Colouring pencils meet parchment….

Colouring pencils meet parchment….

Hi there.
Thanks for popping in.

What a busy GRAY SALE weekend it has been!
I’ve been cracking up reading all the comments you have been posting, about beans on toast till Christmas.

Somebody is opening up a help group for those of you 
who are willing to admit you are powerless over Groovi.

Somebody else suggested we open up another area on the new website where we should sell baked beans, bread, milk and teabags,
so you can order in food at the same time,
and then never have to leave the house again 
when the stash arrives.

Very, very funny.
Almost made me feel guilty. 
But then saw the mountain of orders
which now need picking, packing and sending!
No guilt here girls!

You will be relieved to know however, that this week’s blogs
are all demo based.
I will not mention any prices,
I will not add any links
(well maybe I will, just in case you need to find stuff on the new website…)
No no no. This week we will take a look at what to do with all the gear you bought last week!

Last Monday, we had a sale on the Spectrum Noir Colourblend pencils, which work so well on parchment.

So I thought we would have a little play with them, and I will show you how to get a really good result on parchment.
Forgive me for not producing a masterpiece here, 
but you KNOW how long parchment craft takes 
– even using Groovi!
And I’ve got 7 hours of live TV shows to prep some time 
between now and Sunday too!

S H I T !!!!

ONE DAY AT A TIME GRAY, ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Right.
Fast forward to the colouring stage.
Found this in a stash from last year…

Spectrum Noir is a waxy consistency which grips the parchment .
Like Faber-Castell Polychromos.
When colouring on parchment, we usually work on the back.
Light cover of Holly green.

Add a little shade to the tips with the same pencil.

Add a contrasting green down the middle.
Don’t worry about going over the white lines – they aren’t affected. 

Now here’s the thing.
You could spend all day, carefully adding shade,
and then when you turn to the front, you can barely see anything!

So the answer is to either not be too pedantic,
or press harder!

Add a touch of blue too ; the waxy pigment blends well.

If the colouring looks a little gritty from the front, 
you can use paper stumps and the special blending solution 
to blend the colours beautifully and get a reallt smooth result.

Or you can add the blending solution before you colour in.
Just paint the area with the blending solution on a paper stump.
let it dry and then do your colouring in.
Very smooth too.

The back always looks great!!

Mind you, to be honest, the more time you take on the back, 
the better the front will look.
Logical really.

Pencil first

Paper stump with blending solution in tiny circular motions, working from the bottom up into the blue. 

Same with head.
let’s go again…

Pencil

Paper stump with Blending solution

Blended.

I’m only using the same few Colourblend colours.
Some from the new Naturals tin, 
and a couple of the old sets I have handy all the time.

If you lay it on white, it looks insipid.

Lay it on Kraft. Always works.

Funky Gelpress backgrounds are great.

Or maybe a remnant from my stash?

Not bad…

Mmm. Very interesting on this water colour and rocksalt effort…

Or you can play it safe and just use coloured parchment behind
and then on white.
Always nice and crisp.

That’ll do for today.
In case you hadn’t heard, 
we at Clarity have launched a 
Groovi Worldwide Facebook page.
Why not join us?
I think it will be awesome.

Time to call it a day.

And by the way.
Thank you so very much for supporting the Gray Sale Days 
this weekend and last week. 
Thank you for working out the new website.
Thank you for being such amazing customers. 

It is easy to be successful when you are all there!

Love & hugs,
Barb
xxx

52 thoughts on “Colouring pencils meet parchment….

    1. Hi Jan! It could take a little while before the order arrives, only because of the sheer volume. We are going as fast as we can, but don’t start curtain twitching every time a car goes past just yet! xxxx

    2. No, I expected it to be a while, judging by the comments made on Facebook, I get all my stuff delivered to work so extra incentive to get there. It will be worth the wait, almost like christmas lol xx

  1. Had a great weekend ordering all things Clarity. Yes a big thank you again for your generosity Barb. Success is not free, nor is it given, you have totally earned it, years of learning about people, business, and quality products which are very desirable, oh , AND efficient DELIVERY of your vast range of goods, service and friendliness. Thank you Barb, you're one in a million. Xxx

  2. Thank you Barbara for the amazing grey sale will wait patiently for my orders I'm still tempted to peek into my clarity hamper that is lovingly wrapped awaiting Christmas Day . Thank you for the step by step today I've been colouring some parchment today so nice to see how you do it xxxx

