Hi friends, today I have a colorie free treat for you!
Honestly, I think I enjoy drawing sweets more than eating them! Watch the video to see how!
Supplies (affiliate links used)
Happy crafting!
Yummy Cupcake in Marker: Sketchbook Sunday
Month: January 2021
What?!? No more 40% off coupons? Sat Chat 1/30/21
Hi friends! Lot’s to talk about this week! Hobby Lobby will no longer be taking 40% off coupons after 2/28/21 and crafters are outraged! Will this affect your shopping habits? Let me know in the comments!
Other Stuff I mentioned:
- Derwent Lightfast pencils on sale 50% off singles (or were at the time of upload)
- BTW the 30 pack stencils I mentioned a couple weeks ago are back in stock
- The other projects I mentioned are up now or will be up in the next week or so on my YouTube channel
- The Parkoo paint pens used on the rainbow rose are what I recommend for a cheap Posca alternative.
I hope you are having a great weekend! Happy crafting!
Cute Mini Valentines Canvas & Chalkola Acrylic Paint Pen Review
Hi friends! Today I have a fun little project for you. These mini canvases are so easy to paint and mess free using acrylic paint pens. I love this project for kids as you won’t have brushes or paint palettes to clean. Just lay down some newspaper and let the kids create! The canvases can be bought in bulk too making this a fun type of project to do in a classroom setting. If you are a teacher this would be a nice project for mother’s or Father’s day, just switch up the painting subject!
Watch the video to see how! Feel free to use regular acrylics if you don’t have acrylic paint pens.
Supplies (Affiliate links used)
- 4″ canvas and easels
- Chalkola paint pens
- Other: brushes for blending if needed
Chalkola acrylic paint pen review
Pros
- Price (less than $1 per pen)
- Nice color selection
- Durable nibs
- Nibs are also reversible so you have a choice of a bullet or chisel tip on each marker.
Cons:
- Markers take a bit longer to start than others I’ve tried. Be sure to have them primed and ready to go if you are going to use these with kids.
- I had inkflow issues with a couple of colors but was able to get them flowing again after pumping the nib and scribbling on scrap paper.
Bottom Line: These pens are fine for a budget acrylic paint pen. The colors were nice and opaque for a variety of crafts. They are not the best acrylic pens I’ve used but not the worst either. 7 out of 10 stars.
Happy crafting!
Use those beautiful napkins and tissue paper on your cards! Here’s how!
Hi friends! Today I am going to show you how to easy decoupage napkins on cardstock to make beautiful backgrounds using supplies you probably already have.
***Oh! This is completely unrelated but I wanted to share in case anyone is in need of Derwent Lightfast pencils, Blick has the singles 50% off right now, not sure for how long but I just ordered the ones I was missing. I’ll have a full review coming up soon (Spoiler alert, I LOVE them!)***
Watch the easy step by step video to see how!
Supplies (Affiliate links used)
- Pretty paper napkins or tissue (dollar store are a good source for this or start collecting them at parties!)
- Matte mod podge or white glue, thinned with water if needed.
- 1″ flat paintbrush
- Cardstock or something to decopauge your napkin too. It should be light in color as the surface will show through
- Waxed paper or a clean non stick craft sheet.
Now, wasn’t that easy? You can save pretty gift wrap tissue and unused printed napkins to have plenty of supplies on hand the next time you want make a pretty decoupaged background. Happy crafting!
Another Alcohol Brush Marker? Artify Review
Hi friends, today we are going to look at the new brush markers from Artify. They are one of the latest in a long line of Copic competitors bringing alcohol bruhs markers to the market at a very low price. A copic sketch marker is about $8 now and an Artify brush marker runs between .55 and .77 cents. That is a tiny fraction of the price. Let’s see if they are worth it in todays video.
I received the following sets for review (affiliate links used) 108 Brush Marker set of Assorted colors and the 24 Skin tone set.
