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/

CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack and The Art of Cursive Review

My family had the privilege of trying the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack and The Art of Cursive from CursiveLogic for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Why use CursiveLogic? CursiveLogic varies from other handwriting and cursive teaching methods by emphasizing the structure of the cursive alphabet instead of rote memorization (repetition). Cursive letters are grouped by shape and written as a connected string, not individually. There are 4 types of these letter strings each with a differing shape group and color. This reinforces proper formation and makes sure students connect the letters correctly from the very beginning of the lessons. Since CursiveLogic uses the connected string of letters method, kids learn how to make real cursive words within the first week of lessons.

Additionally, CursiveLogic uses visual, auditory, verbal, and kinesthetic elements in teaching cursive letters. With color themes, mnemonic devices, verbal cues, and finger tracing it is truly a multi-sensory approach. The 5 steps of  the CursiveLogic method are: color, movement, catch phrases, logic, and real words. This approach helps students understand how to form the cursive letters better.

CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack is a webinar and workbook combo. The webinar is a 48 minute online seminar presented by Linda Shrewsbury. You get 6 months access to this when you subscribe. This helps the parent with teaching the CursiveLogic cursive curriculum. There are tips, tricks, and step-by-step instructions on how to use the program in this webinar. The newly redesigned consumable workbook is an introduction to the CursiveLogic method and teaches the student cursive using this, from the ground up. It has a total of 112 pages plus three dry erase pages. It is spiral bound at the top so the pages flip easily for both left and right handed students. The spiral coil will also never get in the way of wrists while writing. When using this workbook you first use the pages in numerical order that have the navy blue corners (pages 1-56), then you flip the whole book over and use the pages with the mauve corners (57-112) all the way to the end.

The Art of Cursive is an adult coloring book that targets the adult learner or one who has completed the CursiveLogic workbook. This workbook/coloring book doesn't go through as much detail in the teaching of the CursiveLogic method. It only has 4 short lessons in the front of the book and then 27 decorative images to color that have similar shapes as the lessons. Marker or fountain pens won't bleed through the thick pages either. This is a great book for use after completing the CursiveLogic workbook.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

I believe that cursive is important for children to learn. It is sad that many public schools do not teach cursive anymore because Common Core State Standards do not think it vital to learn. They instead believe that cursive is antiquated and in our advancing computer-centric age typing is more important to learn. I am glad that with homeschooling we get to pick and choose what we want to teach our kids. If homeschooling wasn't done in my home I would still teach cursive myself to my children because the public schools probably wouldn't.

Researchers have found that writing and taking notes by hand benefits the brain and helps you understand, retain, remember, and recall those things better. Handwriting also creates better language and critical thinking skills. The benefits increase with cursive writing.

Cursive script handwriting is essential because...

• cursive activates and stimulates both hemispheres of the brain and encourages them to work together...thus increasing comprehension and participation (printing doesn't do this).
• it brings out the creative side and lets the student express their individuality.
• once your child learns to write in cursive they will be able to read cursive writing easier too.
• it makes you think more about your writing making it more legible, neat, and better composed.
• it helps your child have confidence and pride in their penmanship because they will write more legibly.
• it is fancier looking and more graceful looking.
• academics seem to improve when cursive is taught.
• with it you can sign your name.

I found the CursiveLogic webinar very informative and it helped me, as a parent, learn the process of the curriculum so that I could teach my daughter Teela who is 9 this method of cursive. The workbook is very well laid out and written. After I watched the webinar it was easy to teach Teela and she understood this method after only a few pages into the book.

Orange Oval shape and letter string.

For the first string of letters it has 6 letters that share the same color and shape. The shape is called "Orange Oval". The student practices the shape saying aloud, "over, back-trace" while tracing it with the finger first and then a pencil, and finally writing it. Then the letter string is introduced: a, c, d, g, q, o. The student practices the letter string with this oval shape saying aloud, "over, back-trace, [letter name]...dip" while tracing it with the finger first and then a pencil, and finally writing it. Each time the lessons build upon themselves adding another letter string and a fun shape, color, and chant to go with them. I liked the catch phrases and finger tracing because this added a bit more to the memory aids. My daughter thought the whole process was fun. It was very rewarding to see that she liked this method of learning cursive.

Teela Practicing the Oval Orange shape and letter string.

Here is Teela's before and after sample.

The Art of Cursive book I am going to save for Teela when she has completed the CursiveLogic workbook. I however had her complete a coloring page out of the book just to show you what they can look like colored. This is a great adult coloring book for those that have worked through the method and understand it thoroughly. I love the coloring pages and the way they use the letter strings, and shapes in the artwork to color. This is such a cool way to practice these and relax while coloring too. I also love that it includes quotes from famous people as well.