    1. Evening dear blog friends sending heartfelt hugs thinking of you all .ive been colouring my groovi today Might do a little more while I'm in bed now .xxx

    2. Hi Sheila, hoping to start on the Grandchildrens cards tomorrow, done a groovi box for each of them, they are so sweet. The last one I did I've done on the pale pink coloured parchment on the wrong side, so it doesn't show the whitework up so much, not sure whether to do it again or use it for the youngest. Glad you are enjoying yours.xx

  3. No, thank YOU! I'm more than happy to purchase from a great company and people. I must say I bought the colourblend pencils and they are definitely better than the original spectrum noir pencils. So may have to buy another tin in the futrue.
    Love n hugs
    Trudy x

  4. Hi Barb brilliant post and tips as usual, I have the older colour pencils they bought out before colour blends are they just as good or is it worth investing in the new ones? Love n hugs Ali xxx

  5. Hi Barb,
    Once again thank you for the brilliant offers in the sale. I've decided that mine are Christmas presents to me from me! I can wait for my deliveries – I have plenty of Groovi plates to play with instead, and petite gel plates, stamps , stencils etc!! My coasters are coming along nicely too. Love this step by step and colouring tips. Hope you get a bit of a rest before the weekend shows. Thanks again, love and hugs Alison xxx

  6. Thanks for the blog tonight Barbara, I need some tips on colouring as I'm not great on shading. It usually turns out better than I think. I keep going back to the facebook pages and seeing how others do it ! x

  7. I'm sure I must be getting to the stage of nearly having one of everything. I also have two of a couple of things that I forgot I already had one of.

    I love the colouring tutorial. I did my calendar challenge at the weekend and it was the same as colouring parchment. I spend ages colouring/blending/shading on the back of the tissue then turned it over and realised that I couldn't see all the effort I put in.

  8. Great demo with the colouring pencils. I use a mixture on mine flip flopping between pencil and distress markers. Had to laugh when I read you nearly felt guilty for being so tempting with your sale. I nearly felt guilty making my purchases too … but you know what, there are worse things I could be spending my money on! XX

  9. Evening bloggy friends, hope everyone is OK. Just need to photograph my canvas and card for this months challenges. Nothing like last minute crafting to get the blood pumping! XX

  10. Great tips for colouring in, I must practice more and this has given me the confidence to get going again.
    The Gray friday deal was fantastic, we should be thanking you, thank you very very much. My order will be going straight to Father Christmas aka Mum and Dad so no worries. Looking forward to the shows on sunday and monday xx p's. I'm a fully paid up member of GAA , love it 🙂

  11. Hi Barbara, beautiful, thank you for the colouring in demo and tips. Thank you for taking the time. A huge thank you to you (santa) Barbara, for your generosity, allowing us all to feed our Clarity addiction in such a big way. Hope you've got some chill time factored in too for this week. Love Brenda xx

  12. Love the different effects you get just by a different background paper. I need to be braver with my background papers I think.
    It has been so much fun chatting about beans as we have spent all our money on clarity products several times over the weekend!
    I had planned to craft today and finish off the Christmas cards, but I ended up clearing out my wardrobe and bedroom cupboard which was long over due so perhaps it wasn't all bad! Perhaps I can do some groovi before going to bed.

  13. Just quietening down a little after all the Gray Sale excitement which was fantastic fun, never sent or read so many silly messages in my life. As a very plummy Englush friend of mine would say 'Ho, ho, what an absolute hoot !' So thanks to you for the wonderful sale and my bloggy friends for the entertainment! Meanwhile ta for a jolly good demo if how to colour parchment. I like the design too, and may filch it for one of my Christmas cards.

  14. Hi everyone, hope you all had a good day. Full on here with cooking, teaching and trying to get Christmas cards and handmade decoration gifts under way. How come you're all finishing your cards already?? What's your secret!? I'm beginning to wonder if the anticipation of the sale was responsible – too excited to sleep so crafted instead! Off to colour in a particular groovi bird now xx

  15. Hi Barbara
    I had a little panic this morning, no Clarity email! I thought hubby had forgotten to order! No bless him he set up his own account so I wouldn't know! He said he didn't mind not getting the additional discount as the prices were so good already. Phew. It was hard not looking at the sale though but I was being good as I'd been told not to buy! Oh I'm glad we made you laugh, just think of all those years when you scraped by and probably ate a few tins of beans because money was tight. Enjoy the success, you certainly deserve it, you and the Clarity team are fabulous. What a great colouring tip today, I haven't tried the blending solution yet, might have a go at that tomorrow. Hope you get some me time this week.
    Love Diane xxxx

  16. Hi Barbara, thanks for the detailed colouring steps. I now think I can practice step by step following you. I keep forgetting I have the blending solution and paper stumps. That could make a big difference to the outcome of my shading. I hope you don't get too stressed preparing for the tv shows and get some relaxation time before the weekend. Of course it goes without saying really but thank you for a wonderful Gray Sale. Still much more I need/want as I spent so long on the websites I saw things I haven't noticed before. Oh dear!xx

  17. So glad your sale went so well, how could it not with those amazingly generous prices. Looks like a lot of us will be on the bean diet until Christmas, but hey ho wasn't it worth it!! Love your demo, what a lovely design, just what I needed as I still struggle with the shading on my colouring. Looking forward to seeing your demos on Hochanda next weekend, am I greedy or what? Thank you so much for the amazing sale and don't worry about how long the parcels take to arrive, we can't expect them to arrive quickly with all the demand you've had. Hope you manage a bit of relaxing in between your picking and prepping for Hochanda. Thank you once again for your tremendous sale, you are such a wonderful and generous sport and give so much of yourself for others, it's no wonder we all love you. Love and hugs, Pam xxx

  18. Hi to all my lovely bloggy friends, hope you've got over the shock of spending lots of pennies, what a wonderful sale that was. We are all happy bunnies now then. Hope you are all ok, and staying warm and cosy in this cold spell. We had a beautiful sunset late this afternoon. Have my MRI tomorrow evening, won't have any results for a couple of weeks, hoping there is something they can do to make me more comfortable. At least I have my Groovi to take my mind away from it for a while I'm sure it helps. Love and hugs, Pam xx

  19. Hello Barb,
    Fabulous tutorial, as usual. I didn't get in yesterday unfortunately, but at least I can afford a tin of beans and sausages now ha ha.
    Good luck with the prep, we'll be watching you (shades of Big Brother).
    Maureen xx

  20. HI Barbara. So pleased to see your blog on colouring today, not very clever at that yet. I was delighted to realize I was hours ahead of the UK on Sunday so was able to send another order.. What a shame I will have to wait until the end of January to get home to see everything. So glad I have an IPad to able to keep in touch with clarity. And perhaps the show on Sunday. Hope your not too tired with all the orders. Josie xxxx

  21. Morning, I've not checked in for a few days ( busy busy !!)- but got up at 5.00 am Friday to place my order , got my priorities right . Just read some of your comments , hilarious, unfortunately baked beans are not popular here but since the summer everyone at home prepares a family meal independently one day a week each , so far no accidents or injuries and the food is really tasty ! Barbara you and your clarity team are BRILLIANT!!! – your orders are beautifully packed ( no damage), always correct , your team are lovely to speak to on the phone and when you meet them they feel like ' friends', your design team are just soo talented , innovative and creative, your products are superb , just wonderful, you and Dave are a dynamite duo, Jim is a real nuts and bolts person in management speak a " completer finisher " – essential – and … you have a 'paul' – what can I say – everyone needs a paul!!! So what if your orders take a few days to arrive, so bloomin what – they are really really worth it. THANKYOU for all of your hard work, commitment and care Charlotte x

  22. Thank you for the advice on colouring on parchment. I bought the blending solution when I ordered the pencils so all I need are the paper stumps. When I did parchment classes a long time ago we were taught to colour with pastels and blend with white spirit and a tightly folded kitchen towel. I might try the kitchen towel trick with the blending solution.
    Thank you so much for the wonderful Gray day sale,it encouraged me to get some items I might not have bought and thanks also to the fabulous Clarity team x

  23. Morning Barbara, I am more than please that you are giving us a tutorial on the pencils, I received my 5 tins at the weekend, thank you for this beautiful creation. I now need the paper stumps and blending solution !!!!! hahaha.
    Lots of love from Patricia xx

  24. This is Giving Tuesday today. No I'm not asking everyone to give away their beans!!!😉 Just, how about an extra effort of Random Acts of Kindness today. Thank you xx

Leave a Reply to Pam Kershaw Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *