Diamond Painting Giveaway!

As promised, in celebration of reaching 1,000 pageviews, I am holding a drawing to give away a free diamond painting kit to one lucky reader! The winner will have their choice of one of three diamond paintings, all purchased from Huacan on AliExpress:

1. This majestic ship, 70x50 cm, full square drill:

2. This lovely winter scene, 50x40 cm, full square drill:

3. This exotic elephant, 40x30 cm, partial special-shape drill:

Each person has the chance to earn up to 10 entries in the drawing! Here's how:

• 1 Entry: Comment on this blog post with how you heard about this blog and your favorite diamond painting tip.
• 1 Entry: Follow @dpdigestblog on Twitter.
• 1 Entry: Tweet about this giveaway.
• 1 Entry: Visit the blog's Facebook page.
• 1 Entry: Answer a question. I've had one reader request that I make the font size larger. Here's what that would look like. I'd like to find out if other readers feel the same way, so please answer Yes or No.
• 4 Entries(!): Email diamondpaintingdigest@gmail.com with any photos, ideas or other content that could be used in a future blog post. For instance, have you completed one of the paintings I'm hoping to do a Size Wise post about? Have you come up with a creative way to frame or display your finished paintings? What about a cool way to use your leftover diamonds? See this post for more examples of what I'm looking for.
• 1 Entry: Just tell me which of the three kits above you would want if you win!

You can do just one of these things, or you can do all of them, or anything in between. To claim your entries, please fill in the Rafflecopter form below. Please note, as outlined in the Terms of Conditions on this form, any contact information collected through the form will be used ONLY to identify, verify, and notify the winner. It will not be misused in any way or even stored once the giveaway has ended.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You have until midnight PST on September 29th to enter. Thank you again for supporting this blog, and good luck to all!


Note: This post contains "Earn by Sharing" links to AliExpress. Any purchases made through these links will not cost you anything extra, but the author will earn a small commission, which helps to support this blog.

1,000 Pageviews & Other Blog News

Last week this blog hit a milestone: 1,000 total pageviews. Woohoo! To celebrate, I will be giving away a diamond painting soon. I am just waiting for the prize to arrive in the mail so I can make sure it's in good shape and all drills are accounted for before I give it away. It will hopefully be here next week, so keep checking back! Thank you to everyone who has visited the blog so far. I hope you'll keep coming back, and share it with others as well!

To that end, I wanted to share that I have created Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts for Diamond Painting Digest. Just click on those links to go to them. Your likes/follows would be greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to share any post from this blog that you like on any social network. If you use the Web Version of the blog (if you're on mobile, you can switch to Web Version through a link at the bottom of the page), there are share buttons at the bottom of every post. If you like the blog, or find a particular post really helpful or inspiring, please help spread the word!

Also, I would love to see more participation on the blog, so please don't hesitate to comment on posts, whether it's a positive comment about something you enjoyed, or something you disagree with or think could be improved! And, in case you didn't notice already, I have a new poll up for September on the great debate: Square or Round? You can find it in the post previous to this one (here) or, if you're on the Web Version of the blog, it should be on the right hand side of your screen. Please vote!

In less exciting news, I may unfortunately have to slow down a bit for a while on adding new posts and making improvements to old ones. Work is crazy busy for me at this time of the year, and it's sapping me of a lot of spare time and energy. But please trust that I am only slowing down-- not going away! I am still working on new posts behind the scenes. The first Size Wise post last week proved super popular, so I definitely want to work on putting more of those together. (If you would like to help, please see the note at the end of that post for how you can.)

I also have plans to put together a Diamond Painting FAQ. After I asked on the Paint With Diamonds Support Group for suggestions of common questions last week, the flood of responses made me realize what a huge undertaking that will be, but I'm not deterred. I have decided, though, that it would be best to split it up into several posts instead of one huge one to make it a little more manageable. So there will be FAQs on Basics, Troubleshooting, Tips & Tricks, and then probably Other/Miscellaneous. Keep an eye out for those.

I think that's all the updates I have for now. Thanks again to everyone who has supported this blog in its infancy. I hope you've enjoyed it so far and that it will only continue to get better!

Monthly Poll for September

New month, new poll! Thanks to everyone who voted in the August poll. Paint With Diamonds was the clear winner for your favorite place to buy diamond paintings.

For this month's poll, I wanted to address one of the fundamental questions in the diamond painting world: Square or Round? Do you love the easier placement and more sparkly look of round diamonds, or do you prefer the more challenging squares and the fuller look they produce (not to mention that coveted "click")?

My first diamond painting used round drills, and I certainly enjoyed it, but now that I've tried squares, I don't think I'll be going back. How about you? Vote below, and then feel free to comment with why you like one better than the other!

What diamond shape do you prefer: Square or Round?

Square!

Round!

I like them both equally!

I like special-shape drills best!

Make your own Quiz

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases made through these links do not cost you anything extra, but the author receives a commission on them, which helps to support this blog. 

Size Wise: Red Poppies

If you're anything like me, you can become a little paralyzed when it comes time to choose the size of your diamond painting. On the one hand, you know that "bigger is better" when it comes to getting details to show up, and you want your diamond painting to turn out as nicely as possible. On the other hand, you have to consider price, time commitment, and whether or not you'll have the space to store and later display your diamond painting.

What would really help with this crucial decision is being able to see what the same painting looks like when finished in different sizes-- and that's exactly the idea behind what I hope will be a series of "Size Wise" posts.

Now, I had planned for the first Size Wise to focus on the popular Soulmates design, but I haven't yet collected enough samples of different sizes for that one. (If you have a photo of one you'd like to share, please email diamondpaintingdigest@gmail.com!)

Then a member of the Paint With Diamonds Support Group shared pictures of her collection of Red Poppies diamond paintings-- all completed by her, and all in different sizes. How perfect! And that group member, Rhonda U., was gracious enough to share those photos with us here for the first ever Size Wise post!

First up, here is the Red Poppies design in the smallest size it comes in, 15x20 centimeters:

Rhonda shared with me that this was her first ever diamond painting. Like many new diamond painters, she admits that she didn't understand the sizing of DPs in the beginning and didn't know what to expect. But, she says, "I actually loved how it came out even though it was so small." And for good reason! This is actually a great example of the type of DP that turns out quite well even in a very small size-- a fairly simple subject, close up, without a ton of different colors. Though it's certainly pixelated, the picture is still easily recognizable, and looks even better from a distance.

Having gotten hooked on diamond painting, Rhonda decided to try the same painting in a slightly larger size (25x30) later on:

At about 1.5 times the size of the previous painting, the difference in detail is obvious. The pixelated appearance is lessened, and the shading on the flowers and leaves appears more natural. You'll also notice from the key on the right side of the painting that the larger canvas allows for more colors-- 33 vs. 23 in the previous painting!

Having seen what a difference size makes, Rhonda decided to try her hand at Wild Reds one last time, this time in the 40x50 size:

And wow! Don't these poppies look like you could just reach out and touch them? Here again there are more colors-- 40 this time-- and the details and texture are fantastic. The amazing thing is that this isn't even the biggest size this painting is available in; it goes all the way up to 100x140! Just imagine what it looks like at that size!

So, this Red Poppies design appears to be a great DP for doing in almost any size depending on your desire for detail, and if you're considering it, hopefully this post will help you decide which one is right for you. Thanks again to Rhonda U. for sharing her beautiful diamond paintings with us!

What do you think? If you were going to buy a Red Poppies kit, what size would you go for and why? Share in the comments below!


Want to contribute to a Future Size Wise post? If you have done Soulmates, Berry Branch Owl, Galaxy Eyes, or Earth, Wind, Fire in ANY size and would be willing to share a photo of your completed painting on this blog to help others find the right size, please email diamondpaintingdigest@gmail.com. 

Note 1: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases made through these links do not cost you anything extra, but the author receives a commission on them, which helps to support this blog. 

Note 2: This post was originally titled "Wild Reds" as that was the name given to the DP design on PaintWithDiamonds.com, where Rhonda U. purchased her kits. Unfortunately, it appears PWD no longer offers this design, so the blog has been edited, and the links given now are to the same design offered by Homfun on AliExpress.