Color With Me!

 Hey Y'all!

I've been working on my coloring more lately, and have been using a variety of art mediums. Here lately I've been playing around with gel pens, alcohol markers, and colored pencils. 

Photos-

For this first image (Prima) I used Spectrum Noir Tri Blend markers. They are so fun and easy to use! My blending is something I'll continue to work on, but I like the markers. I like how easy they are to take with me, and how quickly you can color something. My only complaint was when popped apart they can be a bit harder to handle, because they are smaller. 

The following lady image is from a set in a previous (years old) issue of a craft magazine. The bears are from Art Impressions. On these I used Gel Pens from Big Lots. They were very easy to work with, and had a fine enough tip for smaller lines. I did find the pens with glitter tend to glide more easily, and looked better than the others.

Next, I worked on a coloring book image, comparing the differences between Spectrum Noir Basics Markers, and Tombow Colored Pencils without attempting to blend. I feel the image is to small to try that comparison. However I'd like to try it for an upcoming blog if it's something you're interested in. Let me know in the comment section below.

*It seems the Basics line from Spectrum Noir is no longer available on their website.

** Tombow 36pc Colored Pencil, I won them in a Holiday Giveaway on Instagram in 2020. 

Chosen Image, I drew the black line to get a halfway point.

Pencil Set.

Markers!

Coloring:

These pencils were so easy to use, and so much color variety! I especially love the way the sunflower turned out. I can't wait to play with them more. So much better than the Daler-Rowney pencils I've been using, and those are pretty good.

Above is no flash, below is with flash.

This particular set of markers had a lot of purples and pinks, and a few shades of red, green, yellow, and brown, but no blue or orange. I found that kind of odd. (I do have more markers from Spectrum Noir I'd like to test out against these, as well as my other marker sets.) I like the vibrancy of the colors, but even the thinner tipped side of the marker is too thick for this scale/small image. 

I had fun testing them out, and like them all, however in the last image that colored pencil sunflower just stands out. What are your thoughts?

Would you like to see more marker or pencil comparisons in the future? Sound off below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

My Least Favorite Things Right Now

 Hey Y'all!

For the Least Favorites, I figured I'd do 2 craft items, and a few beauty items as well...

1) American Crafts Adhesive Vinyl~ This is glitter vinyl specific, the others seem to do okay, but I still wouldn't use it if given an option. The glitter doesn't cut well. On my many attempts, when I did get it to cut it was a pain to weed. It sticks to pretty much nothing but itself, and is crazy thin. I had purchased several rolls, and had so much issue working with it I gave them away. After such a hard time I tried the others (foil, and holographic) that I had also purchased, and luckily they worked for that project.

2)RoseArt~ Crayons & Colored pencils, both of these suck. (I had enough bad experience with these, I've not tried the markers.) The crayons are too waxy and don't leave much else behind. The colored pencils have poor pigmentation, and dull quickly. Spend the little extra and get higher quality! 

Beauty Items:

Dishonorable Mention- Makeup Remover Facial Wipes~ Some Dollar Tree products are a hit, some are a miss. I actually didn't even finish using these. They dried out super fast, and the wipes themselves were so thin I found them hard to use. (They tended to want to wad up in my hand.) They also weren't very good at removing makeup. Save the dollar+! I've since used them again, and while still rather thin, there still not great. 

1) Burt's Bees Tinted Balm~ I have two of these, one in a pale pink, the other in a rich berry shade, neither has much pigmentation. I know a tinted balm isn't supposed to be solid pigmentation, but expected more. The pink is actually more tinted/pigmented than the berry, which is pretty much non existent on my lips. I could get over that, but the balm isn't very good either. I have one lipstick from the new line, and it's more moisturizing than the balms (still lightly pigmented however). I remember Burt's Bees being better than this, so I don't know if the formula changed or what went wrong, but these are a fail. 

2) Lorac Alter Ego Lip Gloss~ This feels great on the lips, and was very moisturizing. The issue was that when first applied the color was beautiful, but within 20min it was gone (Where did it go?). The moisturizing effect lasted most of the day, so maybe it was a color issue (Flower Child) and maybe not. At $$ this price point, I'm not willing to gamble on Lorac Lip Gloss (again).

3) Parlor Leave in Detangling Conditioner~ Yuck! This feels more like a crappy hairspray than a detangler. The Barbie Cotton Candy Kids Detangler from Dollar Tree does a better job. After using this I had a really hard time combing out my damp hair, and felt like I was pulling some out. I actually had to cut a bit from the ends on one side it was such a matted mess. I will not give this another try as a detangler, and will not subject my mom or sister to the horror that is this product by sharing it with them. The only plus? It smells really good.

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Color With Me...

 Hey Y'all!

I got some new markers, at Rite Aid, as park of the closing sale.

I also scored a set of Ohuhu Markers at a local Goodwill for less than $4USD.

$3.73 total!! What a steal.

All the colors included:

I really like the fluorescents.

The different markers and pens from Rite Aid:

A coloring page, from our 2nd grade nephew...

