NeocolorII Watersoluble Crayons - Yay Or Nay !!

Good Morning lovely people out there in Mixed Media land !!

Tracy here with todays Mixed Media Wednesday post for the 'Mixed Media Mojo Design Team........

I dont know about you but i am obsessed with every new mixed media product that i discover, the lure of playing and experimenting with something new is just too much for me to resist and before i know it ive made the purchase only to leave my new obsession sitting there gathering dust as i have no idea what to do with it !!

Well no more !!!...... i am working my way through my materials and determined to justify each and every purchase...

A couple of months ago i went on holiday and decided to take only my neocolorII watersoluble crayons (that i had had for about a year and never used!!) and some black and white acrylic paints as well as some background and feature stamps, and i am so glad that i did, the first couple of pages i created i wasnt very impressed with but as i perservered throughout my holiday and just experimented with them in different ways eventually i was able to produce results that i was happy with.....

So.....What are neocolorII crayons ??
They are a crayon in all senses of the word and come is some fabulous colours, you can use them in the traditional sense and use them dry to colour, highlight and shadow your work, they are highly pigmented and the best this about them is when they are activated with a wet brush they turn into amazing watercolours, 

Are they Expensive ??
They are not the cheapest watersoluble crayons on the market however they can be purchased either in sets or individually and in my personal opinion the colours and intensity make them worth the price (individual crayons retail for around £1.40 or $2.00) and the fact that you can purchase individually means you can buy the colours that you want or just buy a couple to try out and see if you like them without committing to a more expensive set purchase. 

Would i recommend them ??
Without a doubt !!, they have become a real staple in my art journalling stash now that i have figured out how to get the results that i want and i love the portability of them when travelling.


So if like me you have these sitting in your stash gathering dust, break them out, blow off the dust and get playing and experimenting, they really are a hidden gem !!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting today

Bright and painty hugs
Tracy
xxx

Dylusions !!!

Morning everyone, Tracy here with today's post for the 'A sprinkle of Imagination' design team....

I've been playing around a lot lately with the new dylusions paints and I have to say I have really fallen in love with them. The colours are fabulous and they dry super quickly (which is good for me as I'm so impatient when I'm creating !!!)

I love all the quirky character stamps out on the market at the moment but unfortunately they are never big enough for me. I like to work in my large dylusions journal and I want my characters to fill the pages so I decided to create my own......

I started by painting the background with the dylusions paint in turquoise and red. I always use Dina's brushes when painting and they are perfect for the dylusions paint as well. I used some of Dyan's stamps with black archival ink and stencils with white dylusions paint to add interest to the background. 

Once the background was dry I sketched a basic outline of my character and then filled in the outline with Dina's White gesso to give a good base for the drawing. 

Then it was on to the best bit of actually creating my character. I took a mix of inspirations from the Internet, cobbled them together to bring her to life. I did some very basic face shading using dylusions pink, orange, red and white, with the gorgeous turquoise (my favourite) for the eyes, and black for the hair. 

The dress was painted in dylusions yellow and then once dry I went around all of the outlines with a black waterproof pen in a scratchy scribbly style. I love my newly created character and at approx 11 inches high she is the perfect size for my page. 

Thank you for stopping by

Bright and painty hugs

Tracy

Xx

Old school New school !!!

Morning everyone. I'm here today with my post for the 'A sprinkle of imagination' design team

What better way to show you care than a hand painted birthday card ???

Like many of us I started out as a old school card maker and still possess lots of left over card blanks and envelopes which rarely see the light of day since I discovered my new mixed media passion.....

No more !!

I am on a mission at the moment to use up lots of old supplies that are gathering dust in drawers, cupboards, boxes and bags in every room in the house (yes I do have that much to use up !!) 

I used Dina's fabulous paints in lime and turquoise to create my background on a brown Kraft card scratching patterns into the wet paint with the end of my paint brush !!! (I always use Dina's brushes they are fabulous). I then allowed this to dry before roughly sketching out my flower. I painted the flower with Dina's magenta acrylic paint and allowed to dry. 

Once dry I used my fabulous Rranger Fudeballblack marker pen to add detail around my flower and to also add an outline to the painted area. Finally using it to write the word 'Thirty'

I added some further details with a white pen to finish off. 

Just for fun I decided to add a matching envelope design and repeated the processes and colours again on a smaller scale in the corner of the envelope. 

It's a long way from the cards I used to make in my 'card making' days but love that I can use my new found passion for paints and inks etc to take me back to my old school roots in a new school way !!! 

Thanks for stopping by today

Bright and painted hugs

Tracy