Jenny's Crayon Collection

36 Posca Oil Based Colored Pencils

These are 36 uni Posca Pencils. They are oil based pencils, 4.0mm thick lead. On the Posca website it says these have a creamy glide with vivid colors. They are certainly vivid. They can be layered, blended and the website says they are fade resistant. I am not sure how lightfast they are. I do not think they have been verified lightfast because there are no numbers. And when something is lightfast it has been tested and there is documentation for the customer.

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Find the Posca Pencils at Blick.

Posca says they can also be used on various surfaces. I would like to try it. I used them on black paper above and black paper below. The colors are very opaque and keep their color on the black paper something not all art supplies do. I think it would be interesting to compare these to their paint marker counter parts and see if the colors match.

Here is the box for pencils. They come in a plastic case and then three plastic trays that stack on one another. I photographed it without the outer plastic, but to keep the trays from falling apart I keep them in the outer plastic.

The pencils unfortunately do not have the name of the pencil on them which is disappointing. The pencils are about $1 each, midrange for art supplies. I would think the company could put the name of the color on the pencil.

Here is the outer plastic. Another reason to keep it is the color names are on the back of the plastic case as well as the description of the pencil. Overall these pencils were really fun to use. I wish the names were on the pencils and there were more colors.

The Coolest Crafts and Toys I found at Sweet Suite 2025

I had the opportunity to go to Sweet Suite 2025 in New York City. It was really special this year because Sweet Suite was turning 16 years old this year. At Sweet Suite I was able to see all the cool toys coming out this year just in time for holiday and back to school. Come with me as I show you the coolest things, toys and crafts I saw at Sweet Suite 2025

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First off I was super excited that Sharpie and Elmer's came for the first time ever. They brought their Sharpie Creative Markers. The Sharpie Creative markers come in brush and bullet tips. The bullet tips come in 24 colors and the brush come in 12 colors for now. It would be great if they expanded the line. They are a paint marker and can go on any surface.

Here is some of the artwork created with the Sharpie Creative markers. They are super vibrant and pretty.

And this really cool drawing made mostly in line art but accentuated by Creative Markers.

Here is my autograph with them. Forgive me if it is the the best, ti was a little hard to write on the surface and I did not have a proper black paint marker. The outline was with a regular Sharpie and it does not like wet paint.

Here is the newest pack of Sharpie Creative Markers.

Crayola was also at the party and promoting tons of art supplies and promotions going on this year. They have a new contest called "What's Your Favorite Color?". The voting will be open this summer.

They have colored pencils, watercolors, markers and crayons boxes to promote the contest. I need to go and find them.

Crayola is also releasing a neon line of crayons/colored pencils and markers. The other time Crayola did this was with the retired colors and those matched. Usually the supplies do not mach in color. I will have to see if these match in color.

Next up was Doodle face. It is a specialized surface and crayon that acts like a dry erase board. They had some huge one there. I wonder if teachers could use them in a class room setting.

Next up was Lego. Their display is always top notch and super fun to visit.

This is a really cool sign they made with Lego's to celebrate Sweet Suite 2025.

This is one of my favorite Lego art pieces. It is Van Gogh's Sunflower in Lego form.

This telephone was also fun and super cute.

Next up was RoseArt. They had some really pretty Gem Creations. These are not out yet, but will come out soon.

Here are some of the Crystal Gem Creations that have already been released.

One of the coolest things I saw at Toy Fair and what they had on display for Sweet Suite was the Coolmaker Self-Clasping Studio! It was so much fun to make a bracelet.

Elmer's was there too. This was the best picture I could get of the table because so many people were playing with the slime. There were slime kits to add colors to, smell, and lots and lots of glitter. It was so satisfying playing at this table.

This was a new company at Sweet Suite. It was Woof & Co. They are a new brand coming out with cute as can be dressed dogs unique to lots of different personalities.

Magna-tile was there and had a really cute Pet Playhouse.

Pokemon had a new expansion set, Mega Evolution.

Care Bears had Wicked themed Care Bears that will come out just in time for Wicked 2 this year.

Jazwares was there too with all things Squishmallow. They even had squishmallow lip gloss coming out this year.

Doesn't this look so comfy to sit on?

Just Play had a Stitch that moves around almost like Elmo, but he definitely has the Stitch personality.

I always wanted an Easy-Bake even when I was little, but never had one. They are bringing it back. My kids skipped over this and went straight to baking during the pandemic, but my 7 year old might like it.

They are also coming out with a Freezy-Bake to make ice cream. This is a cool invention and one I have not seen before.

Look at these two super cute Our Generation dolls. We also got lots of cute dogs as part of the swag from Our Generation.

One of my favorite things I saw there was the Disney and Star Wars Adorbs! I love any kind of doll that is Disney themed.

We got the news that BabiesRUs is coming back and coming to Kohl's. I'm still sad they had to close all the stores.

Lastly there was a really cool Zelda Chess set from Nintendo. My oldest daughter loves Zelda.

