Emily Lex Watercolor Package and Classes Review and May Flowers Giveaway #EmilyLex #Watercolors #WatercolorClass #MayFlowers #favoritethings #emilylexstudio

 

Disclaimer: I received complimentary product through FrontGate Media in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Emily Lex is an artist that makes pretty watercolor art and words of encouragement. Her work has been featured on HGTV, Better Homes & Gardens, Magnolia Journal and more. She also has a shop full of lovely things that she has created: watercolor workbooks, art prints, Truth for Today cards, Kids Truth for Today cards, Freely and Lightly book, Twirl children's book and stands for the cards. She also teaches online classes on how to paint with watercolor and do fancy penmanship.

 

Emily Lex package of products.

 

We received a very generous package for this review:

• A watercolor flowers workbook
• A watercolor animals workbook
  
• Truth for Today cards
• Kids Truth for Today cards
• A brass stand
• PLUS free registration for all 3 of her online, go at your own pace watercolor classes including one for kids! 

 

Emily Lex Watercolor Workbooks: Animal (above) and Flower (below).

 

There are two watercolor workbooks: Watercolor Workbook Flowers and Watercolor Workbook Animals. Each watercolor workbook has you create 10 watercolor pictures with the help of a reference page, instructions, and a faint sketch. They have forty-two 7" x 9" spiral bound lay flat pages professionally printed on slightly textured paper. Each workbook has original watercolor artwork + sketches by Emily Lex. The reference page has a picture of the completed art, paint palette of colors, and simple instructions to help you. The sketch page has a light sketch outline that gets you started with the art. This sketch page can be painted directly onto it because it is made of watercolor paper.

 

Examples of Emily Lex Truth for Today Cards (left) and Kids Truth for Today Cards (right)

 

There are two different packs of Truth for Today cards: one regular version and one for kids. Each card set has 31 cards with original watercolor artwork by Emily Lex and a scripture verse. These are 4" x 4" cards made out of 120lb cotton texture eggshell paper. There are also two different types of holders for the cards to sit in: brass and gold card stand. They are both sold separately from the cards. We received brass card holder. It is solid brass with a brushed finish. Emily Lex has three courses you can take: Simplified Penmanship, Simplified Watercolor, and Watercolor for Kids. These classes are online and you can watch them on any device. After purchase you get instant unlimited access to the video course chosen. You can work at your own pace and can pause and replay any lesson at your leisure. Each course has 8-10 video lessons. Supply lists, project templates, and guides are included. Simplified Penmanship is a course to learn better handwriting skills. You can use this to write notes, letters, address envelopes, create artwork, write on a chalkboard, and write legibly and beautifully. Simplified Watercolor is a course that teaches watercolor basics and then helps you create lovely watercolor paintings that you can be proud to display. Watercolor for Kids is a course for kids of all ages. These lessons will teach your young aspiring artist techniques for mixing paint, caring for a brush, and stroke-making, then practice making fun watercolor art cute enough to proudly display.

 

My Thoughts:

I have not done very much watercolor painting on my own, except for the "Paint With Water" books I did as a child. These were fun, but did not really teach me the fundamentals of how to paint with watercolor. I have always wanted to learn those basics, but never took the time or had the chance. When I received the opportunity of reviewing the Emily Lex Watercolor Package and Classes I jumped at the chance. 

I first received the package of watercolor goodies in the mail and opened it up. There were so many fantastic things inside. I cannot wait to thoroughly dive into everything offered.

I looked through the watercolor booklets and am very excited especially to do the whale in the animals workbook and the sunflower in the flowers workbook...2 of my favorite things! There are so many other pages that look like fun also! The instructions on the reference pages look fairly simple to follow and you can paint directly onto the page with the outlined sketch, so no need for buying a watercolor pad of paper. The sketch makes it very easy to know the outline of the painting and you do not need to know how to draw to do these. There are also blank pages to practice what you have learned with watercolor or just do your own thing. I also love that they are perfect for taking with you on trips or outdoors when the weather is nice and they don't need any screen time to do.

The Truth for Today and Kids Truth for Today cards are just lovely. I love the illustrations from Emily Lex and bible verses on each one. These are gentle reminders of scripture truths. They are a wonderful way to start the morning with and would be great as gifts for someone that needs uplifting. Both sets of cards are great for anyone, regardless of age.

I love how the Truth for Today cards can be displayed in the brass holder that we also received. Make sure to place the cards in it the correct way so that the card angles slightly back not forward this way you can read the bible chapter and verse number. This sleek and stylish brass holder can also hold other things as well...like a recipe card.

Here are my finished art from some of the Emily Lex Simplified Watercolor lessons.

There were three different courses that we were also given: Simplified Penmanship, Simplified Watercolor, and Watercolor for Kids. I have been doing the Simplified Watercolor class. It is a great step-by-step watercolor class for a beginner like me or artists who would like the practice. You can go at your own pace watching the videos, pause at anytime, go back if you missed something, and skip over the parts you already know if you want. In this she begins describing the supplies. I only had a cheap set of crayola watercolors, a nice paintbrush set I got as a gift, and a watercolor pad from my kids using our watercolor crayon set. She said that using the cheap paints would be fine, but as you get better with the art then you might want to purchase a better set and she listed a few. She went over some techniques in the third and forth lessons and then we started painting actual pictures of things. There are also bonus lessons at the end as well. I loved how it also checked off the lessons I had done so that I would know where I was the next time I logged in. I could also still go back through the finished lessons if I needed to. I loved painting the Seascape the most so far, but the Dot Project was fun too. I know that my kids are going to enjoy the Watercolor for Kids class. I looked it over and I might even do the lessons right along with them. The Simplified Penmanship class is going to be very good for me. My penmanship is not too bad, but I would love to do better with my writing and learn some fancy lettering too. I cannot wait to get all the way through these. I have learned so much already and there is so much more to go.

I highly recommend all that Emily Lex has to offer. Her products and classes are so much fun and would make great gifts. I am very pleased with everything we received and want to thank her for being so generous so that we could try a bunch of things. Everything here is fabulous! I encourage you to check Emily Lex out for yourself.

 

 

WIN IT

• Prize: Win the May Flowers Giveaway
  
• Host: Emily Lex.
• Who Can Enter: Open to US and Canadian residents 13 years or older.
• Selection Process: 3 Winners will be selected on 05/30/2021.
  
• Where to Enter: Go to this link https://emilylex.com/may-flowers-ga and fill out the form to enter.

 

BUY IT

Purchase products and classes from Emily Lex's Shop.

Learn more about Emily here: https://emilylex.com/about/ and on IG: https://www.instagram.com/emilylexstudio/ and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emilylexstudio/

Kidzaw.com Master Kitz The Starry Night Review

My family had the privilege of trying the Master Kitz The Starry Night from Kidzaw.com for this review to use in conjunction with our own art homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Kidzaw.com is a children's art company that is devoted to education and inspiration of young artists. Their Master Kitz line exposes kids to the great painters of the past and their history by giving them tools to make a similar art piece and read about the artist. This hands-on experience is great for people ages 5+!

Master Kitz The Starry Night is a Master Kitz that teaches about Vincent van Gogh, his art piece The Starry Night, and other contributions. You or your child can create your own version of The Starry Night with the included contents and instructions in the kit. Then you can read about the famous painter in the learning materials that are provided. All the materials for two paintings are included. The box it comes in can also be used as a art storage box when the art pieces are completed and the left over supplies can be used for other art projects as well.

Top: Contents, Bottom: learning materials opened up to show instructions.

Included in the Master Kitz The Starry Night:

• Reusable Artist’s Tool Box
• Three Custom Paint Colors (acrylics, child friendly)
• Custom Van Gogh Paint Roller
• Five Artist Quality Oil Pastels (child friendly)
• Two Pieces Deluxe Art Paper – 16″ x 20″
• Reusable Composition Stencil (Starry Night Cyprus Stencil)
• Sponge Paint Roller
• Low Tack "Mesmerizing Stars" Mask Sticker Sheet
• Van Gogh Learning Materials
• Easy-to-follow Instructions

Zari getting Kidzaw.com Master Kitz The Starry Night for her birthday and her ready to do art!

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

We received a gift card to purchase Master Kitz The Starry Night ourselves from Amazon to facilitate this review.  It shipped out in a timely manner so that my youngest daughter, who is 8 now, could receive it in time for her birthday party on October 20th. She had ample amount of time to also do the project as well.

The box that the kit came in was very nice. It had a rope handle to carry it and flipped open when the tape on the sides was removed. It is sturdy with magnetic closures. When we opened the box we saw that the art paper and stencil were rolled up so they would fit better in the box. Everything was included to make two art pieces if we wanted to.

My youngest daughter Zari did the art project for this review. We were instructed to place something down to minimize the mess, but my kitchen table is old and has had many an art project grace its surface, so we opted not to. Zari needed assistance doing the Master Kitz The Starry Night because she has trouble reading, so I helped her by first reading the learning materials about van Gogh and then read the instructions, helping her step-by-step through them.

The Vincent Van Gogh Learning Materials that I read to her were short and to the point, but still very informative. We learned about Vincent van Gogh, his life, and his art. We also were given a sort of timeline about his art style and how it changed throughout his life. Inside this pamphlet, if you were to unfold it, were the step-by-step instructions in English in color for the project. A black and white copy of just the step-by-step instructions in other languages was also present (French, German, Italian, and Spanish). If I were doing this project in a different language I would also want not only the instructions, but the learning materials to be translated as well, but they were not.

Zari doing the steps to the Master Kitz The Starry Night art project.

The instructions were very straight forward and easy to follow. The first instruction tells us to tape down the art paper to the surface. Since it was rolled up we had to first "put the stencil in between the two sheets of paper and roll in the opposite direction a couple of times to straighten them" like it said to. This straightened it a little, but we needed to tape it down pretty well in order for it to not creep out of the tape and try to roll back up again. I liked that this art project uses different art tools and applications for doing the painting. Although this wasn't really how Vincent van Gogh himself did the swirling layered brush strokes for his own The Starry Night painting, it made the project more interesting. The star mask stickers once applied, were a bit difficult to pull off without destroying them, so I would suggest to Kidzaw.com to make a second set of these as well for the kits so the second painting can be made without fuss. Also, I suggest to the people who buy one of these kits to not wash the stencil or even wipe to clean because it falls apart, instead just reuse after the paint has dried onto it. Thankfully I was being lazy, so I didn't wash mine. My daughter liked the paint roller parts the best. I had to hold down the stencil in places so that when the paint was applied it didn't seep under where it shouldn't be. The paint dried quickly and she had fun with the oil pastels doing the finishing touches her own way.

Master Kitz The Starry Night finished art piece.

The Kidzaw.com Master Kitz The Starry Night is a wonderful art kit with lots of potential. If Kidzaw.com added another star sticker sheet and the learning materials in the other languages then it would be so much better and more inclusive. We loved learning more about Vincent van Gogh and my daughter had a lot of fun making the art. She definitely put her own flair into making her own version of The Starry Night. She even added some wind/clouds like the original has I can't wait to have my other daughter, who is 10, do one for herself to see how she will make hers different. These come out so good that I will be framing them for the girl's room. I recommend this to others that want to offer art instruction at home. These are great for gifts as well. I can't wait to try out their other Master Kitz.

Follow Them on Social Media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kidzaw-160167827376266/ 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kidzaw 
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kidzaw123
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #art #homeschoolart #masterkitz

BUY IT
You can purchase Kidzaw.com Master Kitz The Starry Night on Amazon or from Kidzaw.com here.



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