Product details: The markers have a matte white rounded triangular barrel with a plastic numbered color chip on each cap. They have a brush tip on one end and a chisel tip on the other. No color name on the barrel and the caps do not stack on the other end. These use the same marker body as the Arrtx Alp, Old style Bianyo markers and Altenew Markers, and probably others. The color-coding system match Bianyo, Altenew, and Caliart markers. They range in price from .55 and .79 per marker depending on the size pack. They come in a nice, sturdy carrying and storage case with dividers to make it easy to separate the color in blending families.
Pros:
- Low Price
- Nice case
- Blends and layers well
- Nice assortment of colors
- Includes swatch card
- Color chips are pretty accurate
- The barrel and caps feels high quality (thick, matte plastic) and is comfortable to hold.
Cons:
- Inconsistent placement of chisel tip (you will want to pull some out and reseat them)
- Fiber brush nib (not foam rubber Japanise tip like Copic)
- There are some duplications between sets but also unique colors in each set meaning you would need to buy all sets to get all of the colors but you will have doubles this way of some colors. There were 3 duplications between the skin tone and 108 sets.
Bottom line: These are great for the price. I would compare the quality of the nibs with Ohuhu. On their listing, they say their nibs are higher quality and not reversible like Ohuhu but when I pulled the nib out of the clear marker it looked to be identical. I had hoped since they made this claim, that the markers would have the rubber tip but that is not the case. You could however replace them with the Altenew nibs that are better quality if they run out. *You can refill with Altenew alcohol inks as well if they carry the color. Altenews range is smaller so not every color will be available but it’s nice to know that’s an option. Overall I think they are worth it for the price and the carry case is very nice. I love it when a company sells a product in useful and reusable packaging.
That’s all I have to say on this “copic dupe” what do you think about them? Let me know in the comments below and til next time happy crafting!
You have got to see what PanPastels can do!
Hi friends! I had so much fun creating this painting using PanPastels and pastel pencils!
You can find the full-length pan pastel tutorial of the rocks in Critique club now! or if you want to learn how to paint with soft pastels including PanPastels you might enjoy my Soft Pastels for Beginners course.
You can use whatever kind of pastels you like. PanPastels are nice if you love the look of pastels but don’t like the feeling of chalk on your hands. I also think they are more economical in the long run and less dusty. See them in action and learn more in today’s video!
Supplies (affiliate links used)
- Pan Pastel sets
- Open Stock PanPastels
- Sponges and tools
- Pastel pencils: Best Budget, Generals 36 pack I used Derwent a lot here too, they come in sets from 12-72, I have the 24 set.
- Paper (Canson Mi Tintes)
- Fixative
- Reference Photo
I hope this inspires you to give pastels a try! Happy crafting!
Paint a bunny with me in watercolor!
Hi friends! Got some extra time this weekend? Well, grab your supplies and let’s paint this sweet bunny!
Watch the video and paint along!
Supplies (Affiliate links used)
- Camel watercolors
- Arteza Sketchbook 9″x12”
- Optional: Watercolor pencil for sketching (brown) *I used an Albrecht Durer watercolor pencil but you don’t need something that high end.
- Colored pencils (Prismacolor)
- Gel pen (white) *I linked to Uniball because the Arteza ones I used in this project are giving me trouble and the uni-ball is more reliable
- Reference photo
I hope you get some creative time this weekend and til next time happy crafting!
Watercolor Pencil Comparison
Hi friends! I started a video series this year of going through various types of supplies in my collection and comparing them. Over the last two decades of teaching and a lifetime of creating art I have tried quite a variety of things and I hope this series will help determine what is right for you and what products are essentially duplicates for one another. I’ll also share my thoughts on what I feel is the best bang for your buck. Below the video you can see the products listed out. Some may be discontinued. Maybe you already own some of these products and it will inspire you to use them or maybe you are trying to decide between a couple of these products. In any event, I hope it helps! By the way, I am using blick white sulphite drawing paper for my swatches, it is a lovely drawing paper that will accept a light wash. I figure this middle of the road paper will give you a middle ground comparison since I have some stampers and papercrafters working on smooth cardstocks as well as watercolor artists who watch. Keep in mind working on a rougher paper will pull off more pigment and give you richer colors. On to the video!
Watercolor pencils in order or appearance. *denotes my best favorite/recommendation. Affiliate links used.
Budget & Craft Grade Pencils
- *Pagos 72 set *Also available in a set with the 72 colored pencils at a lower per pencil price. I like both of these and the colors match perfectly. This would be a great starter set. Full reviews here: https://www.youtube.com/c/thefrugalcrafter/search?query=pagos%20review
- *Arteza 120 (smaller sets available, look for the EXPERT range)
- Prima Marketing (lots of duplicates between sets, I think these have been discontinued)
- *Spectrum Noir Aquablend: These retail for $39 for a 24 set but Craft Stash has them for $21.69 for the 24 set or $12.99 for the 12 sets. I know there are no duplicates in the 24 sets so you can build your collection as your budget allows) These are the pencils I use the most often and I have been very happy with them
Artist-grade Pencils Artist-grade watercolor pencils are available open stock so you can buy a couple of pencils to see if you like them before investing in a set or replace a pencil if you use it up without having to rebuy a set. Also, they should have lightfast ratings available that are trustworthy. Keep in mind not all artist grade pencils will be lightfast but checking the ratings can help you avoid these if you wish.
- Caran Dache Supracolor: These are not the top of the line watercolor pencils offered by CaranDache but they are pretty good. Caran Dache products tend to run on the high side but they are wonderful. If you are interested in their top of the line watercolor pencil you will want the Museum Aquarelle, I have not used those myself.
- *Faber Castel Albright Drurer: These are my favorite watercolor pencils, they are lightfast, open stock and still a good value, I bought my set of 120 for around $160 over 10 years ago and the price is still around that on Blick. Work will last done with these pencils.
- Derwent Watercolor Pencils: These were my first watercolor pencils more than 20 years ago. They are not bad but there are better choices available now for the price in my opinion,
- *Derwent Inktense pencils and Blocks I really love these for the color payout and the fact that I can use them on fabric and they are permanent. A really versatile product! They are available in pan format too.
- Koh I Noor Mondulez: These are good but come in a smaller color range and open stock is harder to find but available
Specialty pencils:
- Derwent Metallic watercolor pencils (discontinued but you can find old sets with the silver barrels on Amazon, the gold barrels are not watersoluble)
- Derwent Graphitint
Woodless Watercolor pencils (and watercolor crayons that are hard like pencils)
- Altenew
- *Arteza (recommendation based on a lower price for equivalent products)
- Creatacolor *see my full comparison to the above 3 products here
- *Jane Davenport/Sargent Art/Mungyo watercolor crayons (I recommend as an alternative to the discontinued Aquatone pencils)
- Dina Wakly Scribble Sticks
- Aquatone (discontinued)
*I also compared them to LYRA watercolor crayons which are softer and waxier and I really like them but they are not what I’d call a pencil and also the Caran Dache Neocolor 2 crayons. You can check out my watercolor crayon comparison here.
Hopefully this gives you some ideas on how to use the products you have, maybe look at them in a new way or decide what it right for you. Please check my YouTube channel for other comparisons! Happy crafting!
Ask a Crafter is Back!
Hi friends! I am experimenting with bringing back ask a crafter. Here is the first episode. Episodes will air on Wednesday’s on my YouTube channel and I will probably post them here within a week after.
Got questions for me? Leve them over on my YouTube community thread and I will answer the most popular ones (determined by the number of “thumbs-ups” on the questions) in an upcoming episode! Happy crafting!
The Frugal Crafter Blog 