I am really starting to love my colored pencils and I have only scratched the surface. I took the plunge last year and bought the 72 pencil set of Prismacolor Pencils and haven’t looked back. I even decided to challenge myself to use the coloring books I was buying and hoarding in my craft room. I challenged my sister and mother-in-law to color one picture a week and then we send each other pictures when we finish. I found coloring in them helped me a lot when I was stressing watching football each Sunday. So that became a day I could squeeze in some coloring.
As my collection of pencils grew, I started to get frustrated with the provided storage. I also had an adorable elephant bag where I began collecting my pencils. But when it came time to color, I spent too much time digging around to find the colors I wanted and I also found that I spilled them out of the tin on a regular basis. Aarggh…
Enter Amazon…my go-to for researching and often purchasing products. I saw so many options but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. But I wanted something pretty (you know me!). So this pretty, faux leather case caught my eye.
I liked this case because it can hold up to 168 pencils and it had a handle to carry it. As a crafter, we need any help we can get to transport our stuff to craft sessions is a major plus. I also like that it has 4 different sections separated by zippers. I can open one or all and easily access my stuff. 
The great thing is that I organized them in order of my color chart so I will always know where to find my colors. Every color has a place and it corresponds to the chart. 
I put it to use and colored up an image in one of my coloring books and it made the process so much fun and no stress about finding colors made it go by smoothly.
Here’s the image I colored.
Now I can focus on exploring techniques and filling my coloring books with color!
Happy crafting!
Belinda
Now I can go listen to the first video prompt. I will try to share some of the exercises as I complete them. Some are journaling some are more art-based exercises. I hope to do better this year with the prompts and sharing my journey on this blog.
Hello Everyone! It’s been way too long since we’ve been together. I had every intention of writing and posting January 2nd but I was overwhelmed with vacation laundry, meal planning and now our first winter storm which was a blizzard that dumped over a foot of snow with below freezing temps and school canceled for two days. So I have been a little preoccupied. 
First, an update on our master bedroom renovation… The walls have been painted, crown molding has been installed, we bought a new bed frame, bought and installed new window blinds and a ceiling fan. Now I am going to slow down and slowly add accent items and new side tables. We will also be adding a new seating area. I am trying to be mindful and not just rush through the process. I have to say, the clutter-free room feels great. When I go to bed at night I am truly in an oasis. Even if I still have some purging to do in the rest of the house, I feel great about our bedroom.
While at my in-laws home we had amazing food, shared funny stories and played a lot of game playing. We even had a few days of football to watch. I feel blessed that we live close to them so our kids have grown up with them in their lives. I know as they get older, they will want to do other things with their time but right now, they are just as thrilled to go as my husband and I. They even had some quality time with one of their aunt and uncle too.
We love board games but one that my youngest hadn’t played the original Monopoly. He’s played the newer version called Monopoly Empire and he has played it on the Xbox but it’s not the same. So this year, we brought it out and let me tell you, it was priceless watching Apollo as his collection of properties grew and had the opportunities to buy houses. He absolutely loved it. He also won which made it even sweeter for him.
The snacks my mother-in-law made were so yummy. I think I ate a dozen while watching football and my pants are now reminding me of the indulgence.
I still enjoy taking photos of everyone even though its been years since I have created a scrapbook. Later each day, I send some photos to the family that could not attend so they can share in the celebrations virtually.
Some years, we have big gatherings when more family can attend but even when it’s a small group we have fun and I know the memories will last forever.