This is the third and final post in my blog series for diamond painting beginners - if you missed the first two, bookmark 6 diamond painting tips & techniques for beginners and 6 diamond painting mistakes every beginner makes, and how to avoid them to read after this one.
If you’re new to diamond painting, it’s a craft which draws inspiration from cross stitch and paint by numbers. You apply lots of small, colourful resin rhinestones (also known as diamonds or drills) to an adhesive canvas.
When trying out a new craft, I always think it’s best to start with a small project, and that definitely applies to diamond painting too. Both so that you can test out whether you enjoy it, and because it’s much less overwhelming than tackling a large project.
It also gives you a chance to practise and perfect the craft, before moving onto a bigger, more expensive diamond painting project.
With so many options online, sometimes it can be tricky to know where to start, so I thought I’d share 5 small diamond painting projects that would be perfect for beginners, whether they’re for you or a gift for your craft-loving friend.
1. Blue Star Greetings Card from Diamond Dotz, £5.49
A mandala-style star makes for such a lovely card for all kinds of occasions, just add a heartfelt message inside when it’s finished. Or you could frame it in your own home if you can’t bear to part with it after all your hard work.
This geometric pattern is perfect for beginners - the symmetrical, bold design makes it extra easy to see where each coloured diamond should be placed.
Diamond Dotz creates lots of really high quality diamond painting products, including loads of greetings cards and framable artwork, pillows, pouches and lots of lovely diamond painting sets for kids too.
2. Houseplants Edition 2 by Paintgem, £28
This is a lovely diamond painting kit for any crafter with green fingers, or for anyone who loves the look of houseplants, but struggles to take care of them - these plants will live forever!
Featuring 16 popular houseplants such as succulents, ficus and ivy, this diamond painting set comes with everything you need, including gems, an applicator pen, a colour key and instructions.
It looks as though this diamond painting set is made up of 16 separate canvases, so this kit should last a few weeks if you aim to complete one a day. You could then frame them all together, or give them away as sparkly gifts.
It’s worth noting that Paintgem is based in the US, so if you’re buying the Houseplants Edition diamond painting kit as a gift or need it for a specific date, make sure you order it with plenty of time.
3. Watercolour Tree Diamond Painting Kit from Meloca Designs, £21.95
It’d be silly to make a list of diamond painting kits without including one of my own, wouldn’t it..?
After being asked to make diamond painting kits to match my most popular Meloca Designs cross stitch kits, I released a small range back in autumn 2022, and a few more earlier this year.
My rainbow-coloured tree design with an abstract watercolour effect is such a fun diamond painting kit for beginners, and is a little easier than the trademark Meloca Designs mandala animal cross stitch and diamond painting kits.
The Watercolour Tree Diamond Painting Kit comes with everything you’ll need to complete it, including the printed colour-coded canvas, resin 5D diamonds, diamond applicator and wax.
4. Landscape Coasters Diamond Painting Kit by Temlum, £14.99
With this lovely diamond painting kit, you can create beautiful diamond art which is also super useful - the prettiest, sparkliest coasters for your coffee table.
This would be a lovely project to do over the course of a week - there are 6 in the pack, so you could do a different one each evening, and on Sunday, just relax and enjoy your handiwork.
The diamond painting kit comes with all the colourful diamonds you need, as well as a diamond tray, applicator, non-slip coasters, and a coaster holder to keep them neat ‘n’ tidy while you’re not using them.
The coasters do come in other colours and designs if these dreamy pastel pink landscapes don’t go with your living room decor, including abstract designs and some super cute outdoorsy coasters that remind me of Girl Guides’ badges.
5. Perfect Pets Crystal Art Keyring Set from The Works, £8
Another diamond painting kit which results in something very handy and also giftable - keyrings!
You can make 3 lovely keyrings of different animals (a cat, a rabbit and a dog) with this diamond painting set - why not keep your favourite, and gift the other two to your best friends?
The diamond painting kit contains the keyrings, coloured diamonds, applicator, tray and wax. The keyrings come assembled - you simply need to peel back the protective sheet and start sticking your gems according to the corresponding letter.
I hope you enjoy starting with these small diamond painting projects, and when you’re feeling ready, you can start doing bigger and more intricate diamond art.
Don’t forget to check out 6 diamond painting tips & techniques for beginners and 6 diamond painting mistakes every beginner makes, and how to avoid them if you haven’t read them already, and if you’re not sure diamond painting is for you, there are 4 other DIY crafts to try in this blog post.