Quick and Easy Holiday Cards #1

 One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to turn my art into holiday cards! We do have a LOT of family, and so I like to do cards that are pretty quick and simple but look handmade and beautiful! These cards allowed me to do a relaxing, easy paint and then to turn a larger piece into 2 quick cards. You can watch the full video of the time lapse painting here: 

I also want to take a quick moment to shout out two really great businesses that I featured in this video! The palettes I’m using today are from an Etsy shop called “Arts to Embers.” They have amazing, customizable travel sized palettes that are sleek and beautiful and practical! Here’s a link to their shop in case you are interested: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtstoEmbers

The paints that I used for this piece are assorted metallic paints from KMS Watercolor. KMS Watercolor is a handmade watercolor paint shop with amazing, high quality pigments! She offers so many unique combinations and these small sample sizes are perfect for a small travel palette! You can check out her shop here: https://kmswatercolor.com/

I did not receive any products for free from either company and will not get a commission if you click my links! I just really like both of these businesses and wanted to give them a friendly shout out for being awesome!

Back to the cards - so after I made the metallic floral background, I trimmed it down and matted it on silver glitter cardstock and then a black card base! I used Gina K Connect glue to hold everything together! Then, I added holiday sentiments to each one and the cards were done! The holiday sentiment strips are from CZ Designs and I got them from Simon Says Stamp. 

These cards are simple, but the metallic artwork stands for itself as the centerpiece. They are flat and mail-friendly, and I’m super pleased with how they turned out!

My goal is to put out at least 3 quick and easy holiday card ideas this month! This is #1, so stay tuned for #2 and #3! Do any of you have go to ideas for holiday cards? Do you prefer to paint cards or stamp cards (or something else entirely?) Let me know in the comments below!

October (yes, October) Scrawlrbox - COPICS!

I can’t believe it’s December and I’m just NOW getting around to talking about the October Scrawlrbox!  But I was sick for most of November, and the footage from that video was… not good!  So, let’s take a look at what was in the box AND if it was worth it: 

Box Contents and Swatches: 

• Copic Sketch Markers x3, Aqua, Canary Yellow and Strong Red

• UniPin 0.3mm fine liner

• Faber Castell Grip 2B Pencil

• Faber Castell Kneaded Eraser

• Scrawlrbox exclusive marker paper, A5, 10 sheets, 75 gsm

I’m going to talk about this box as a whole since I didn’t get around to doing a piece of art with only the contents of the box.  First of all, getting 3 Copic Sketch markers was SUCH a joy!  AND they were 3 colors I don’t already have BUT primaries that worked together beautifully - so WELL DONE Scrawlrbox!  That alone basically pays for the box itself!  The marker paper is also excellent and I’m a bit sad that we don’t know what company made the paper.  It is the type of marker paper I prefer (it ghosts badly but doesn’t bleed at all, and blends beautifully.)  It reminds me of a Layout Bloc I got from Hahnemuhle in a Sketchbox, BUT I’m definitely not sure.  I do really like the paper and it will most definitely get used with my alcohol marker projects!  

The pencil and eraser were just that, a pencil and an eraser.  I never need a pencil in a non-graphite box, and I only need an eraser if the whole box is pencil oriented.  These items felt like throw-aways, and I think a white highlight OR a cheaper brand gray marker/blender would have been a much better value add here.  BUT this box was well worth the price so I’m only nit-picking at this point.  

The fineliner is also pretty great - I’ve never had a UniPin liner before and so getting this one was great to try!  The next time I need to purchase a fine liner, I’m definitely going with UniPin over Micron at this point.  I liked the UniPin nib better for some reason.  

Here’s the value breakdown for the box.  If you are in the UK, this box was a SMASH of a deal.  We have access to Copics here a little easier, and so it wasn’t quite as big of a value BUT I still think it was a solid valued box that was well curated.  

I’m hoping to get my November Scrawlrbox soon here so that I can have a quick turn around on that video and blog post for you!  

Did you get this box?  What did you think of it?  Let me know in the comments below!