Dyeing Easter Eggs - Tye Dye Style!

For the past several years, my daughter and I have used the cool whip and food coloring method to dye our easter eggs!  This year, instead of buying more gel food coloring, I wanted to try doing it with my non-toxic watercolor dyes!  It is important to note that we did this with non-toxic watercolor dyes, so we could eat the eggs!  

We started by hard boiling the eggs, and then I put them in an ice water bath to cool them down.  Then, we spread out cool whip on two pans.  

Next, I took 4 different colors of dye the work together and drop it randomly all over the cool whip.  I used ocean/sea colors and my daughter did unicorn/galaxy colors.  Then, with a craft stick, we stirred the cool whip up a bit so that there were pretty swirls all through the eggs.  

Finally, we took the eggs and rolled them in the cool whip, making sure that they were completely covered on all sides!  We then let the eggs sit for about 20-30 minutes.  

When we rinsed these ones off, the swirls were pretty but less vibrant than in past years.  Here are the ones we did a year ago to show what they should do:  

I don't think we added enough dye to get the vibrancy that we were looking for.  But, my daughter and I decided to use the watercolor and some straws and water pipettes to go right onto the eggs to create a more vibrant, tie dyed effect:  

They turned out really cool!!! We had a lot of fun doing these eggs!  I always try to do something that is a fun project so that we can enjoy the journey!  

Do any of you color eggs?  What fun ways have you tried before?  Leave you suggestions in the comments below!  

Holiday Sketchbox 2020 Review and Artwork

Sketchbox has done it again!  I ordered the special holiday box from them, and was SO surprised when it shipped immediately and was here within days!  My daughter and I had a blast swatching everything out and creating initial pieces with the supplies: 

Initial Artwork - A Shimmery Wreath

I LOVED the metallic elements of this box!  

Below I go through each supply and my detailed impressions of that supply!  This box was so fun!  

Holiday Box Contents and Impressions:

2020 Holiday Sketchbox Contents

Swatch Card

Kuretake Custom Irodori Kobako Kit - Watercolors, Water Brush, and Brush Pen/Liner:

Watercolors: These seem very similar to the Gansai Tambi Kuretake watercolors.  The colors were vibrant and worked nicely.  They do not move the same way as traditional watercolors do on watercolor paper, but I knew that before I started and so I was prepared for that challenge.  These paints did mix to a decent variety of colors, and I found the color selection to be a fun challenge!  

Water Brush: This was a standard water brush.  I'm not a huge fan of water brushes in general and would rather have a regular round brush.  It worked well though for the artwork that I made.  

Mangaka Brush Liner: I like this pen and will use it in the future, BUT it is not waterproof!  Considering that the description of the watercolor palette is that it is "great for watercolor illustration," I was surprised that the liner included wasn't waterproof.  This is totally fine, but it definitely made me rethink how I used the supplies for an initial art piece!  

Silver Brush Chisel Blender Size 4: I really liked this brush!  It did a really nice job laying a lot of color in the middle of my piece and was able to get details by using the edge.  If this box had come with a round 6  and this brush I would have felt that an upgrade from the water brush.  

Sketchbox Signature Watercolor Pad: This is GREAT watercolor paper, though I think this box would have done better with a hot press paper.  I love 100% cotton cold press paper usually, but in my opinion the Kuretake watercolors would have worked better on a hot press paper and the other pens and markers would definitely not get as damaged on smoother paper.  So, while I LOVE this paper and will use it quickly, it won't be with these supplies.  

Copic Ciao - Copper, E18:  Fabulous copic.  It blended BEAUTIFULLY with the other alcohol marker in the box.  I want to go back and do another piece with these supples that focuses on these two markers!  Maybe a reindeer!  =)  But again, I'd likely do that on smoother paper.  

Sketchbox Signature Brush Pen - Praline: Also a fabulous alcohol marker.  I'm all about alcohol markers and this one did not disappoint!  

Marabu Graphix Aqua Brush Pen - Aqua: This was a nice pen that reacted well with water!  I really REALLY wish this color had been an olive or sap green.  One of the colors in the watercolor palette was very close to this, and I think a warmer green would have been a lovely addition to the box.  But the performance of the marker itself was great and I will definitely use it in the future! 

Koh-i-Noor Technigraphic Lead Holder: This was a cool supply to have!  I don't have a technical pencil like this and I really enjoyed using it!  I would never have paid retail price for this item, but having gotten it in a box I really am glad to have it - which I think is the exact thing you want to happen with something like sketchbox.  

Molotow Liquid Chrome Pen, 2mm: I have one of these in a smaller size and I was SO EXCITED to see this one in this box!  These pens are amazing.  There really is no other paint pen on the market (that I have seen or used) that shines like this one!  

Koh-i-Noor Polycolor Pencils, White and Black: These pencils were ok.  They were not water based, which is fine but it's hard to live up to the prismacolor white standard.  I wanted to use this for highlights on my piece and I found it difficult to get small details highlighted with this white pencil.  The black pencil worked well.  

Higgins Acrylic Ink, Metallic Copper: This is another gem of the box.  I absolutely love this ink!  The dropper that is inside of the container doesn't work very well, but that's an easy problem for me to fix.  A little goes a long way with this product and it layered over the markers and watercolors like a dream.  It really moved well with water also and I loved using it to add shiny details!  

Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen, Gold and Silver: These were also great!  While not as shiny or vibrant as the liquid chrome pen, these were a fabulous way to add sparkly details to my piece.  They layer well with paints and other markers and I know I'm going to get a lot of use out of them!  

Total Retail Value: $101.71

Cost of the Box: $69.99

**Overall, I think this box was a great value!  I will use most of the supplies in this box regularly, with the exception of the white pencil and the water brush pen.  I think the best upgrade to this box could have been a smoother paper medium like a hot press paper or a mixed media paper.  I also think even a gray toned paper could have been really neat to highlight the metallic elements of the box (which were all amazing!)  I also think a smoother paper might have made the white pencil work better, or maybe having a better white highlight medium and no black/white pencils would have been good for me.  But again, I LOVE the elements of this box and can't wait to play with them more on other surfaces! **

I hope you enjoyed reading this review!  If you also bought this box OR have used any of these supplies, please let me know what you think!  

Easy Watercolor Christmas Cards

Christmas cards, already?  I know, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet in the states!  But if you know me, you know that I make Christmas cards pretty much all year so that I have enough to send out to our very wonderful and large list of family and friends!  By the time we reach November, I'm pretty much looking for a quick and easy type of card with maximum wow factor but minimum effort.  Honestly, that's pretty much ALWAYS the goal!  

This year, I really wanted to get more use out of my metallic watercolor set.  I love this set of paints from Paul Rubens:  

This is the second most expensive watercolor set I own (behind my artist-grade watercolors), and while I love it, I rarely get it out and play with it!  I made it a point last weekend to just get it out and use it, and I ended up with some really great designs!  

1. First, I cut black paper down to 4.25 by 5.5" squares.  I ended up trimming a few of them down and leaving the others the size of the card front.  I used Strathmore black mixed media paper for some of them and Astrobrights black 65lb cardstock for others.  I did NOT buy expensive black watercolor paper for this project - so use what you have!  

2. I painted!  My first picture was a fir tree that I let dry and then spattered on lots of different colors.  The second was a bunch of holly.  The third was a round ornament that I used as the O in Joy.  The fourth was a Christmas wreath that took me a little longer, but I just layered and played with leaf and pine shapes until I got it where I wanted it, and then added berries for a pop of color.  

3. Assemble!  For 3 of the 4 pictures, I added a sentiment (the JOY card didn't need one!).  To do this, I used Christmas sentiment strips that I bought at Simon Says Stamp, and I die cut some words from a Christmas die cut set that I have from Newton's Nook.  For this step, I'm using supplies I already have.  If you don't have Christmas word die cuts OR premade sentiment strips, you could use stamps, write a sentiment with a gel pen, or paint a sentiment with brush lettering!  The point of a handmade card is for it to look handmade, so don't fuss too much if it isn't perfect!  

It felt really good to spend some time using some supplies that I don't use normally.  I was really pleased with how all four of these cards turned out - and I can't wait until they spread some Christmas cheer to family and friends!  

I hope this post gives you some holiday inspiration to get out there and create!