30-Day Coloring Challenge – Day 1

Hello Everyone! I don’t know what I am thinking because June is a busy month but I am always up for a challenge. From June 1 – 30th is the 30-day coloring challenge created and hosted by none other than Kathy Racoosin at The Daily Marker. What I decided to do this time around is write a post three days in so that I have time to color, photograph and write a post before pushing it live. I also think I will limit this challenge only to colored pencils since I have some really amazing new coloring books that I absolutely have to color.  This is from Day 1 which was on Saturday. I convinced my youngest, to help me kick off the challenge by coloring with me.  He is coloring in one of my old coloring books that contain a bunch of mandalas. I helped him select a color scheme and he dove in. I think I will try to get him to color with me on another day too because although he didn’t want to admit it, he was having fun coloring and chatting with me. I chose the “In My Garden” coloring book. I am always discovering more about myself each time I sit to create. What I noticed was I gravitated to this smaller book to kick off the challenge. There is something comforting about a smaller canvas. It’s not too small it’s more of mid-range size about 8×8. So it’s fun to hold and easy to turn while coloring. I used one of my pre-made color swatches that I created a few weeks back to help me with my color selection. I find them so handy and when I use them the pages always look more cohesive.

I will be back tomorrow with day two.

Happy coloring!

Belinda

30 Day Coloring Challenge Recap!

30-day-recap1

Over the course of 30 days I used color pencils, Copic markers, watercolor crayons, distress inks, watercolor paints to color.

30-day-recap2I really had fun playing and not feeling any pressure for perfection.30-day-recap3I was happy to break out stamps and products I never used before that have been hanging around my craft room.30-day-recap4.I loved re-acquainting myself with my embossing folders. They are such a great tool to have and add so much dimension to the cards.30-day-recap5.Finally using my coloring books makes me feel less guilty for purchasing them on impulse.30-day-recap6.I hope you had fun hanging out with me for this challenge. Your sweet comments helped to keep me going so thank you.

Now I have all these lovely projects to look at.

Happy coloring my friends.

Belinda

30 Day Coloring Challenge #4: Day 29 – More watercolor fun

logoHello and happy Sunday! I am just home from my in-laws and wanted to make sure I posted my day 29 coloring from yesterday. I did not color today so can’t finish up today as planned.

Yesterday I spent the day crafting with a bunch of my crafty girlfriends and thought I would continue playing with watercolors. It is always so much fun to spend a day playing with your craft stuff surrounded by friends that are just as crazy about this stuff as you are.

day29a

I have to say I wasn’t very confident but pushed through the process.

day29bI took a page out of one of my coloring books and used my Inktense water color pencils to color it in. I used my waterbrush because it was small. I definitely feel like I need to keep practicing so that I can get the colors to blend better and learn to control the color better.

I tried a coloring directly on the paper and then adding water and then I tried rubbing my brush on the pencil and I think that worked better. It allowed for better control and less streaking.

I won’t give up. I know I am hard on myself since I am so used to my Copics but I feel that with time I can feel more comfortable with water coloring.

Tomorrow I have an appointment to find a dress for my girlfriend’s wedding so no coloring but I would like to finish this challenge by Wednesday.

Well I am off to go watch the series finale of Downton Abbey!

Good night.

Belinda

30 Day Coloring Challenge #4: Day 28 I’m Having Some Watercoloring Fun!

logoHey you! I hope you had a great Friday. I had a great one. I had time to play around with some new products and I had lunch with a friend I haven’t seen in a very long time. It’s so amazing how wonderful I feel after spending time with my friends.

Wow today is day 28! I have two more days to go. Today I played around with some new products so my Copics had a little rest. Yesterday, I had a shopping spree at Michael’s. You can read more about the goodies I bought here.

So I wanted to let you know my initial reactions to the new Recollections products that have been released at Michaels.

I tried out the ombre stamp pads and I did not like them. I was so excited they were less than half the price of Hero Arts pads. However, the old saying you get what you pay for definitely applied. I am a stamp lover so you know I have lots of ink pads and I like quality products. For one, when you open them the three shades that make up the ombre are on 3 different pads. I didn’t much like that. It reminded me of the old style multicolor pads. But more importantly, the impression is what I look at and it had a splotchy appearance. I want more of a crisp look so I didn’t like the effect it produced. So I returned all three today.

Next I played with the Color Splash Watercolor Crayons.

day28aI used one of the sheet from the Color Splash 6×6 pad. I first colored a bit and then used my water brush to activate the watercolor effects. My first impression is that the crayons are thick so fine detail coloring is out of the question. The other is the texture of the crayons were more like a lipstick – creamy. So they are very soft so they don’t require you to press down too hard. If I want the color darker I would have to apply more pressure and then when I added water they would produce a vibrant color. I have to say I love the colors they selected for this set. The aqua, gold, green and pink were my favorite. day28fThey have predesigned images on the pages so once you color them the images would resist the paint. I thought this one would be fun to color and then cut them up to use in my Project life or other journaling projects.

day28eAnother thing I liked about the crayons is they have a slight shimmer that appears after you apply water and remain after it dries. I did swipe my finger over it and a little residue does come off on your finger but no way near the amount that annoying glitter (my nemesis) does. I like how this page came out and look forward to practicing some more with more pages from the paper pad. One thing I didn’t like about them, is that when you color with them, they sometimes produce build up lumps that don’t blend and when you add water they just move around. Think like when you paint your nails and some lint gets trapped under the paint (annoying!!). But I think, with time I can manage that better.

So here are the pros:

  • great price especially with 40% 0ff sale
  • a lot of crayons for the money
  • the colors are really pretty.
  • the case is sturdy and cute
  • pretty shimmer
  • better for background and large image coloring

The cons:

  • the build up issue
  • not sure what to do with the white one
  • very soft
  • not for detailed coloring

 

Overall a winner in my book. I am going to play around more with them tomorrow and I am also going to try using my other color pencils and water color paints on some of the 6×6 papers.

Well I am off to make dinner and have movie night with my family. Have a fabulous weekend!

Belinda

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