they plain for now. I did review my video, where the foil does work, so I am hoping Mod Podge will come in clutch and save the day . . . eventually.

I also made a special St. Patty’s Day meal. I made a chicken, “rainbow” rotini (really only tricolor, why are all my rainbow only three colors lately), pesto dish. I was feeling festive so I also mixed a drink with a clover stir stick (recent find from the hoard)! The drink is a non-alcoholic margarita mix with a green sugar rim, and I did not have lemons or limes so I improvised and added a bit of honey to the rim. Honey worked even better than lemon juice, it is the perfect stickiness and holds the sugar in place nicely.

[katbelcreates]

Valentine’s Day!

I did a couple art pieces for Valentine’s this year and I am pretty pleased with how they turned out.

First I did a couple painting for my sister and I. We grew up watching Pokemon and enjoyed the theatrical antics of Team Rocket. I went for a silhouette look and I absolutely love the finished pieces! I have used this technique before with Sailor Venus, though I did need to do some touch ups for these, overall it worked out fine. I may use card stock next time or go a little lighter on the background color in order to keep the paper from getting wet and sticking to the previous layers.

I am also determined to finish my Wreck This Journal by years end and decided to do some prompts that I had ideas for that were love themed. I was gifted the journal by my aunt for my birthday back in 2018 and honestly most of the finished pages were done around that time. I think the reason I had so much trouble with it is that I had too many ideas for the prompts and so many people had such cool journals that I wanted mine to look good too. I have come to terms with the fact that I am just a hobbyist and my art may not be perfect, but better it exist at all than simply be a perfect idea in my head. The idea is the WRECK the journal anyways, so the art will come out how it comes out and I have accepted that truth.

I started with the Trace your hand prompt with Love & Peace in homage to Vash the Stampede from Trigun. My trusty old Crayola marker betrayed me a bit, but I still overall like the piece 

For the prompt Find a way to attach these pages  I relied on the red string of fate tying my OTP Ran (Rachel) and Shinichi (Jimmy) from Detective Conan (Case Closed) together. I used references from the first movie The Time Bombed Skyscraper including the red and blue wires from the final bomb.

And finally for the Draw with glue prompt I did a faux stained glass rose referencing Beauty and the Beast. It came out a little messy but after it dried I really liked the feeling of the page!

[katbelcreates]

New Year, New Me?

I started vlogging/blogging my creative journey in July of 2021. For many years my aunt had complained about me going “Oh, I bet I can make that!” and then ... just ... well not following through. It got to the point where I was fed up with myself as well, and so I decided to make my creations public as a way to motivate myself to do and make more. Shout out to my just over a dozen followers on YouTube!

I still have a lot of projects I would like to attempt and I have a backlog of items that, in my opinion, need makeovers. This year I would like to focus on the projects that are taking up storage or have been on the idea backburner for forever, like my unicorn wreath I finally finished. I have had this wreath form and idea for several years at this point and it is a load off my mind to finally have a hangable wreath instead of a bag of parts.

And though I may be off to a bad start this year I would also like to blog more this year as well as keep more up to date on sharing my vlog.