Art Haul: Well, it has been like a whole week since the last one, right?!

This is part of my "must have full set syndrome" kicking in - I decided to get the rest - or near as damn it - of the Dina Wakley Media acrylic paints from Ranger. I already have bought two batches - my first was Night, Blackberry and Rosy (I had not realised the latter was a metallic) and then I expanded into some primaries and more secondaries with Lemon, Lime, Tangerine, Sky, Blushing and Umber. After the haul below, the only ones I don't now have are Gilt, Penny and Medieval - three metallics - I may or may not get them as I honestly seldom use metallic paints but who knows. I've stuck to the 1 fl. oz. (c. 60mL) bottles because they're very economical and have a fine-tip on them already, and above all, they're SMALL. I like to be able to keep all of my Dina Wakley Media Paints in the largest of my Dina Wakley Media storage bags - they're always to-hand and I can move them to other locations really easily. I did um-and-ah over the Black and White - I have a LOT of black gesso, white gesso, black acrylic, white acrylic - I don't really need them. That said, for monoprinting and a lot of other techniques, having paints of the same consistency is really important and it would save me a lot of hassle having to thin CRYLA down with GAC-100 every time I wanted a runnier paint. Dina's paints are quite stiff but they're not true Heavy Body paints like CRYLA that have the consistency of clay and huge pigment loads.

The Dylusions inks are the 4 of the current release (Aug 2017) that I don't already have - I've had Vanilla Custard and Rose Quartz for about a month, and I have Laidback Lilac and Mushy Peas already in the acrylic paints, but I wanted to get the others as I love these muted, more pastel-y shades when used dilute but as you can see from the swatches down below (which I paint with one of Dina's brushes), they're SO striking when laid on thick! The Dylusions paper is designed to resist the dyes so they blot off and leave a lovely even, vivid and bright effect. If you use watercolour paper (which is what I swatch onto) such as the stuff in Dina's Media Journal, you get AMAZING intense effects! 

All of the items in this haul are from Art From The Heart (Dyan Reaveley's business in Harrogate, North Yorkshire) - superprompt service and always a pleasure to deal with. Plus what's not to love when you get a package like this one?

Ranger Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints in:
   Cheddar [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Elephant [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Evergreen [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Fuchsia [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Lapis [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Magenta [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Ruby [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Turquoise [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   White [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Black [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Ocean [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Ancient [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Sterling [BUY NOW: USA, UK]

For those of you in the USA, you can get 6 tube sets of the 2016 colour release or the metallic paints for just $36, which is a pretty good deal - but sadly doesn't ship to the UK - in the 2016 set, you get Blushing, Evergreen, Cheddar, Fuchsia, Elephant and Ocean, and in the 2017 set you get Rosy, Medieval, Ancient, Gilt, Penny and Sterling. These may be a good way to stash-build economically? It's about a 30% discount for each set.

Ranger Dylusions Ink Sprays in:
   Mushy Peas [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Laidback Lilac [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Periwinkle Blue [BUY NOW: USA, UK]
   Peony Blush [BUY NOW: USA, UK]

Again, for those of you in the USA, you can get the corresponding 6 Dylusions acrylic paints for $30 right now, which is about 25% off - well worth it, they're great colours! 

Doctor's Orders: Mini-Haul....no shame!

This one is just some leftovers I'd not got on an earlier order because of stock levels - they were all from Amazon UK.

Ranger Dylusions Adhesive Canvas Images Collection 1 [BUY NOW: USA, UK]

I was toying with the blank adhesive canvases but I decided that my Dina Wakley Media Journal [BUY NOW: USA, UK] with its beautiful canvas pages has overtaken my desire to stick painted canvases into my Dylusions journals. I have never really felt "stuck" on the Dylusions postcards or canvases (which are the same images), but a few weeks ago, I got a signed postcard from Dyan in one of my orders, and I really liked the quality of the image reproduction as well as the image itself - it was from the Dylusions Postcard Collection 1 [BUY NOW: USA, UK], which has identical images to the Canvas Collection 1, which is this set. There are 8 images on 3 3/8" by 5 1/4" adhesive canvas and the printing is really sharp. They all have a narrow white border which could be useful for sewing them perhaps. My two favourite images are the ones below - the text on the lower one says "Why be difficult? But some effort in and be downright frikkin' impossible!" - that could easily me the mantra of my life I think... Not sure what I'm going to do with them - I've seen Mrs Reaveley use them to make covers for her flip journals which I thought was awesome.