And that is a wrap on Sweet Suite 2025. Unfortunately I came home from NYC with Covid. I do not know if it is from the event or from being in NYC. Next time I go to an event I am going to be a lot more careful. But that aside it was fun to see all the toys and friends in the toy industry!

Copic Acrea Paint Markers

Copic has long been the leader in the alcohol marker market. Last year in 2024 Copic decided to enter the world of paint markers. The Copic Acrea markers are a water-based paint marker that come in 24 opaque colors. They work on both black and white paper. They can be used on any surface; wood, glass, paper, fabric, etc.

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The fine nib size 0.8mm is great for detail work, but as I found out it is a little hard to paint a whole page with the size of markers. It would be great if the colors were available in various sizes.

Find the markers at Blick

I painted/colored the Van Gogh Starry Night. I was able to blend the markers and get a good brush stroke for the detail areas, but wished it was a little bigger. It would may not have taken as long if I had a little larger tip or a brush tip.

Colors

The Copic Acrea colors are: flamingo pink, dark rose, tomato red, coral pink, red bean, mandarin orange, custard beige, mustard yellow, cream yellow, lemon yellow, gold, apple green, leaf green, peacock green, indigo blue, sky blue, turquoise blue, lilac, pansy, snow white, cool gray, silver rich black and sepia.

The color palette is nice and especially good for pastel work. Some of the names are traditional, some a a little out there, snow white, tomato red and read bean.

Copic says the markers will work with the alcohol markers. I am not sure on the lightfastness of these markers. Alcohol markers are not light fast, but these might be. It would be a good test to do.

The drawback to these markers is they are sold individually in 4 different themed packs: vivid, essentials, light and deep. They are pricey too for what is in the package.

Here are all the different color packs and what comes in each.

The Essentials Copic Acrea pack includes: gold, silver, sepia, cool gray, rich black, and snow white.

The Deep Copic Acrea pack includes: indigo blue, pansy, peacock green, mustard yellow, red bean, and dark rose.

The Light Copic Acrea pack includes: lilac, turquoise blue, apple green, cream yellow, custard beige, and coral pink.

The Vivid Copic Acrea pack includes: sky blue, leaf green, lemon yellow, mandarin orange, tomato red, and flamingo pink.

Here is the back of the boxes.

How to Make Friendship Bracelets Quickly (The Tortured Poets Department Version)

Going to the Eras Tour was one of favorite things I did in 2024. I got the opportunity to go to the Eras Tour in Toronto, Canada, after we found last minute tickets. I had a done a video about all the TTPD, The Tortured Poets Department Bracelets so I had plenty to trade with other people. It was really cool too because I got to see TTPD on the Eras Tour set list.

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Here is the giant bracelet that was traded from stadium to Stadium. It was a trek to get to it, but such a cute sign. I even made bracelets later based on the sign.

Here are all the bracelets I traded for the ones I made. I brought TTPD bracelets and some bracelets I had repurposed from other concerts that had Taylor lyrics on them. Sadly I did not get pictures of those because it all went so quickly. All in all I was able to have about 60 bracelets in 2 days for the concert. I do not recommend making so many bracelets so fast in that short amount of time, but I have some tips that will definitely save some time with making bracelets.

The supplies I used for these bracelets include:

Get over 100 bracelet ideas or over 550 bracelet ideas featuring songs, albums and inside Swiftie jokes.

Support small business and check out bead supplies at A Cherry On Top.

The first thing that I did to make these TTPD bracelets was visit Michaels. I had a theme I wanted to go by, white, off white, black, gray and gold and needed some beads to fit my theme. I had not bought the strand beads before, but I discovered them at Creativation and feel in love with them. They are a higher quality bead and the beads bead faster than some of the alternatives.

I feel in love with these iridescent white beads.

Here is another strand of clay beads I was inspired by. I love the messy look of the beads. No pattern at all, but color themed.

Here is my collection of beads I used to make the TTPD bracelets.

Here are all the letters I used. The gold lettered ones and square ones are in the background. I love the plain black and white beads for these theme.

To save time on making friendship bracelets I like to alphabetize the beads and then I used these bead tray from John Bead to catch all my beads. This helps the beads from rolling all over the table and helped me when I had to make bracelets at an event at a restaurant the night before a concert.

Get over 100 bracelet ideas or over 550 bracelet ideas featuring songs, albums and inside Swiftie jokes.

Some of these beads were pretty smaller and I had to use a smaller string. I used stretch magic string, it comes in different sizes. It does not stay tied very well. I had to use super glue to make keep the bracelet together. I let it dry for a few minutes.

Then I was able to cut it and the string ends were not very visible. Even though the stretchy cloth string is faster and can be tied easier I prefer this method because the ends look nicer.

Here are all the bracelets I made. I do realize that I did not do "How Did It End" and did two "I Hate It Here's". Which one is your favorite?

I am so glad that I was able to go to the concert and had bracelets to take with me. It was an unforgettable evening.

This was one of the last Eras Tour there ever was. I really hope Taylor Swift decides to tour again and I will be ready with more bracelets. Which album should I do bracelets for next?