Just using the Ohuhu markers on this, and definitely not the best paper quality...

Pencil guy looks happy!

Crayon box, looks like a stoner.. oops.

I got bored about half way through, but the little blending I did seemed to go fairly well. I'm sure better paper would help too, this is school copy paper.

Bear with me, the blogs will get better.

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

My Coloring Book (and Marker) Collection

 Hey Y'all!

Here's a quick look at both.

Coloring Book  & Marker Collection:

Lots of markers!

Spectrum 

Crayola

Copic

Hobby Lobby

Prisma

and several other brands...

Coloring Books! (The bulk of our coloring books come from Ollie's.)

Chris' coloring books:

Mine, followed by Chris'...

(except the one his brother is borrowing, which is another horror type book LOL)

I think my favorite is probably the Disney Villains book.

It's way more coloring books than two people need, but we like them all.

Which coloring book is your favorite? Share in the comments below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Crafting in a Van | Van Life

 Hey Y'all!

In this blog I talk about the ease, and difficulties, of crafting in our 1991 Chevy G20, Brunilda... I still haven't made that decal for the windshield.

If we are connected to shore power (plugged in) somewhere using the Cricut Joy is easier, especially if the weather is nice. If not, space becomes an issue, but we're currently re-doing the interior to allow for more space, and even though it doesn't change a whole lot it opens it up a bit more, which already feels larger. If I have to work inside, I work on smaller projects, like tags, cards, single decals, etc. If we're not plugged in to power we have the EcoFlow, but I don't run the Cricut much, to conserve the power for other things.

My current go to craft in the van is coloring in our coloring books. Once I get the tote out I can use the lid as a table, and everything else is right there. I know there are digital coloring pages, but I haven't really found that I like any of them.

I recently started using the Fuji Film Instax Mini camera, and found doing a planner/journal/scrapbook with the pictures is fun, and takes up very little space, while still getting some creativity out. 

I sold all my jewelry making stuff last summer, and I'm glad I did. I don't think I could have done it in the space... not to mention storage of all the pieces.

I have  also noticed in our "downtime" I read more than craft. I'm sure there will be ebbs and flows with this over time.

Do you craft in a small space? How do you make it work? Let me know in the comments below.

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Color With Me

 Hey Y'all!

Today first off, I'm doing a comparison blog on Spectrum Noir Markers vs. Crayola, American Crafts, and Daler Rowney Colored Pencils.

The stamp I used is designed by Emma Jones (The Great Outdoors) for Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine (Issue 1- Card Making Export- Mega Pack).

The paper is card stock from Recollection's at Michael's, and the ink is Stampin' Up in shade Chocolate Chip. *I'd say the closest to this currently would be either Brown, or Soft Suede.

I was originally only going to do two, but then decided two of each was more fun.

 

I hadn't decided at this point if I was going to use the die that came with the stamp set to pop up the camper or not. I then decided to color all four regardless of what I end up doing.

I started with colored pencils, and decided to try some blending. I still need work here, and realized after that I should have started with the white on the clouds. I don't hate the look of these, but there is room for improvement for sure.

I decided this one was going to be a cute little camper, in pinks and teals.

I wanted a silver here, but settled on grays. I was attempting to show wear and shadows on the camper, as well as "dirt" on the door. I need more practice, but the attempt was fun!

After that it felt kind of flat, so I decided the windows needed some light. First attempt at that with pencils went ok. 

Next I used the markers:

Blending with markers is getting better. It is far easier than pencil, but easier to over saturate as well.

I like these clouds far better than the others, however looking back (considering it's night time) they may be too light blue.

I'll have to try my grey markers next time, I just didn't want to get all of them out for such a small image.

On this one I was trying for those wood style teardrop campers. 

The light in the windows here looks way better! 

In this comparison I do like the look of the markers better, and it took far less time.

In the second set I started too dark with the window on the marker image. I also got a bit to heavy handed around the colored pencil's door, however those windows look really good. I tried something different with the clouds here, and don't really like either set. I can't pick a favorite here.

All four images together:

Which was your favorite? What colors would you have chosen? Let me know in the comments below!

I had fun coloring these, and was wondering if you'd like videos for blogs like this so you can color along with me or watch me color? IN this next image I do include a short video:

I am coloring this image from Stampendous:

This image set, Kiddo Toyland, is from 2012. They have a ton of fantastic new stamps available for every occasion.

Supplies:

Image shared above

Stampin' Up  stampin' pad in Chocolate Chip (the closest color in the current collection to this in my opinion is Early Espresso)

Studio G Card Base (from Walmart, but I don't see them online currently)

Spectrum Noir TriBlend Markers: 

Coral Blend (CR1, CR3, CR6)

True Blue Blend (TB2, TB3, TB4)

Light Green Blend (LG1, LG3, LG5)

The YouTube video, watch me color a portion of this stamped image (and struggle with the ink pad lid):

Lastly the finished image:

I had fun trying to completely color the stamp using just 3 colors. I'm a big fan of these TriBlend markers.

What would you like to see me color next? Share below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife