Huge Coloring Media Giveaway & Marker/Pencil Gel Pen Layering Technique!

Hi friends, the lovely folks at ColorIt are having a free instructor lead coloring party AND giving away over $500 in prizes! Below is the loot going to one of my lucky subscribers!

Sign up for a chance to win the coloring supply bundle I showed you ( including 50 Markers, 72 Pencils, 48 Gel Pens, Colors of Nature and Around The World) here If you live in the USA. Links to the international giveaways are on the right hand side of the giveaway page. You can sign up for the free live coloring party here, it will be Thursday at May 11th at 9pm eastern time and they have a coloring page for you to download and print so you can follow along with the professional instructor who is leading the free tutorial.

In today’s video you can see the prizes up for grabs and I will show you how layering media in your coloring books or stamped images for cardmaking can yield beautiful results. I have linked all the supplies I used below the video but feel free to use the supplies you already have:)

Here are the butterflies from the book that I showed in the video. I really love the paper in the Color It books, my markers and pens lay down smoothly but there is still enough tooth for pencil. I really love the depth of marker plus colored pencil as illustrated on the large butterfly but I also love the shimmer from over-layering the gel pen. So many options!

Supplies: (Refills are available for all Colorit coloring products! Save 10% with coupon code: frugal10)

• ColorIt Set of 50 Markers 
• Color it Set of 72 Pencils
• Color it Set of 48 Gel Pens 
• Colors of Nature and Around The World Coloring Books 
• Silicone tipped tool (for gel pen blending)

Techniques:

Example 1-Marker + Colored pencil: Color image with marker, let dry and shade and highlight with colored pencil to build richness

Example 2-Marker + Gel Pen: Color with marker, let dry, apply a small amount of dark gel pen to shadow area and blend with silicon tipped tool. Repeat with light shades until satisfied. Works well with glitter gel pens.

Example 3 – Colored Pencil + Gel Pen: Color with colored pencils and then add gel pen over top and blend with silicone tipped tool. The gel pen will stay wetter over the wax pencil so you have more time to blend.

I hope you try some of these techniques and make sure you head over to the Color It website to sign up for the giveaway and Free coloring party! Happy Crafting & Coloring!

Sponsored by ColorIt

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$2 Embossing Folders & 25% off Total Purchase!

Hi friends! I am sorry I did not share this sale earlier but it is a great one! 25% off your total (non-sale) purchase at Consumer Crafts! The also have free shipping on orders over $75!

They also have their embossing folders on sale for $2 each! It is a great time to stock up, it is where I bought most of mine because you can’t beat the price or selection but they do sell out fast so don’t delay.

They also have the best prices on markers and colored pencils from Crafter’s Companion so if you have been waiting for a deal to buy these the time is now! They even have the watercolor markers I use a lot for stamp school on sale for under $16!

They also sell a larger variety of craft supplies from painting to floral to jewelry making and storage so if you are in need check them out today when they have 25% off your total order. Any thing you purchase at Consumer crafts after clicking my special discount affiliate links in this post also help support the free tutorials I post here and on YouTube and I thank you for your support! Happy shopping and crafting!

 

 

Colorful Palm Trees!

Hi friends! First of all I want to remind anyone who has not signed up for a chance to win the FabArt brush set I blogged about last week to go sign up because I will pick a winner tomorrow night! I also want to remind you of the importance of taking a little time for yourself every day to create! Drawing is a great option because you don’t need a lot of stuff and you can do it anywhere and on any budget. If you want to get fancy use colored pencils, pens and watercolor. Your materials are not going to make you a better artist but the practice of drawing will so grab some paper and get going:)

I did a little sketching on vacation and one of my favorites was a colored pencils and watercolor sketch of a palm tree. I recreated it in this real-time video for you. Feel free to sketch or paint along!

Supplies:

• Colored Pencils: Tri-Tone or these fun budget friendly dual ended crayolas!
• Watercolor paper or Watercolor sketchbook (Jane Davenport in demo-Strathmore visual journal for other sketches) I also like the 400 series from Strathmore and it is on sale here.
• Watercolors (variety)
• Waterbrush

Tip! Try sketching with the pencils on wet and dry paper! BTW I painted a mermaid on the opposite page of the journal, if you would like to see a demo of that you can on YouTube. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

*Please note that affiliate links were used in this post directing you to deals that would work for this project, it does not cost you any extra to buy via my discount links but I do earn a small commission on the things you buy, thank you for your support:)

 

Stamp School: Colored Pencils & Gamsol AND Liquid Applique!

Hi friends! Today I have a bunch of fun techniques that will add a bit of dimension to your cards and get you using some old supplies!

Most of us have colored pencils in our stash but they get overlooked sometimes because we have fancy markers to use or maybe because the repeated coloring can be tiring. Tonight I am going to show you a technique for using colored pencils that is easy on your hands and give spectacular results! You can even apply this to your adult coloring books! Watch the video to see how!

Video!

Sponsored by Art Neko *Save 10% off your next order of any size or get free shipping on orders over $50 (whichever discount is greater you get!) just by mentioning thefrugalcrafter!

Supplies:
Snowman stamp from Country Christmas #2 set (lots of big images to color!)
Watercolor paper (any brand)
White 5″x7″ card
Blue patterned paper (DCWV) or cardstock
Colored Pencils (Colourblend-I reviewed these yesterday on my blog)
Solvent: Gamsol, Odorless mineral spirits, goo-gone or baby oil
Black sharpie
White gel pen
Blending stumps
White Liquid Applique

Directions:
1. Stamp image on watercolor.
2. Gently shade design with colored pencils as shown.
3. Apply solvent (Gamsol) to the image using a blending stump to smooth out color.
4. Tear edges of panel then mount on blue paper and then on a 5″x7″ white greeting card. Handwrite in or stamp a sentiment if desired.

I know this looks like a very simple card but you can apply these techniques to more elaborate cards too! Have fun with this and let me know what you think in the comments below! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

LIVE Kingfisher in Watercolor/Colored Pencil Tutorial 12:30pm ET today!

Hi friends! Wow, what a whirlwind week! I have been so busy with the launch of my Craftsy class that I did not get a chance to prepare my live stream project until this morning, here is what we will paint:

Just a heads up, I plan of doing the free live painting classes every Friday at 12:30pm Eastern Time so you can plan on that even if I am late preparing the lesson. I don’t want anyone to miss out on the live chat! If you want to chat live, ask questions and hang out with your crafty friends you can do so on the YouTube watch page. As always you can also watch the live show or the replay in the player below:

This tutorial is sponsored by Jerry’s Artarama!
Supplies:

• Turner Watercolors (or your favorite brand) Yellow Ochre, Permanent Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Phtalo Blue, sap green
• Colored Pencils (waxed based- I used Prismacolor today)
• Watercolor paper
• Mimik brushes #20 flat, #2 round, #6 round
• Other: cotton swab, paper towel, masking tape, pencils, credit card scraper
• Reference photo by Paul Sherman

I can’t wait to hang out and paint with you on YouTube. Please feel free to share this with all of your artsy friends! The more the merrier! Happy crafting!

Stamp School: Colored Pencils & Solvent Tutorial {House Mouse!}

Hi Friends! Today I am going to share a technique that can help you stretch your supplies and this technique work with any wax or oil based colored pencils, even your kid’s Crayola or Prang colored pencils.

I am using the House Mouse stamp Lily Pad Life from Stampendous. These designs are fun to color, my friend Tracey turned me on to these stamps years ago and I am still adding to my collection, I think they are so darling but any stamp that has areas to color will work just as well. Watch the tutorial to see how it’s done!

Video!

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampendous-House Mouse Designs Lily Pad Life
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Medium: Colored Pencils
Blending Solution: Gamsol
Blending Stumps

If you don’t have Gamsol brand solvent you can use odorless mineral spirits (aka paint thinner), goo-gone or baby oil to blend these:) You can also use clear alcohol based markers to blend the pencils but they do not work as well as the other solvents and it can clog the marker. If you have watercolor pencils you can use a water based blender pen, I prefer a water based blending pen (marker) as opposed to a waterbrush because you can control the color better and it leaves the color on the paper rather than washing it away.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to Hallmark Scrapbook and Blitsy, 2 shops that have good prices and selection of the products we use a lot. When you make a purchase through these links we earn a small commission on the sale but it doesn’t cost you more, in fact, I try to find the best price for you:) Tip: Blitsy takes competitors 40% off  coupons so if you have a big-ticket item to purchase check there first!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

 

SOHO Colored Pencil Review (and last chance to win…)

Hi friends! I just wanted to remind you that you only have a few hours left to sign up to win a spot in my new Craftsy mixed media class! If you haven’t already entered the giveaway you can here, good luck!

I recently got a set of 72 SOHO colored pencils from Jerrys Artarama. They are artist quality pencils made by Creatacolor specifically for the SOHO line. I tested them out on an adult coloring book, watercolor paper and smooth cardstock. See the results in today’s video!

Pros:

• Pencils are labeled with real artist color names (ie cadmium yellow, sap green) so it makes selecting colors easier and reinforces pigment and color recognition.
• Highly pigmented
• No wax bloom on the papers I tested.
• Affordable compared to other artist quality brands.
• Hexagon barrels won’t roll off your surface.
• The harder lead is stronger and less likely to break when sharpened.
• Open stock is available so you can try out a few color is you are unsure about buying a set and you can replace colors if they get used up or lost.

Cons:

• Drier than other waxier or oiler brands so it will feel chalkier than other brands when colored with. I only mention this as a con because we associate the creamy feeling with media as a plus and some people are put off by the feel of a drier/scratcher media.

I hope you found this review useful, there are so many great products out there that is can be tough to choose and you don’t want to buy a low quality product or something that is identical to something you already have. I think these will work nicely with the colors I have as they are less waxy and I can use my softer pencils over them if I want more richness in color. I recommend trying these on a paper with some tooth but they will work on coloring books and smooth card too. Happy Crafting!