The Art of Cursive adult coloring page.

I recommend the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack and The Art of Cursive to all parents, teachers, homeschoolers, parents/teachers with special needs students, and occupational therapists that would like their children/students to learn cursive.

Follow Them on Social Media:

• Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ilovecursive/   
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #cursive #ilovecursive 

BUY IT
Using the code CREW2018, my readers can save 20% on the Quick-Start Pack, which is the webinar + workbook combo. The code will be active through the end of March.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack and The Art of Cursive...

Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks Easy Peasy Cursive Review

My family had the privilege of trying Easy Peasy Cursive from Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks was established in October of 2015 when Channie's son was struggling with handwriting. She could not find a product that fit her child's needs so she created her own handwriting workbooks with visual guides to help her child. After a few short months her son was excelling at handwriting and his attitude towards it also became better. Channie's LLC grew from there out of her wanting to help others with children who had similar difficulties. Now Channie's has over 15 new products and her workbooks are being sold at Walmart, Hobby Lobby and retail stores cross over 25 states! These products are proudly made in the USA in North Carolina.

Easy Peasy Cursive is a Channie's visual handwriting workbook that helps with both tracing and writing to reinforce letter formation in cursive. This consumable workbook covers the entire alphabet, A through Z, in cursive with both their uppercase and lowercase letter form. Each letter has two pages of tracing and one page of writing. At the end of the workbook it also has a few simple words to also trace and write in cursive. Easy Peasy Cursive not only shows the correct positioning of the letters in cursive and direction to trace them, it also has slanted or angled guide boxes for proper slant and letter size, green shading to show proper lower case letter position, and divider lines for proper spacing. This workbook is 40 sheets and 80 pages long. The pages are made of 60lb strong recycle paper and printed on both sides. The pad is an standard 8.5 x 11 inch / 21.59 cm x 27.94 cm with paper board backing. The block size is 1/4 x 1/4 inch / 0.64 cm x 0.64 cm. The skip space is 3/16 inch and the ruling is 3/4 inch. This is recommended for children in grades 1st to 3rd, but also works wonderfully for kids that haven't learned cursive before.

Teela working in the Easy Peasy Cursive Workbook.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
My daughter who is in 4th grade now has been working on learning cursive. It has been a slow, painful process teaching her cursive. Frankly, I wanted to find a better way than just the traditional method which only consists of a solid top and bottom line with a dotted center line to use as a guide where everything goes.

I believe that cursive is important for children to learn. It is sad that many public schools do not teach cursive anymore because Common Core State Standards do not think it vital to learn. I am glad that with homeschooling I get to pick and choose what I want to teach my kids. If homeschooling wasn't done in my home I would still teach cursive myself to my children because the public schools probably wouldn't. I feel that cursive is important because: it teaches how to sign one's name, cursive activates and stimulates both hemispheres of the brain and encourages them to work together...thus increasing comprehension and participation (printing doesn't do this), if your child doesn't learn how to write cursive they won't be able to read cursive writing easily, having legible handwriting is a must so that people can read the handwriting and learning cursive can actually help your child to have pride in their penmanship.

The Easy Peasy Cursive Workbook takes the traditional method a few steps further and makes learning handwriting and penmanship in cursive more visual. They use the top, bottom, and middle lines that the other handwriting workbooks do and have arrow guides for which direction to trace letters, but have instead individual slanted boxes with three uniform parts. The top and middle box is for the full upper case letter to fit in. The middle box (which is also shaded green) is used for the lower case letter to fit in except for b, d, f, h, k, l, and t which all go above into the top box as well as using the green space below that. The lower box is for the tales of letters like f, g, j, p, q, y, and z to reside in. There are also divider lines in between letters for proper spacing when writing cursive. These visual guidelines make it so that the child can auto-correct themselves quickly and accurately. It leaves very little room for error.

My daughter Teela has been working through this book and has made enormous progress. She likes this workbook a lot better than ones we have had her do in the past. Now I have my eye on the Easy Peasy Alphabet Workbook for my daughter, Zari, who is in 1st grade because I believe that this will help her handwriting as well. I recommend the Easy Peasy Cursive to all parents and teachers that would like their children/students to learn cursive, homeschoolers, parents/teachers with special needs students, and occupational therapists.


Follow Them on Social Media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/channiesworkbook Tag: @channiesworkbook
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #handwriting #visualhandwriting

BUY IT
Purchase Easy Peasy Cursive from Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks for $12.95 at the time of this post.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks...