I love that many of the stamp companies have monthly releases of new products. The drawback of course is that I spend too much money of new craft supplies to play with!
The wonderful thing about it is that I am crafting every spare minute! I’m loving that I am trying so many new techniques and tools that I never tried before. It is opening new crafting doors that I never even knew where there!
This month’s Altenew release may be my favorite release of all: Watercolors!
Wowzers, Altenew! This is spectacular!
They released a set of 36 watercolors, 2 different sizes of watercolor palettes, 3 different sizes of watercolor brushes and a watercolor pan case. They have special bundle price for the complete set and the watercolor pan case is free with the purchase of the watercolors for a limited time. I love free things! I also had a 5% off coupon from my purchase from last month so I felt like I got a spectacular deal.
Mine arrived today. I could not resist playing with them.
I was inspired to create a swatch book of the colors after completing my swatch ring of ink pad colors for my Catherine Pooler inks. I decided that I would like to do this for all my coloring media. I used a mixed media notebook from Canson that is spiral bound. I was inspired to do this by Alexandra from Hedgehog Hollow. I shared the August Hedgehog Hollow kit with you a few days ago and I find that I get a lot of tips for organizing and new tools and techniques from Alexandra, the design team and the other hollowers.
Her tip for creating a book of all your ink collections including paints, pencils, and markers is that you can carry it with you when you go to craft stores or craft shows. The book lets you know what you already have and what you still “need”. (Let’s be real…that has to go in quotation marks because until this becomes my full time job in a little over a year, I don’t actually need anything else. I could craft into eternity and beyond without running out of supplies.)
She also suggested that her husband and kids merely need to look at the book to see what she’s missing and they will immediately have gift ideas for her. That is my favorite reason for doing this!
I feel like a real watercolorist now with an official paint set that has half pans of artist grade watercolors. My favorite thing is that these coordinate with Altenew’s ink pads and Artist Markers.
Can I just say that I am in heaven right now?!
The included Lagoon…my very favorite color. Ocean Waves is also there. Another of my faves. Plus, all of the colors that I reach for most often…all there. The paint pans lift out and the color name is on the bottom of each one. I’m assuming that at some point, Altenew will have replacement pans you will be able to purchase to refill your set. Notice that the water brushes fit in the pan as well and the lid serves as a wonderful place to mix your paints as you are working. It is very portable.
The separate palettes will be nice as well. I actually have a pad of plastic coated paper palettes that I use. This plastic one can be used over and over. This is better for the environment and truly more cost effective. I’m happy that they came out with those at the same time as the paints. The brushes are a nice touch as well. Having 3 different sized brushes is truly handy. I’m not sure what I will do with the extra case. It was free! I’m hoping that they come out with more colors and all I will have to do is purchase the colors and slide them into my free extra case.
I’m letting the colors dry and tomorrow I will take my fine tip sharpie and write the color names next to each one. I created 4 columns and 9 rows and painted each of the colors in the order that they are in the case. I tried to blend the color out a little as I painted it so that I could see the dark versus light version of each color depending on how much water I add. I need practice with that technique. (Honestly, Kristina Werner makes that look so easy! It is not. I will be practicing that skill!)
I was happy to see that this also did not bleed through to the page below. I will no doubt leave the page below blank just in case Altenew comes out with more colors!
I can’t wait to start watercoloring some real projects with these paints. Don’t those beautiful colors just make you feel inspired to create?!
Thank you for stopping by today! Happy weekend!
I LOVE that you have all of your coloring media in a spiral notebook! That is so handy! Your swatches look lovely, and I’m glad you are enjoying our watercolor set so far!
I really loved the idea of creating a swatch set of the colors and I find myself referring to it every time I use my watercolors. I’m really enjoying the watercolor set.