Sarah Jane's Craft Blog

It's been a while since I made an adult coloring post , and since I've recently picked up a few more colored pencil sets, I thought I'd share some thoughts about those colored pencils and talk a bit about swatching. After watching some colored pencil enthusiasts on YouTube, I discovered that they all swatch their colored pencils. I didn't think too much of it until I bought a set of the Star-Joy Gold Colored Pencils . They came with a swatch booklet. I thoroughly enjoyed testing out the pencils and discovering the colors. I was beginning to see why people swatched their pencils. Then, I tried a coloring page (shown below) using those colored pencils and it became really obvious why having swatches was helpful. I'd be looking for a certain color and instead of rolling the dice on the paint on the outside of the pencil (which is often only sort of a close match), I could look at the actual color the pencil made and then find it by name or number. Of course, this made ...

No new craft post this week, but I wanted to share a reminder that you can follow me over on Instagram: Sarah Jane's Craft Blog on Instagram . View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sarah Jane Setnes Dale (@sarahjanescraftblog) I post photos of each week's projects along with coloring projects and flashbacks to old crafts. Be sure to follow! P.S. If you're interested in more info about adult coloring and what colored pencils I like--check out my past posts here: Adult Coloring .

  It's been a while since I made a post about adult coloring . The buzz has passed a bit from the activity's height of popularity, but I still enjoy filling in patterns and designs--especially while I'm watching TV. So what's new in the coloring world? Well, you can get coloring books pretty much anywhere now, and the glut of leftovers from the sudden craze of coloring for adults means that you can often find the books at discount stores (or sometimes even on clearance racks).  When you're finding those bargains, pay attention to more than just the designs available. The thickness of the paper, whether the book will open flat (or nearly flat), how detailed the designs are (and if you have the right kind of markers, pens, or colored pencils to color those teeny tiny designs), and whether the book has designs on both sides of the paper all need to be considered to get a coloring book that you'll use and enjoy. I've picked up and been gifted ...

Last spring I made a Guide to Adult Coloring , but since then, I've picked up a few new supplies and coloring books that I think are worth sharing. First up, coloring books. I still recommend the Joanna Basford and Eleri Fowler coloring books, as they are high quality with beautiful designs. But if you're looking for something a bit more economical, I've found a few options. This coloring book was so good, that I even added the recommendation as an update to my original post over the summer. Parragon publishes a line of coloring books that are each 288 pages long and are priced around $8-12. The paper isn't quite as thick as some of the high-end books, but it's jam packed full of great designs. They range from geometric to floral to doodle-y--whatever your mood may be. The three images below are all from Coloring for Creativity . They also have a Coloring for Tranquility and Coloring for Inspiration . In most of my coloring books there are mandalas...

If you haven't heard about adult coloring books, you've been living under a rock. I have always loved coloring, so I was really excited when these books started popping up everywhere. As I have been coloring, I've learned a little bit about what to look for in your coloring books and supplies, and I thought I'd share some of my advice and a few of my colored pages. I'll try to keep this post updated as I try out more books and art supplies. First off, I use colored pencils in my coloring books. I have tried several different brands, and I have a few to recommend. Prismacolor Verithins  (pictured above) are a really nice set of hard colored pencils. Prismacolor is a very well known brand of artist quality colored pencils. Their "regular" Premier colored pencils (pictured below) are fairly expensive (about a dollar a pencil unless on sale), and are very soft and vivid. They are great for coloring large areas in bright colors. However, mos...