Colored Pencils review

I will be posting more reviews and projects on a more regular basis later on in April. Hope you will stop back and visit me often.

So many colored pencils out there, how to choose? Hopefully I can save you some time and crafting dollars by being the Guinea pig here. I tested the Prismacolors, Derwent Inktense, Lyra, and EK Success ones today. My favorites were the Prismacolors and Lyra, they went onto the paper so smoothly with a soft creamy feel that I loved. I used Whisper White thick card stock to try these out, I found this to be my favorite for alcohol markers and general coloring.

The Derwent were nice but not as creamy, they seem to be a bit more waxy and shiny for my personal taste. I'll most likely use these when I travel, if I lose them or leave them behind I won't be as sad. (Have to always have a portable craft, right?) 
The EK Success were really not great, you have to go over and over it to get decent color and they left shreds of pigment on the paper. They kind of put the suck in Success.

I would recommend just buying a couple of Prismacolor pencils to start. They sell them separately in most large craft stores. Maybe some greens to practice leaves with, you can always use these colors! I know it's tempting to buy whole sets of things as it is usually less expensive this way. Test first if you can, it's not a bargain if you're not going to use it or are always on the hunt for something that works a little better for you.
The Lyras are lovely too, I'll be on the lookout for some deals on them while I am in Germany.
Happy coloring, y'all!

Great Glasses, Batman!

There was an unusual challenge today over at Splitcoast to use glasses/sight images of any kind for your project and I had the perfect stamp for it! This large eyeglasses stamp is an older one by JudiKins that I have had for a long time and had never used yet. Didn't quite know what to do with it.
I used Stampin' Up!'s heavy Whisper White card stock which is great for extra stability and coloring with alcohol ink markers. I used a doodle flower stamp set from Sizzix (don't know the name of it but it came with a bunch of sentiments, some flowers and a set of frame dies). You could easily doodle your own flowers, these look pretty basic. I added some extra little circles with my Micron fine tip marker pen. The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread and is called Missing You, which is the sentiment I stamped on the inside of the card.  

Picket Fence and Flowers

I used the combination stamp set and coordinating dies from Sizzix (Stephanie Barnard line) in various Stampin' Up! card stock colors and Hero Arts ink spots. The Hero Arts inks seem to stamp better, more clear images than SU for me on the colored card stock.

Brushos Birthday

I can't recommend these Brushos color crystals enough, they are so much fun to work with! Simply spritz watercolor paper with water and gently sprinkle some Brushos on and let them spread out. I poked little tiny holes into the top of the cap so they don't come dumping out all at once. I got the set of 12 colors on Amazon, they also sell them on ebay if you prefer that venue.

Smile!

Another using the adorable Lawn Fawn Sweet Smiles set colored in Copic markers with some miscellaneous designer papers that I chose to mimic the gumball shape. I am on a mission to start using my overwhelming collection of papers. It's SO hard not to keep buying more and more but I will try.

Sweet Smile Gumballs

I simply could not resist this Sweet Smiles set from Lawn Fawn with all of those little faces in the set. They are pretty tiny stamps so you have to be pretty careful getting a hold of them and getting them back onto the window sheet without losing them. I think I will be putting smiles on everything for a while :) I added some glossy Crystal Effects to each of the gumballs for that realistic candy coating shine!
This is for this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge, the SCS color and teapot challenge challenges. Card stock, ribbon, and papers are all Stampin' Up!

Sand Dollar or Sea Biscuit

I'm not quite sure if this is considered a sand dollar or a sea biscuit. I'm from NJ and the sand dollars on the East Coast have holes on the edges and top. This one is from the Washington coast and I left it in it's natural state to make this ornament. The next one will be bleached and cleaned to see if I can make it a brighter white.
 I used the photopolymer stamp from Flourishes "Coastal Christmas" set and it was not too difficult to stamp it carefully onto the slightly rounded shell. Colored with Copic markers. You have to sort of dab the color on since the shell is rough and will tear up your nib if you try to color back and forth. I braided some bakery twine for the hanger. Can't wait to add this to my beach tree next season. I had the most difficult time finding beach/shell themed ornaments out here in the Pacific Northwest. They were a lot easier to come by at my previous home on the Jersey Shore :)