Ranger Dina Wakley Media Accessory Bag 1 [BUY NOW: USA, UK]

I do already have Media Accessory Bag 2 [BUY NOW: USA, UK] set of 3 bags, which I love, along with the Wendy Vecchi Bag 2 set [BUY NOW: USA, UK], but I wanted a bag to keep my mixed media brushes in as they didn't really have a home. Unlike my watercolour and acrylic brushes which live in jars on my work table, I tend to do mixed media and art journalling on the floor or in other rooms, so bags are sensible storage. This one is shown below, with a ProMarker for scale - love Dina's artwork!

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Accessory Bag 2 (Set of 3) [BUY NOW: USA, UK]

As I said above, I have Dina and Wendy's beautiful sets of bags, but I've already filled them! Dina's contain (large to small) all of my mixed media acrylic paints; mica sprays; pens I use in mixed media, and Wendy's contain (large to small) stencils; tags/mixed media paper scraps; adhesives. So I really needed another large one at least to keep part-finished projects in, and I really wanted the Dylusions set [BUY NOW: USA, UK] but they were out of stock and I don't do delayed gratification! I'm honestly not so thrilled by them as they're a bit drab compared to the others and I like the bright ones. Even Wendy's which are in muted browns and beiges have plenty of red and green so they've very vibrant. So, I'm going to use these for now (they're already full!) and get the Dylusions ones later. The large one is unfinished projects, the small one is blending tools and foams and the middle one is TBC! 

Ranger Dina Wakley Media Scribbly Insects stamp set [BUY NOW: USA, UK]

Last but by no means least! I've wanted these for SO long and I finally found them in stock on Amazon and got them tout suite! In the last year I've really come to appreciate Dina Wakley's beautiful, loose and open style. It's taken me a long time to relax myself into working in that kind of way, but I'm slowly getting there! This set has 2 lovely butterflies that work better in loose work than the various ones by Tim Holtz that are much more realistic or literal. It also has a very handsome little bee, and she was just what I need for a new project - which I will post very shortly! 

Doctor's Orders: Oooops? #arthaul

So erm...well...what can I say? The worst part? This isn't even all of it - there's at least 5 more instalments to come...! It's quite a big haul because there have been some fabulous discounts on at Amazon and at Art From The Heart! Everything herein is from Amazon UK.

The Ranger Wendy Vecchi Mica Sprays (BUY NOW USA, UK) - at long last! Ranger released Mica Spray sets of 3 colours for each of their 4 signature designers some time ago - Tim Holtz (Brushed Pewter, Antiqued Bronze, Tarnished Brass BUY NOW USA, UK), Dina Wakley (Ruby, Lapis and Evergreen BUY NOW USA, UK), Dyan Reaveley (Bubblegum Pink, Crushed Grape and Vibrant Turquoise BUY NOW USA, UK) and, of course, Wendy Vecchi (Buttercup, Pearl and Forget-Me-Not) - I've struggled to get hold this set from Wendy but I love her palette - I also love Dina and Dyan's ranges but Tim's have not appealed to me because they're more or less the same as the metallic Distress Spray Stains. Wendy's Pearl excites me - there is no Pearl in the rest of her line of Archival Inks or Embossing Powders or Enamel Accents - and the name doesn't "fit" with her tradition of garden-related-words - Snowdrop would have been better, I think. I am now living in hope they'll release some more Pearl items from Wendy as a nice off-white to sit nicely with her other colours would be awesome!

I've posted on Twitter recently a lot of mini-monoprints I've been making (post on those coming soon!) and I decided getting a little gelli plate would be really worth it for a lot of techniques - I researched online and found this Gel Press Reusable Gel Printing Plate, 6" by 6" (BUY NOW: USA, UK) - they make a lot of different sizes and it's actually a faux gelli plate. It's a vegan-friendly mineral-oil-based reusable gelli plate, and it has a wonderful service. My YouTube Friend Mrs Weirich (aka Lindsay The Frugal Crafter) used a very similar one of these some time ago, and she got lovely results, which has made me want to try one for some time now. I've used normal gelli plates made of gelatine before but I like the very perfect surface of this - it really appeals to me - plus it's quite stiff so you can pick it up and use it like a stamp.

These Derwent Techniques Brushes (BUY NOW: USA, UK) were a bit of a whim item really. I was looking for something else and they were heavily discounted to just over £8 from £17, and I do want a sword suited to acrylic painting (check) and a rake for use when monoprinting (check). I'm sure these will come in useful!

A little bit of restocking! You can never have too many Ranger Dylusions Size 10 Journaling Tags (BUY NOW: USA, UK) and I have used a lot lately. Likewise, I needed to restock my favourite embossing powder - Ranger Wendy Vecchi Watering Can Embossing Powder (BUY NOW: USA, UK) - this powder is a deep, warm grey and thus a lot less harsh/cartoon-y than using black. I really enjoy how it looks and like all of Wendy's line, it is an ultra fine detail powder and just beautiful - blending it with other powders makes a nice bit of texture, even with beautiful bright colours like the vibrant yellows and purples.

Mwahahaha I struck a bargain here ;) I've wanted this Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clippings Stickers (BUY NOW; USA, UK) pack for a while for use in mixed media, cards and art journalling...and when I ordered it and paid for one, two packs arrived yaaay! So for just £3.98, I got almost 600 stickers, 2 of each of them. Lovely!

Another item I've wanted for a long time - this Ranger Dina Wakley Media Circle Patterns stamp set (BUY NOW: USA, UK) looked so useful for mixed media and for framing elements like collaged images. I love circles and how even crappy patterns or bits of waste artwork look brilliant cropped into circles with a punch or die and then stamped with a pattern - try it - it really looks great!

So I have to say, these were SO economical and I wanted something to keep my stencils and pens etc tidy and to hand. I also wanted to have some of this artwork to hand, because these beautiful Ranger Wendy Vecchi Designer Bags (BUY NOW: USA, UK) of course feature Wendy Vecchi's beautiful artwork - I have shown below the larger two that you can't see properly in the above image as I think they're so pretty. I've got the Ranger Dina Wakley Designer Bags (BUY NOW: USA, UK) on order too. Each set gives you a large, medium and small bag as a set (just over £13 when I bought these) and they're pretty useful sizes. I'm also hoping that having Dina's beautiful, bold and expressive mixed media work around me will inspire me somewhat to loosen up a bit when doing mixed media - which I find hard! 

Doctor's Orders: Yet Another Bloody Art Haul

Oh heck, I've had a LOT lately haven't I?! This is only a small haul and it comes from Amazon UK and from Art From The Heart, which is Mrs Reaveley's shop in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. First time I've used them so this is also a mini-review of Art From The Heart too, I guess.

The Amazon horde isn't very exciting - it's just a jar of Ranger embossing powder (which I didn't bother photographing) in Wendy Vecchi's Tree Branch shade of tan. I've not even photo'd it. Why? It's not new - I have a few jars in stock already, but as with any other discontinued colour that I'm fond of, I stockpile when I see it on sale, as you never know when it will be the final jar in the world! The corresponding Archival Ink in Tree Branch is also apparently long gone, but the re-inkers are relatively easy to get so you can make a pad with a customisable felt ink pad, of course. 

My other Amazon item was a set of Ranger Dylusions Journal Inserts (BUY NOW USA, UK) for the Large Creative Journal. This is a pack of 12 extra pages for the Large Creative Journal - 6 in the standard cream mixed-media paper that we all adore, and 3 of each black paper (the same as in the black square journal) and 3 of kraft process paper - they do use actual unbleached kraft process paper for this stock, and I love that. Same as in the Dina Wakley Media Journal. There are "kraft paper" stocks out there from various craft companies that are really manilla or otherwise that have been dyed to resemble genuine kraft process stock - so it's nice to see Ranger are behaving! I would like a Dylusions journal in kraft paper as I've enjoyed using it in Mrs Wakley's Media Journal - it can take many layers of paint and it copes well with weight too. Doesn't take dyes very well, as it's a bit less porous, but it's a fantastic stock to work on.

My Art From The Heart haul is much better for many reasons! For those who don't know, about 16 years ago, to my knowledge, and I'm sorry if I'm a bit wrong on the dates, Dyan Reaveley went into business running a craft supplies store in her hometown of Harrogate, and running art journalling and mixed media workshops. Over the years, she launched a line of Dylusions dyes made in the UK and sold only at her shop - Art From The Heart - time went by and Stampers Anonymous launched a range of stamps using her designs, and she started demonstrating products for Ranger, clearly catching someone's eye, as Ranger took all of her products in-house and took over the Dylusions brand, selling worldwide. It does mean if you look at her 2010-2011 blog posts from her ledger (an old finance ledger she'd gotten hold of and altered to make an art journal - the size of the pages and their binding as signatures ultimately inspired the Large Creative Journal), you'll see inks in her line called Aubergine and Peridot etc, but when Ranger took over, she rejigged which colours were in the line, and changed almost all of the names to make them 'of a type'. First time I've ever shopped direct with Art From The Heart but they are one of very few ways to buy Dina Wakley and Wendy Vecchi products, other than using Amazon UK or Amazon USA, and I have found that even Amazon doesn't get each new release of colours for quite some time - so I went direct.

First cab off the rank is the packaging - under the layers of bubblewrap I found this beautiful package - nice to see attention to detail and a bit of customer care - it's nicer opening something that feels like a gift isn't it?

Next up are the Dina Wakley Media Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paints. I've never tried these before, and I've really obtained them both out of curiosity myself and because folk had asked me about them. There is now quite a range of colours, including metallics and iridescent colours. They are now sold in both 1 US fl. oz. (just shy of 30mL) and 2 US fl. oz. (just shy of 60mL) sizes - the former are in squeeze-bottles and the latter in tubes. Even the tubes are a fair bit smaller than the typical 75mL paint tubes one get acrylic in for fine art, but price-wise they aren't too bad. Using the Art From The Heart prices, you'd be paying in the UK a very similar price to Dylusions acrylic paint on a price per mL basis: Distress Paint is a lot more costly, so keep that in mind! I went with the smaller pack size as I don't know if I like them yet, basically. I did swatch out the 3 colours that I got - Night (a dark blue that is almost black but not quite BUY NOW USA, UK), Blackberry (a bright violet BUY NOW USA, UK) and Rosy (looks pink in the photos on their website, but it's actually a very subtle and pretty rose-gold with an iridescence to it BUY NOW USA, UK). From seeing Dina's videos, I'd thought they looked much less viscous than CRYLA paints, but when I swatched them out, they held their shape completely for >2h and dried in a raised shape, which was really cool. As per any other craft product, you don't get the pigment information (I wish the craft industry would at least put it on their websites, for both safety, allergy and so as to open their market to artists a bit more. If you think about the Prima and Jane Davenport watercolours, they're virtually identical - I'm sure they both use the same base bought from the same company (which I think is in South Korea) and have custom pigment blends added to it to make their paints - but Jane gives pigment information on hers which makes them infinitely easier to mix and to use in replicating tutorials. Not all "warm blue" paints are remotely similar so you can't just pick anything and expect the same results - especially in watercolour - but as Prima don't mention their pigments (but they tell me they have considered doing so), they will always been the "worse" one of the two, in spite of being largely identical. You also don't get any lightfastness information and I find that pretty important to have. Even if pigmentation and lightfastness are only on a downloadable PDF on their websites, it's really good to have.

I got the Ranger Dylusions set of acrylic paint pens (BUY NOW USA, UK) - I already have the black and white set, but the coloured set that came out in January I've wanted for ages! The colours are Postbox Red (which I have in the acrylic paint already), Squeezed Orange, Lemon Zest, Cut Grass (which I also have the paint of), London Blue and Crushed Grape. I have got the orange, yellow, blue and purple in the spray inks too. I love the colours and hope they're going to release more or the range in this format as they're great for fine detail. If you've ever had any issues using them, watch this video from Dyan as it really helps!

I also got these two Dylusions acrylic paints - Laidback Lilac (BUY NOW USA, UK) and Mushy Peas (BUY NOW USA, UK). Why these colours? The soft furnishings in my front parlour are those colours (and a warm goldenrod type yellow too), and they're from the Summer 2017 release, which also includes Rose Quartz (a very soft pastel pink), Peony Blush (a kind of pastel cerise), Vanilla Custard (a pastel yellow-cream) and Periwinkle Blue (another pastel-y colour but darker - just has that kind of look to it - it reminds me of how blue chalk looks I guess!). They're a really nice release and open up the range to those who like softer "baby" colours. Mushy peas, are, for the benefit of my American visitors are peas soaked with bicarbonate and then boiled to shit - they end up this kind of colour (unless you buy the tinned ones which are almost florescent green!). I love the viscosity of these paints and that I can build up body as well as paint super-thin layers with a blending foam tool.

Doctor's Orders: Art Haul!

I've been a bit naughty but hey, it's all a business expense so I can share more cool techniques and stuff with you. I've got another 1-2 instalments from this set of orders still to come, but all of this little lot came from Amazon UK and is all from Ranger or from Stampers Anonymous.

Dylusions Mica Sprays - BUY NOW USA or UK

Dina Wakley Mica Sprays - BUY NOW USA or UK

These are 2 of the 4 sets of Ranger Mica Sprays that were launched last year, if memory serves. They did a set for each of the 4 signature designers - Dyan Reaveley, Tim Holtz, Dina Wakley and Wendy Vecchi. I didn't get all of them because 1) the colours in the Tim Holtz set don't appeal to me and 2) the Wendy Vecchi one I DO love, but I can wait and have it next, as I just had to have Dina's beautiful colours, and Dyan's were pretty much a given as I love her inks. I don't actually have many of Dina's products - just the Media Journal, which has grown on me. It has a mix of kraft paper, burlap, canvas and "watercolour paper" stocks - I have to admit, the "watercolour paper" really isn't one. It soaks in water like a sponge and when I decided to really try it out with an abstract forest, I had to wet it 4 times over before I could do a wet-into-wet wash on it. I spoke to Dina on Twitter (@dinawakley) about it and she was really helpful - she told me quite honestly that the vendor in India sold the stock as "watercolour paper" so that was what Ranger called it - she admitted it was "not for the purists". It IS a nice stock - soft and almost silky - and it takes weight well, so I've been using it for collage pages thus far and I'll be showing you in a video soon! So these sprays are my 2nd Dina Wakley procurement - and my 3rd (coming next week I hope!) is some of her paints. I don't usually buy craft acrylics as I have really heavy body, high pigment load CRYLA, which I can dilute into various acrylic media to make fluid acrylics etc. I have a small number of DecoArt and Distress fluid acrylics, but more for use as comparison tools when reviewing other products. HOLD THAT THOUGHT, it will come back to it! These sprays - which I've not even taken out of the packet yet - are in three AMAZING colours from Dina's range - Evergreen, Lapis and Ruby - and I just loved the tone and depth of them. The other pack are Dyan's colours - Bubblegum Pink, Vibrant Turquoise and Crushed Grape. Like all mica-based products, they are iridescent and look best on a black background - again HOLD THAT THOUGHT - several people have asked me to do a Colour Chemistry episode on how iridescent products work - if you want to see one, drop me a comment down below this post! Can't wait to use them!

Ranger Frosted Crystal Embossing Powder - BUY NOW USA or UK

As any of you living outside of the USA will know, finding brick-and-mortar stores that stock Ranger products are pretty hard. The main chain art-craft store in the UK only stocks a tiny number of products - about 12 Distress Inks from the first few releases, Archival Ink in Jet Black and a few of Tim's other Ranger items, as a rule. That's really it. So when I first started exploring mixed media and card making and so on, I was really let down by the quality of the embossing powders you could get in the shops in the UK versus what you could see on YouTube. Eventually I waited an age for an order from the USA to come that had the Ranger Embossing Powders, mostly from Wendy Vecchi's line, which are the most glorious, bright, smooth, opaque colours one could wish for. I've seen all sorts of videos of mixing embossing powders and dabbled myself, but the one basic I didn't have was Ranger's Frosted Crystal from the Antiquities line, which  - it is a clear powder but gives a roughened finish that takes paint well, and, if you overheat it, you get a white-ish translucent matte look. Sounds cool huh? I know you can also cut it with Wendy's powders to mattify them, which would be useful.

I have used a fair few tags lately so I did a re-stock - but I picked the wrong size! These Size 12 Ranger Dylusions tags are made of Dyan's usual mixed-media stock and are HUGE compared to my usual Size 10s - they are 5 1/8" by 10 1/2" (13.0cm by 26.7cm) - almost as long as the pages on the large Dylusions Creative Journal. I love the surface of these tags, they take ink and paint really well and I have wanted to be able to buy this stock in 500-sheet US Letter-sized reams in this cream colour for YEARS - sadly Ranger only sell it in packs of 10, so it would cost me like $100 to get the ream I want and that's just bonkers - so, for now, these size 12 tags will do the job as they're quite economical.

Dylusions Size 12 tags - BUY NOW USA or UK

Red rubber stamps are a big favourite of mine - I'm actually a bit unloving of photopolymer (but silicone's fine), as it never sticks back on the bloody plastic film properly and I honestly prefer how red rubber looks with most inks. I don't have many alphabet sets - only a circus-y one and a few very small calligraphy ones that are meant for cardmaking - and this set by Ranger's Dylysions range really stood out to me, it's called Dyan's Alphabet as it's based on letters from Dyan's journals and I do love her aesthetic. I'm not very confident with drawing letters, so these will be a big help in getting more writing into my mixed-media work. They have a great texture that makes the ink a bit more haphazard and make them look imperfect.

Dylusions Dyan's Alphabet - BUY NOW USA or UK

I've resolved to do more seasonal layouts and cards. For a very long time, I've not really bought seasonal stamps and papers too much as you don't really use them very often. It has meant I've loved a huge range of products that I've not been able to use or buy. SO I've decided if I start making seasonal art journal layouts, as well as cards, I can almost justifying things. Here are my first two! They're by Stampers Anonymous, whose products I just adore. They are both from Tim Holtz's line and the first is called Day Of The Dead and features a Catrina and Catrin in two sizes. Not a lot of "Tim's" products are remotely original - he's just very good at finding things, and the Catrina is from a piece of Mexican decor I've found a lot of images of online, and the Catrin is much the same - neither are original designs.

Stamper's Anonymous - Day Of The Dead Stamps BUY NOW USA or UK

The second set is called Regions Beyond and is a Hallowe'en set, also nothing original, containing various sentiments, a skull a cross bones, a raven, an owl, a house and an old ledger-y-thing.

Stamper's Anonymous - Regions Beyond Stamps - BUY NOW USA or UK

I also got on the same theme this Cobwebs stencil from Dylysions - it fits the large journal perfectly. Now I've really started to get into techniques using them, I've started to really like stencils. Versatile and SO cheap!

Dylusions Cobwebs Stencil - BUY NOW USA or UK

[NB: the USA link above is for a smaller size]

Remember those mica sprays? I've fancied a Dylusions black journal for AGES and I have loved the square format as I've got a thing about symmetrical work and have often drawn a square in the middle of a large journal page and blacked the rest out - kind of like in my recent Warhol-meets-Honour-Blackman layout. The paper in this journal is lovely and the cover is great too - I want to use it to work more with pigment inks and paints as I don't use them enough.

Dylusions Creative Journal Black Square - BUY NOW USA or UK

Now technically this arrived on Wednesday but I thought I'd mention it. I use cheap-and-cheerful Daler and Rowney Simply white gesso for canvases and I do find it needs a few coats when doing crafting that needs a nice clean, solid look. I use DecoArt Black gesso too, and I like it a lot - but I've never tried clear gesso. I tend to go for economy in gesso and I don't honestly think there is much difference between brands pace viscosity, of course. This clear gesso is from the Art Basics line from the Finnabair brand at Prima Marketing Ltd (the people who make those lovely watercolours we all go mad for in crafting) - it was pretty economical - 8.5 US fl. oz., which is about 250mL - for about £10. I've applied it once to a journal page covered in patterned paper but I've not yet painted on it - I'll talk about how that goes at a later date!

Finnabair Art Basics Clear Gesso - BUY NOW USA or UK

These arrived today - and remember what I said about my not really buying craft acrylics? The thing is, I do love some of the Dylusions colours, and I wanted to try a few, so I've got here Grass Green and Postbox Red (and two more colours are following, which are more pastel), which I want for a specific Christmas-related project. I was quite surprised when these arrived at just how small they are - I'm sure they look bigger in Dyan's videos or maybe she has tiny hands? Acrylic takes ages to use up, so I'm not too worried about value for money, and to be honest, acrylic "goes funny" after 3+ years - sometimes it splits from the binder, which is no big deal, you can just mix it in, but sometimes it curdles and then you can't really fix it. So whilst I buy many things in bulk, the only acrylic I buy in bulk is CRYLA Titanium White as white always gets used up first. These tubs contain about 60mL which is less than the standard 75mL tube acrylics for fine art tend to come in. How does that work out cost wise? These pots sell for about £4.99 in the UK, so let's call it £0.08/mL - if you compare a fine-art pro acrylic could be £10 for 75mL, thus £0.13/mL, whereas DecoArt Fluid Acrylics are £3.95 for 30mL, thus £0.13/mL - same kind of price as a pro acrylic. As such, Dylusions aren't expensive really and are quite economical for the amount that you get, versus other craft acrylics on the market, and they have a BEAUTIFUL texture and dry so flat.

Dylusions Paints in Cut Grass (BUY NOW USA or UK) and Postbox Red (BUY NOW USA or UK)

I also wanted the Carved Pumpkin Distress Spray Stain for a while now and I thought it might be cool for a Hallowe'en layout. I don't have many Distress Spray Stains - just the metallic 3, the Picket Fence (white) and the Picked Raspberry (cerise).

Distress Spray Stain in Carved Pumpkin (BUY NOW USA or UK)