Sympathy Cards using Background Stencils

 Happy Saturday everyone!  This week, we got some sad news about a family friend that had passed away.  Because of this sad news, my daughter and I sat down and made some sympathy cards to send to their closest loved ones.  In my own style, I usually make sympathy cards that are less busy than my normal designs and often will try to make sure they are decently flat so they can be mailed.  

Lately, I have really been enjoying using my stencils to make backgrounds.  Last year, I bought a nice set of background stencils on Amazon for about $13.  It was around 25 stencils, so this was a total steal.  They are a bit smaller than the standard card size, so you usually have to work hard to get a seamless transition OR just work around it.  On this card, I used a strip of cardstock to hide the transition.  Even though these are a little smaller than what the stamp companies sell, the price for these was well worth it!!!  I use them all the time!  

I used several distress inks (Mermaid Lagoon, Lucky Clover, Cracked Pistachio, and Salty Ocean) to make the background.  After it was inked, I went over it with a lighter layer to make the background match.  I also inked a piece of cardstock for the inside to match.  

Years ago, I bought some ivory pearl cardstock from Paper Source for some wedding invitations.  I still have a whole pack of it that I recently remembered I had, and so I thought it would be the perfect base for this card.  

All of these sentiment stamps come from the Simon Says Stamp Sympathy Greetings Mix that I picked up last September.  It was one of the last stamp sets I have purchased, but I didn't have a good sympathy stamp set, so I know it will be used for many many years.  It also have some nice thinking of you and love sentiments, so it's a really versatile set.  

My lovely 7-yo daughter also wanted to make a card - and so she inked these sweet roses and stamped this beautiful sentiment on top.  I was really proud of how nice her card turned out, so I asked if I could share it here.  :-)  

Do any of you have go-to layouts for certain types of cards?  What are your favorite card making techniques right now?  Let me know in the comments below! 

Product Review: Faber Castell Albrecht Durer Magnus Watercolor Pencils

 Last April I got a Scrawlrbox with some Faber Castell Albrecht Durer products, both watercolor brush pens and some of these Magnus pencils.  I remember swatching the pencils and LOVING them.  

Before this time, the only watercolor pencils I owned was a very inexpensive student grade set from Arteza.  I'm NOT knocking those pencils and I still use them all the time!  But I knew I wanted something that I could use more regularly and that had lightfastness ratings.  I also wanted to invest in something that I could replace open stock, so I started watching TONS of reviews and trying to decide what I wanted to do.  Here's what I learned:  

1. I think the Derwent Inktense products would be amazing to own, but they are not traditional watercolors.  Because of this I decided against this investment for the time being.... BUT Derwent just came out with a beautiful 24 half pan of Inktense pans... so that might be in the future!  

2. There are several brands that I think are worth the money, but only one of them was something I had tested (FC Albrecht Durer).  Because of this, I was much more interested in buying these pencils if I could get them.  

3. These pencils look massive, but they actually work really well for my hands.  I have had issues with carpal tunnel for years, and so the bigger pencils work really well for me.  This pencil size was my ultimate reason for deciding to buy these over other brands.  

4. The Magnus pencils are the same as the regular Albrecht Durer line, just larger.  This means that if the Magnus line, which is only 30 colors right now, is missing a color, I can always just buy a regular size AD pencil open stock to supplement the set.  

So, these were all of the things that I took into consideration before purchasing this set.  I looked at Caran D'Ache Supracolor, Faber Castell AD, Derwent Inktense, and Prismacolor Premier as my potential purchases. Once I decided on the AD Magnus pencils, I got a fabulous deal on this set of 24 pencils:  

Swatching and Initial Thoughts: 

1. The colors are beautiful and intense!  

2. The pencils are smooth and easy to use!  They are large but definitely can still get fine details if they are sharpened. 

3. The color range was, mostly good.  I was initially frustrated because there wasn't a good cool red/pink option, or a color akin to a dioxazine purple.  Both of those are kind of important if I'm going to use them for florals, so my goal was to find ways to mix those colors.  I was able to get close, BUT I went searching the open stock AD Magnus pencils and found out that they had two pencils that matched those needs exactly!  I bought the open stock colors and replaced them with a warm red and "ultramarine light," which honestly just seems like ultramarine with filler added.  NOW I feel like my set is well balanced and will allow me to do anything I want for my personal style of artwork.  

Artwork and Testing: 

I have been using these for about 2 months now, and so I've tried these pencils on several different types of situations in order to give a full and robust review.  Here are several of the artworks that I used these pencils on and my thoughts. 

• They work really well in a mixed media setting.  Once set with water, they don't lift when posca pens, fine liners or bleed proof white/white gouache were used overtop of them.  The resistance to the white mediums was particularly fabulous!  
• The pencils dissolved completely with water BUT they also kept texture and didn't let colors run together.  This especially made my monstera leaf picture really beautiful.  
• The pencils can both cover a large area and be used for fine details.  
• The pencils had the ability to blend and mix an entire background beautifully.  I was extremely impressed with their ultra pigmentation in that situation.  
• Using my Caran D'Ache pencil palette, they mix into extra colors beautifully.  I cannot stress enough how great the palette is, and that it is easily the best $12 I have ever spent on a mixing palette.  (I got mine on Amazon)

Final Thoughts: 

These pencils are absolutely fabulous.  I'm really glad that I took the leap and invested in them!  There's a reason that Faber Castell is a tried and true brand and the larger pencils are a perfect fit for my needs!  I love that I can buy them open stock, and I hope they expand this line so that I can buy more Albrecht Durer pencils in this size!  

Have you ever tried these pencils?  What did you think of them?  Let me know in the comments below!  

Paletteful Packs February - Micron and Brush Pens

 I know I said no more subscription boxes (maybe I only said it to myself... but I did say it!), BUT after I watched other people online opening the last two Paletteful boxes, I KNEW I had to give it a try!  I mean, first they got Golden acrylics and THEN they got Daniel Smith watercolors?!?!?  The value in these boxes was INSANE, so I had to try it.  

Well.  I have to say that this box was.... underwhelming at best.  Let me be clear, the items in the box are good items, but the value was just not there for me.  Let me go through each item and explain in further detail.  

Here's the items and the swatch card, and then explanations of each item and my feelings.  

Swatches

Back of Swatch Page

Tombow Dual Brush Markers - 3 Green Shades

I love Tombow brush markers.  These were the best part of the box for me.  We got three different green shades and while that was nice, 2 of them were greens I already have and I only own like 15 Tombow brush markers.  That isn't Paletteful's fault but it would have been nice to get something I didn't already have.  I also would have enjoyed at least 2 more Tombow brush pens, maybe a neutral brown or gray and a complementary color like Pink or Orange.  

Denik Sketchbook

This sketchbook was, just ok.  The artwork is beautiful, and I do really like that it was customized by Alice, whose artwork is always fantastic.  The paper wasn't great.  It was thin, and did not hold up very well to the brush markers.  Brush markers are water-based, and so when I tested them with water the paper didn't hold up at all.  There was pilling and warping and bleeding through.  This isn't that big of a deal, but I would have preferred them to use Mixed Media paper that held up to the wet brush pens a bit better. I know this is pricier, but they *could* have done that if they hadn't blown all their money on the final item in the box.  I also feel that at $11.99 this book is overpriced.  I have an Artists Loft sketchbook that is hardbound that I paid $7 for with paper that held up better than this sketchbook.  

Sakura Micron Pens - Exclusive 100th Anniversary Set of 10

Before I go on my rant here, I want to start by saying that I LOVE Micron Pens.  I love them and own a ton of them.  THAT BEING SAID.... 

1. A 10 pack of the same black fineliners, simply in different sizes, is too many.  At most, 5 of the varied nibs will allow you to make a beautiful and richly lined pen piece in my opinion.  

2. These were an *exclusive* item, and the MSRP given was $35.99.  Now, they are pretty.  But they are the same EXACT fineliners that I can get in a normal barrel on Amazon for $17.  For something that performs the exact same way as something half the price, this mark-up of "expected value" is ridiculous.  I do NOT pay for an art subscription to get a fancy looking version of something much cheaper that does the EXACT same thing.  

3. The high MSRP on these *exclusive* pens prevented the box from having other colors of Tombow brush pens, or a pencil (more on that later), or any kind of highlight/white medium.  

4. The petite box, which is cheaper, recieved a BLACKWING PENCIL.  This actually made me upset.  I paid for the bigger box and my assumption was that I would get all that the smaller box had to offer and more.  The petite box got a smaller sketchbook, the same three Tombow pens, only 5 Microns, and a blackwing pencil.  I would have paid $35 for those supplies and honestly felt way better about it than what I did get.  

The bottom line, will I use these pens?  Of course, but I'm pretty ticked that this is the bulk of what I paid for this month.  Getting an art supply that I don't normally use or that is different is totally fine and never disappointing, but paying money because someone slapped an "exclusive anniversary" label on a set of pens is very frustrating.  Especially for something as common as fineliners, which most people that buy art boxes get ALL the time.  This was a huge let down for me.  

Ok onto the art: When I saw the cover of the notebook, I knew I was probably going to draw succulents.  You guys know I'm a sucker for succulents.... hahahaha.  The paper did ok on this drawing but I definitely had to watch for pilling.  I also only used 5 micron pens to prove the point that 5 is the most you would need.  

I still ended up making a nice piece of art with the products in the box. As I said before, I will definitely use all of these art supplies, but if I had bought them on my own I would have paid closer to $32, and this box actually cost me more than that.  I know a lot of people did really like this box, but for me the point of an art subscription box is to get new, fun things to try in new ways.  These were very basic items that were given a huge markup for being exclusives, which is not at all what I'm about.  

All of that being said, I'm going to stick with Paletteful Packs for another month.  I know they normally jam pack their boxes full of fun and value, so I'm going to give them another chance.  

Did you get this box? If so, what were your thoughts?  What are your thoughts on exclusive items?  

The Sketchbook Project Flipthrough - Level Up!

 Wow guys - I can't believe I did it!  

When I signed up for The Sketchbook Project, I was excited and nervous.  I loved the concept, and I wanted to be a part of it, BUT putting myself out there in that way felt terrifying.  If you've never heard about the project, you can read more about it here.  The Sketchbook Project was created by the Brooklyn Art Library. Taken from their website, here's a little info about them:  

Brooklyn Art Library is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that has been completely funded by participation since 2006. We work to ensure that we are fulfilling our mission of encouraging creative storytelling within a global community by keeping our physical library space free and open to the public, our digital library accessible worldwide, and making our collection as accessible as possible to people of all ages and skill levels through robust education programming.

I love the inclusive nature of their mission statement, and I know I had to be a part of it!  When I got my Sketchbook, it was in October of 2020, and I was deep into Linktober.  Linktober was huge for me this year, and it really has given me a lot more confident in my skills, even as a hobbyist.  But Linktober gave the shape to the sketchbook, because I knew I wanted to draw video game characters.  

I named the project "Level Up."  The idea was that through the drawing of specific characters and ideas I would be leveling up my own art, so I leaned into the video game pun.  I had a lot of fun drawing each individual piece, and I tried to challenge myself in different ways.  I used alcohol markers, watercolors, gouache and posca pens, metallic watercolors, graphite and water soluble graphite during the course of this book.  I also tried many different types of characters and even a few landscapes and full screen scenes.  

I've highlighted a few of my favorite pieces here, but click below for a full, explained flip through!  I also will have a faster flipthrough on my instagram highlights/story as well.  

Once the sketchbook is digitized, I'll have a link here and as a tab on my page!  

What are your thoughts on The Sketchbook Project?  Would you ever fill one out?  What would your sketchbook be about? Let me know in the comments below!  

Patterned Paper Valentines

 Happy Valentine's Day!  

Today I'm sharing some Valentines that I made that are GREAT because: 

1. They use up patterned paper that you might have a hard time using in other ways
2. They are easy and can be done in stages while watching lots of TV
3. They can be done with any patterned paper, sentiments, etc... so they aren't specific to V-Day
4. They are flat and VERY mail-able! 

I have a hexagonal paper punch that I really love and don't use enough.  For these cards, I took this punch and several V-Day patterned papers that I know I wouldn't use for a background and I punched out a TON of hexagons and partial hexagons.  I had VERY little paper leftover from this process, and I used almost all of them to make a total of 6 cards!  I also punched white/blank hexagons to glue on for sentiments.  

Note: you could do this with lots of punches, even circles!  You could also do it with a shape die cut OR simple paper strips too!  There's really no wrong way to do it!  The idea is to use up some patterned paper to create a new, interesting card front!  

Then, I glued the hexagons onto a 4.25 by 5.5 piece of pink cardstock.  I left a little border around the hexagons but you could also completely cover up the background if you wanted to!  If you are going to leave a border, try to pick a color that matches your pieces.  This process was pretty easy and mindless, and I did it while I was watching TV. 

The next day, I stamped a sentiment on each card.  I used a simple "With Love" sentiment because I liked the simple stamp against the busy background.  Then, I glued the card fronts to plain, white cards!  

And that's it!  This project was super great because it used up a bunch of my papers in a creative way, AND it creates a beautiful background that is also flat and easy to mail!  I'm looking forward to revisiting this idea in the future for some fun and fast birthday cards!  

Have you ever done something similar to this with patterned paper? What shape of punch or die cut would you use?  Let me know in the comments below!  

February Sketchbox - Water Soluble GRAPHITE!!!!!

 Another month, another Sketchbox!!! I must admit, I've been playing around with this box of supplies for over a week now and I'm just HAVING SO MUCH FUN!  More on this later!  

Let's start with swatches, what's in the box, and my thoughts on each item in the box:  

Supplies: 

• Princeton Heritage Brush - Round #6 
• This is a beautiful paintbrush.  I enjoyed using it very much!  Valued at $14, I would have settled for something a little less expensive if it meant getting an eraser in this box. 

• Derwent Graphitint Half Pans - Dark Indigo and Juniper
• These. Are. Amazing!  I have seen people use these online before, but I was NOT prepared for how awesome they are!  I really want the whole set now!  The colors were beautiful and granulated so nicely.  They of course are the quality I expect from Derwent.  These erased a bit, but not completely. 

• Derwent Graphitint Pencils - Ivy and Chestnut
• These were also pretty darn awesome!  I loved the colors and they dissolved quite nicely when using water on them.  These erased a bit, but not completely.  

• Spectrum Noir Colortint Pencil - Cafe Au Lait
• This was a nice pencil as well!  I didn't love it as much as the Graphitint pencils, but it was still a nice, dissolving pencil and it was great to have two different browns to create nice contrast.  This pencil *did* have a more clean erase than any of the Graphitint products, which was great.  

• ArtGraph Drawing Graphite Putty
• I was terrified of this package when I saw it.  I waited DAYS to open it.  When I opened it, I used a tiny scoop to take a VERY small amount out into my palette.  As soon as I put the paintbrush to it I was IN LOVE!  This stuff is literally liquid graphite.  I loved being able to use graphite like paint.  But THEN the best part - YOU CAN ERASE IT!  That's right!  It takes a little more to erase than dry pencil, which is perfect because you can draw on top of it and do a light erase without messing up the under layer, but you can also erase it to create highlights!!!!!  WHAT!?!?!  This is the star of the box, and I'm so excited to use it in the future too! One small thing I'd wished was that the plastic bag had a zip top instead of a tear open top so that I could easily keep it sealed.  But this stuff was AMAZING!  

• Cretacolor Watercolor Graphite Set, 6 pc
• Finally, these were decent!  I LOVED the two graphite pencils, the blue and the green.  They were high quality.  These pencils dissolved decently well and they erased pretty well too.  BUT, the red was weak, and was almost the same color as the juniper Graphitint so it didn't really get used much in my piece.  And the white, the white was absolutely useless.  It didn't layer over anything, it didn't write over any of the other graphite, and I didn't use it at all.  I even tried to scribble a bunch of it out and pick it up with a paintbrush to go on the top of the other graphite, and it did... nothing.  I'd much have preferred a 4 piece set here and a swap out for those two pencils for an opaque white medium.  

Quick Notes: 

• We didn't get paper this month.  I'm totally fine with that because the value of the rest of the box was great!  Also - Sketchbox has sent plenty of wet media paper in recent boxes, so everyone should have something to put their art on/in.  
• I definitely benefited from having the Caran D'Ache Palette Aquarelle.  (Palette pictured below.) This is a palette with a smooth side and a rough side, designed to scribble out pencils and pick them up with a wet brush.  It is easily the best $11 I've ever spent on a palette.  I'd HIGHLY recommend it if you ever use watercolor pencils!  
• I used the TINIEST bit of graphite putty!  I have a picture of the palette I used for that so you can see that a little really does go a long way with that stuff!  

Caran D'Ache Palette Aquarelle and my Palette with the Graphite Putty

Box Value: Sketchbox values this box at $52.93 and I have to say it's definitely worth my money!  I will use 90% of what's in this box over and over again for a long time to come.  The *only* thing I would say is that the Creatacolor red and white weren't very useful, and I would have traded them out for a nice eraser and a white opaque medium that actually layers over the graphite.  

That being said...  

This box was AWESOME.  This is exactly what an art subscription should be and should provide.  I would *never* play with graphite on my own accord, but give me graphite the works like watercolor and BAM - I'm pricing out Derwent Graphitint everything online!  And that graphite putty is one of the coolest things I have ever gotten in an art box.  GREAT JOB Sketchbox!  

What did I draw? I knew *immediately* when I saw how the graphite putty worked that I had to draw a statue!  And so of COURSE I drew Hylia from Skyward Sword!  I knew right away that the indigo Graphitint would look amazing as a dark sky.  I also used the pencils and half pans to create a cobblestone path.  I used both green and brown pencils to create the trees, that turned out whimsical just like the trees from Skyward Sword.  I used a combination of wet and dry graphite for Hylia herself.  I'm so very pleased with how this piece turned out!  

Have you ever played with water soluble graphite?  What would you make with this Sketchbox?  Let me know in the comments below! 

DIY - Easy, Fun Valentines Wreath!

 What's up everyone!  So as Valentine's Day is *rapidly* approaching (checks status of Valentine gifts.... realizes she needs to send them NOW...), I wanted to share a fun, easy DIY project that my daughter and I did together.  We made a Valentine's Wreath out of wooden heart pieces and cardboard!  

Supplies for the Wreath: 

• Wooden Hearts we used these from Amazon, $13.99.  We used about 2/3 of the hearts for our wreath.  
• Red, Pink, White and Silver Craft Paint $3.20 ($0.79 each at Michaels)
• Washable School Glue - $0.85 at Target, but we already had glue
• Paint Brushes  - you can get a whole set of these for about $1 lots of places
• A Large Cardboard Box
• Craft Knife or Scissors
• Ribbon

Optional: Paint or Posca Pens for decorating.  You could just as easily decorate these with the craft paints from above, but we used paint pens.  

Total Cost: $19.09 (or less depending on what you already have at home)

We started by painting about 80 of the wooden hearts solid colors (20 of each).  We let these dry overnight.

I then cut a heart out of an old cardboard box.  The dimensions ended up being about (enter dimensions here). Then, we splotched paint all over the heart so that the background wouldn't just be blank cardboard.  You *could* use wood for this step, but we are keeping our wreath inside in a temperature controlled part of the house, so we just used some leftover corrugated cardboard.    

Next, we took the hearts and made all kinds of designs on them!  Again, we did this step with paint pens, but you could just as easily do this step with the craft paint if that's what you have.  Some of them we made to look like conversation candy hearts, others we made with fun designs, and we also added a few with our names on them to personalize it!  Here's some of the decorating process.  

After the hearts were designed and dried, we started to glue them onto the wreath.  We tried to cover as much of the bottom layer as possible, and we let the layers dry a bit in between adding them.  We saved all of our name hearts for the very final layer.  This is the next to last layer: 

Finally, we used some duct tape and ribbon to make a hanger for the wreath.  You could also glue the ribbon to the back of the wreath, but our ribbon was thin and duct tape and knots kept it on the back quite securely.  The final product is hanging here on this door.  

This was a fun project that my daughter and I enjoyed doing together!  It took a few days because of all of the paint drying, but each step went pretty quickly so it was nice to fill some of our daily gaps with an art project.  I hope this inspired you to make something fun and personal with your kids!  Do you have any fun art traditions with your family?  Let me know in the comments below!  

2021 Bullet Journal Journey - February

Happy February everyone!  This month, I really had a good time setting up my bullet journal!  I used pinks and purples (super bright and traditional) and tried to have fun with it!  

Here's the first two pages for February.  I know this is a bit busy, but I really like how it turned out!  I wanted the hearts to feel like little bubbles all over the page!  I use the goals page to plan blog entries, track my creative time and healthy choices, and to list overall monthly goals.  

Next, is the calendar spread.  I made this two pages instead of one this month, and I like it much better!  I also have a little spot for notes there in case there's anything large I need to write down.  I also continued my design from last year's journal of adding a strip of abstract watercolor that matches the month's theme.  I really enjoy doing these abstract strips and use the leftovers as bookmarks to keep or gift!  

Then, I hand-draw a mood tracker and a bill tracker each month.  Here are pictures of each one!  I really love how the mason jar of hearts turned out for the mood tracker - so cute!  

I have more bills than this - but for privacy's sake I took the picture at this point before I wrote the rest! 

Finally, I'm including my weekly spreads for this month!  I'm not sure I will include these every month, but I really loved how these ones turned out.  I've settled on a weekly spread that I really like right now, it has a box for each day plus a larger one for notes, and a column on the left for our weekly dinner planning. This month, each week had a little theme: 

Wk 1 - Violets (February flower of the month) 

Wk 2 - Watercolor Hearts

Wk 3 - Stripes and Dots

Wk 4 - Tetris

....and that's it!  I hope you guys enjoyed seeing this layout!  Do any of you use a bullet journal? What was your theme of the month for February?  Let me know in the comments!!