28 August 2016

Colouring Quest Part 3:Coloured Pages

It's time for another installment of 'Colouring Quest'! I've been looking forward to sharing my finished colouring pages for a while now so I'm super excited to share some today! I haven't started to colour in all of my colouring books yet so I may write several blog posts in this series showing you more of my colouring! Let me know what books from the first post you particularly want to see me colour in! Okay let's get started!

 This was the first detailed colouring page I completed! It's the first page in the Day of the Dead colouring book drawn by Thaneeya McArdle. The colouring on this page isn't as complex as ones I have coloured in more recently but I really enjoyed colouring this in. I coloured this before getting my prismacolour pencils or blending pencils. What I did use was sharpies, bic colouring pencils and stabilo felt tips. The sharpies brought a vibrant colour but I can't use them in colouring books that are printed double sided. The Day of the Dead book isn't printed double sided though, it has lineart on one side and a quote on the other side so I can use pens in this book! I really enjoyed working on gradients in this picture. I definitely have developed colour application skills after discovering adult colouring! What I need to work on now is using watercolours, I guess I'll get better at that when I use the 1960s fahsion colouring book!
 This second colouring page is also from the Day of the Dead colouring book by Thaneeya McArdle. I loved using different tones in the hair, I think it created a really great effect. I used the same materials as I did on the last page in this book. I think the metallic bronze coloured sharpie made this page really stand out! My favourite part of the colouring of this page (apart from the hair) is the lips. The delicate red to write gradient looks very effective in my opinion because it looks like the lips are shiny. Although in this book you can use whatever colour you want anyway, I still feel that I am much better at coming up with colour schemes now than I was when colouring in this book. The tips in the front of this book were really helpful. I recommend that you should take a look at one of Thaneeya McArdle's books because there's an introduction section at the front of every book with tips on how to use colour and there's examples of fully coloured pages to inspire you. It's really useful to know your way around the colour wheel if you're interested in art!
 Moving onto another book now, here's some colouring from Lost Ocean by Johanna Basford! This isn't from a colouring page in the book but is a design front the dust cover flap! I only used gel pens for this because the white spaces were very narrow as you can see. Also, the gel pens give a fluorescent effect and really contrast with the black background which I think looks great! I have started to colour some actual pages but haven't finished them yet. The thing about just using gel pens is that they are quick and easy to use for fine details whereas using coloured pencils takes a lot longer, especially for me, because I like to create gradients and smooth blending with them. But once I've finished pictures with prismacolour pencils, they have a great impact! I love the Lost Ocean book but lots of the lineart in this book is extremely detailed so difficult to colour and will obviously take a while. I'll try to finish some of the pictures I started in this book for you guys to see when I next share finished colouring pages!
 Now I'll move onto the Secret Garden colouring book by Johanna Basford. Out of all the books I have, this is probably the one I use the most. When I got this book, I was starting to colour more often and then from that point on I kept getting more colouring books! I love this lineart of a well. It was really nice to colour a little bit each day until it was done! I think it would look better with a background but I haven't learned how to make backgrounds with pastels yet. When I do I'll let you know! If I learn would you like to see a tutorial/tips? I used primacolours for most of the colouring on this page but I also use gel pens for a few small details! This page has lots of colours in, I'm not sure if it would look better with a colour scheme like some other pages I've coloured!


The next page from Secret Garden was this page. It isn't entirely finished (I was meant to colour the watering can in with silver before taking the picture) but it's pretty much done. As you can see, it has a very limited colour scheme of all the shades of blue and some silver details. I chose blue so that the foliage and flowers look like water flowing out of the watering can. I used prismacolour pencils and gel pens for this page! I prefer colouring in pages with more room in them for blending than this but I still enjoyed colouring this page too because it was nice to flow with the twirly lineart! It was a bit of a challenge for me to limit myself to just blue and silver for this page! Before colouring this page in, I was used to using any colour I liked!



The last piece of colouring I have to share with you today is also from Secret Garden. It is possibly my favourite picture from this blog post! It is a sunflower that I really enjoyed colouring in! The reason I love this one so much is because I used such warm, bright colours for the petals! I used red, orange and yellow in different shades to blend together. I think that I blended it really smoothly in this picture. I also like the leaves, to start off with I just used different shades of green to colour them in but then I added some yellow in the centre which I think really brought out the colour on the leaves and brought life to the picture! We get a bunch of flowers in my house every year on my birthday because when I was born my Dad brought my Mum a bunch of sunflowers. So I thought about that whilst colouring this! Again, I think that this would look better with a background. I might add backgrounds to some of the pictures I've already coloured in the future once I've learned how.


So I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my coloured pages today and hearing a bit more about how I colour! Sorry that some of the photos are a little blurry, it was hard to focus because there was so much detail on some of these pages! I'd like to hear your opinion of my colouring so I can improve! To see all of the previous posts in the 'Colouring Quest' series click here to find the colouring label!

Let me know what you think in the comments and tell me what book you want me to start colouring next that I haven't featured in this post (A Whimsical Woodland, Vogue, 1960s fashion, Enchanted Forest)! I love reading all of your comments!


21 August 2016

The Am/Pm Routine Tag

Today I'm writing a chatty post! I saw this tag on Rosie's blog (http://rosieauthorwriting.blogspot.co.uk/) whilst I was catching up with my favourite blogs! If you want to see the blogs I recommend, please look at the list on the left hand side of my blog!

What is your morning beauty routine?
I don't have much of a beauty routine but I pretty much always put on liquid concealerwith a colour correcting primer and put my hair in a bit up and a bit down hairstyle. This is the basic 'routine' I suppose but I also wear more makeup on weekends. Makeup I wear on weekends varies but typically includes a bit of blush, bronzer (in summer), clear mascara (or black mascara every now and then) and neutral eye shadow. I don't tend to wear much makeup very often though.
What's for breakfast?
Normally I'll have toast with peanut butter, especially on a school morning because it's quick to make. Sometimes I have other breakfasts every now and then like croissants or cinnamon raisin bagels.
Coffee or tea?
Tea! I don't think I've had much coffee before actually. I normally have Yorkshire Tea but I also love to have chai tea in Winter!
How long does it take you to get out of the door?
On a school morning it takes me about 40 minutes in the morning to do everything (eat my breakfast, get dressed, brush my teeth, put my shoes on, etc) but on weekends I take a bit longer perhaps an hour?
What's your go-to make up look on a fuss-free morning?
A bit of concealer, tinted lip balm and sometimes mascara.
What is your evening routine?
I have a shower or bath and exfoliate my face with my pink grapefruit neutrogena face scrub and wash with my watermelon shower gel. If I have a bath, I also use LUSH products. I am loving the Sunnyside orange scented bubble bar at the moment!
Snack time! What's in the bowl?
After school I have a piece of fruit or a yoghurt but on weekends I tend to have something savoury like chilli peanuts or crisps.
How do you wind down and prep for bed?
After I get ready for bed (have a shower, pack my bag and brush my teeth) I watch a comedy whilst I do something else. I love to watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S on an evening whilst I do something creative like colouring or writing to penpals! Sometimes if I'm not watching a program, I might watch some crafty YouTube videos or browse pinterest. Also, I like to read a book on an evening sometimes. I do all sorts of things on an evening so it's not just one thing I can say!
Cozy up! What are you wearing for bed?
If it's warm I wear a shorts and t-shirt PJ set. If it's cold I'll wear long pyjama bottoms with a top.
What are some things you must do before you hit the hay?
Put tea tree oil on my spots and drink a glass of water. These aren't things I absolutely must do every day but I do these things quite often.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know a bit more about me in this chatty post! I tag everyone who reads this to give it a go if they would like to! It was very fun to try something different on my blog!

Head to the comment section to let me know if you enjoy this type of chatty, chilled out post where you get to know me! I'd love to hear what you think! 



10 August 2016

Colouring Quest Part 2: My Pencils, Pens & More

I have a confession to make...I am addicted to stationery! Whenever I go shopping I love to spend AGES in stationery shops such as Paperchase looking for cute bits and bobs for my desk or pencil case! Luckily for me (or not so luckily depending on how you see it) it's back to school season so I can find a whole new range of stationery! Since I like stationery, I have tons of pens and pencils so today I thought I would share the equipment I use for colouring and tell you a bit about how/why I use them. Let's get started!
The first thing I have to show you are the gel pens I use for details. Gel pens are fun to use every now and then because they bring a pop of vibrant colour (and maybe a bit of sparkle) to a picture that colouring pencils can't create. They're handy to use in the narrow spaces of lineart because sometimes no matter how sharp the pencil is, it still goes over the lines!  These gel pens are from 'The Works' but they're just generic gel ones that you could probably find in most shops.

 The next thing I have to show you are my Prismacolour pencils, these are probably what I use the most because they are great for blending and creating a variety of shades! Prismacolours are quite pricey but I believe that they are worth the extra money. They are shatter resistant, have a soft lead and the colours really stand out! This particular set (Prismacolor premier-48 pack) has a wide variety of colours and shades to use from. I have several coloured pencil sets and these are by far my favourites. You don't have to have expensive art supplies to colour really well though.

 Thirdly I want to show you my Stabilo coloured fineliners. I probably use these the least for colouring out of all the supplies because I tend to use the gel pens for details rather than these, but sometimes I like to add little finishing touches with these. There's a wide range of colours to use and are kept in a handy container. Although I don't use them as much for colouring, I do use them a lot for other things such as writing happy mail or making colourful doodles!
Last but not least, here are my blending tools! Here I have a Derwent blender pencil and some Royal & Langnickel blending stumps in varying sizes. These are SO useful because before i had blending tools, it took me absolutely ages to create a stunning gradient. But now, with these tools, although it still takes a little while it is so much faster to blend colours! In my opinion, the blender pencil is more effective than the blending stumps and slightly easier to control. However, you may think differently so if you're thinking of buying blending tools, I recommend that you try both. I've also heard that you can use baby oil to blend but I haven't tried it out yet.

So that's it for part 2 of 'Colouring Quest'! If you enjoyed it, make sure that you come back for the next part and follow my blog to keep up to date with new posts! If you're waiting to see my finished colouring pages don't fret! I'm still busy colouring! I'll be uploading some soon but whilst you wait, if you want to see sneak peaks of the colouring, follow this link!

Let me know in the comments what your favourite set of pencils/pens you have and what supplies you recommend for people who love to colour! 

03 August 2016

Read With Your Cuppa' #6

    Youtuber to Watch
    LittleHotTamale is a crafty YouTube channel full of happy mail inspiration! Meg's channel inspired me to start penpalling because her tutorial videos looked so fun! If you wondered how to make that squashbook that I shared, you can find a tutorial for making squashbooks on her channel! If you're looking for any more happy mail videos, you should also check out my new YouTube channel where I will be sharing lots of mail themed videos along with lots of other crafty bits! 




    Fun Activity
    Colouring is a relaxing activity that I love to do! It can also help artistic people develop their colour application skills. I have noticed that as I colour more and more, my shading and blending is improving! I recently started my 'Colouring Quest' blog series all about one of my favourite hobbies at the moment:colouring! If you are considering buying yourself a colouring book and a pack of pencils, you should check out my blog series to help you learn!

    Snack to Try
    Image result for yogurt bark

    Frozen yoghurt or yoghurt bark is a delicious snack that is easy and fun to make. It is simple to personalise with your favourite fruits, nuts and other toppings! To make, line a tray with grease-proof paper, then spread yoghurt on it, next put your toppings on it and finally freeze it for a few hours or overnight. Once the yoghurt is fully frozen, you can snap it into small pieces and enjoy! It is a slightly healthier alternative to sugary desserts so you should try it as a tasty treat!






    Recommended Website
    Image result for tofu cute
    TofuCute is an online kawaii shop which sells cute Japanese products such as plushes, sweets, stickers, pens, novelty erasers and more! TofuCute is based in the Uk and ships worldwide so it is easy to make an order. I made a post in the past with my kawaii items and if I buy anything else, I may share them on this blog again!






    Recommended Magazine


    One of my favourite things to read at the moment is Daphne's Diary. I love that every page is so gorgeous with pretty patterned backgrounds, cute doodles and more! The content of this magazine is very creative! there's craft projects to try ad businesses to inspire you. There's not just crafty articles though, there's some travel spreads that are gorgeous to look at. In every issue there are a few little goodies such as stickers that I love to use in happy mail as well as in other creative projects. I reccommend this magazine to anyone who loves to create because you'll love pouring over every pretty detail in here!






    Over to YOU:
    What things do you reccommend? Let us all know in the comments!