Sunday, August 5, 2018

Waffle Flower August Release Blog Hop

Happy Sunday! Today is Waffle Flower's August release day, and I am thrilled to be part of this blog hop to introduce some of their basic but very unique and practical new products.


I have been enjoying cardmaking and scrapbook embellishing by stamping solid images, words, and phrases for years, but coloring the outlined images is pretty much a new endeavor to me.

Well, maybe I should be honest and confess that I have a fear of coloring. How dark does this color get on my paper? How do these two colors look when used side by side? What happens when these colors are mixed? I become anxious when I use color media.

So I am happy to find a possible solution to my fear in Waffle Flower's August release. Stamps and dies to make color swatches and wheels? Yes, please!


Unlike those color charts on the back of the product packages and printable sheets off the manufacturers' site, the swatches made with my usual brushes, on my usual paper, and with my own usual pressure and habits would be practical. They should at least reduce my fear of uncertainty!

I used the top portion of Swatch Stamp Set for my watercolor swatches.


The black bar is for testing opacity and is particularly helpful when making swatches of color media that contain pigments. 

One of the reasons why I have hesitated to use Kuretake Gansai Tambi is that some colors are more pigmented than others.  The opaque colors blur the stamped lines and produce "cloudy" images.


With these newly made swatches, I can now predict which ones are more transparent (like this No. 32 紅 べに) and which ones are more opaque when they are dried on the paper.


From left to right, more water is added. This is the darkest and the lightest I would usually go. Your range may be wider or narrower than mine. Handmade swatches are totally customizable so you can reflect your own habits and tendencies for more realistic color guides.

I cut the watercolor paper into 2x2 inch square pieces and made individual swatches for each color. This way, you do not have to worry about making a mistake on your 24th color:)


Sometimes I like to mix white to make pastel colors for a softer look, so I made a guide for tinting using Color Wheels Combo. The outermost areas have the original hues, and they are more tinted (have more white pigments) towards the center of the wheel. 


The triadic, split-complementary, and tetradic color scheme indicator stamp is included in the set. I have attached it with a metal brad so that it rotates easily.

I also like to add black to the colors to get the grungy look. This is the shading guide for myself.



Now on to the practical application! I made a card using Adventures Stamp Set and with the help of my handmade color swatches and wheels.



From the 6 blue options, I could pick one that is the closest to the denim color without trying them all.  And with my tinting guide wheel, I could tell which red would give me the pink I want for my cherry blossoms when white is added.


I know I need more practice, but at least my fear of coloring is eased a bit.

For markers, I used Color Swatches Stamp Set. Again, instead of having all the swatches on one sheet, I cut it up into several 3x4 inch cards, but not from the fear of making mistakes.



I am still new to Copic Markers, and this is all I have for now.



With the separate cards for each color family, I can easily adjust to the addition of the markers. 

Each swatch can be divided into three areas. I used it to indicate the darkness with one coat, two coats, and three coats, from the top to the bottom, respectively.



Thank you very much for hopping by today, and here's the best part. Giveaway time!

To celebrate the blog hop, Waffle Flower is giving away $25 gift certificates to THREE lucky winners. You can leave comment on my blog and along the hop by 11:59pm ET on 8/12/18 for your chances to win. 

Winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the posts on this blog hop and will be announced on the Waffle Flower blog on 8/15/2018.

To celebrate the new release, all orders placed by 11:59pm ET on 8/15/18 will receive an Adhesive Eraser from our friends at Xyron! No code required; Limited 1 per customer; While Supplies last. 

Make sure to visit all of these fabulous ladies' blogs, and have a wonderful day! 


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抽選で3名さまに、ワッフルフラワークラフトの25ドル分の商品券が当たります。このブログ記事にぜひコメントをお願いいたします。
8月リリース、クロップパーティーでは水曜日よりご予約の受け付けを開始いたします。日本語バージョンも書きますので、ご安心を〜。
それでは今週もどうぞよろしくお願いいたします!

128 comments:

  1. 2×2インチのカードでスワッチのアイデアいいですね!スリーブに入れられるし!

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  2. Mariko what a neat idea to show how to swatch copic markers with the 3 different layers of the same color. It helps us see ways to stretch our copic. Thank you!

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  3. Your not the only with fear, my water color cards do not always turn out the way I they look in my head, these will help. Love your Copic idea too, honestly it is my favorite way to color

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  4. Love the color family idea for the copics! Thank you so much
    for sharing your idea.

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  5. I too like to color but never know the right colors to use together, Thank you for sharing your combos!

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  6. I love how you used the stamp for your copics. I wish I could say that was all I had! Genius! I will have to see how my Kuretakes look when I swatch. I am sure not nearly as good as yours. TFS!

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  7. I love this release! I think it will help me, too, to get over my worry over coloring the wrong colors!

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  8. I love the color idea with the copics! I never would have thought of that! Something I need to do, since I’m still getting used to using alcohol markers!

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  9. LOVE this....such a great release!

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  10. Thank you for sharing the topic markers color chart/wheel!

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  11. I like how you're swatching your Copic markers. I will have to redo mine as I didn't consider showing the different shades per marker. Love it!

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  12. I still have much to learn about color. This is so helpful.

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  13. Love the swatch stamp set. Great idea

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  14. It makes more sense to have color wheels
    with your actual colors than to have
    printed charts or to use the colors on
    the packages. They never match the
    "real" color when I'm trying to paint
    something. thanks or sharing
    txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  15. such a brilliant concept with both practical and fun applications. thanks as always for sharing.

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  16. Lots of great tips, especially for a non-art major who really needs to learn more about colors for my card making. Thanks!

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  17. LOVE that you used your Kuratake set!!! That may be the first one I swatch!! And your card is amazing, love the color combo!!!!

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  18. This release is awesome! While I do color swatch all of my mediums, making grids is so time consuming. But I absolutely love your idea of having a color wheel with both white & black added to it! Thank you for that tip! And I totally agree with your thoughts that by doing your own color swatches, you get a true read of color based on your way of painting or coloring (meaning hand pressure, stroke direcrion, etc). Thank you for a lovely card & informative blog post.

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  19. Swatching is such a great idea!

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  20. I have the Gansai Tambi too. This is a great idea. Great release. And i love what u created!❤

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  21. Really cool waffle flower is brilliant!

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  22. Great idea!!! I love the swatches of copics. I’ll have to give that a try :)

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  23. Swatch-ya been doin'? Now we know! : ) Thanks for explaining what the black bar is for. I really love how you did the leaves!!

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  24. Love your swatches! Great idea with them. Love your card also. Great colors. Thanks for sharing and have a great week.

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  25. Love how you did your swatches, thanks for sharing!

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  26. Awesome product idea and I loved seeing how you personalize it for how you color!

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  27. Beautiful card with the Adventures stamp set! Love all these swatching ideas too!

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  28. Great swatches and I love your work! The adventure card is awesome! :)

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  29. Awesome products, thanks for sharing.💛

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  30. I LOVE your fun card! The way you created the pretty pink blossoms on the tree is beautiful! They look like cherry blossoms!

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  31. Yay for you, Mariko! Looking forward to seeing more colored images from you in the future. Enjoy!

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  32. Wonderful explanation of using the swatch sets - Thanks!

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  33. I love your card. Perfect colors. I feel your fear. It is real. I was so blessed to have attended a watercolor class last week and that helped me get passed my fear of playing with the colors. I cannot wait to build my collection.

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  34. Love the color swatches set. Thanks for the helpful info!

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  35. These stamps and dies are very helpful!

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  36. You are an inspiration! Love how you are slowly collection Copic markers. They are so fun once you practice. Love your card, too!

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  37. 桜の木かしら。デニムの色もぴったり!とっても素敵ですね。

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  38. Such an awesome idea for you guys who color!!

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  39. Great job in demonstrating these items.

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  40. I share your fear of choosing the right colors. This set should help us both better colorers.

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  41. Love Love Love this new Swatch collection! I am new to Copics too so it's the perfect time to begin swatching them.

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  42. Such a great idea with these new swatches. I am intrigued! Thanks!

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  43. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  44. Your explanation has helped me to understand more about coloring techniques. Thank you.

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  45. You go Mariko! Love how you explained all that you did and how you have used these great stamps from Waffleflower. Keep on coloring!

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  46. Mariko, WHAT A SUPER JOB of showing us these swatches, & how you used them! Yes, your explanation is SO HELPFUL to us! I have been thinking of doing a Color Journal here lately & I guess, Nina just KNEW this! LOL PERFECT TIMING!!! ;)

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  47. Love your color wheel ideas. Can't wait to use these sets.

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  48. Love this new stamp and die swap set

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  49. I'm also terrified of coloring the outline images! Thank you so much for sharing this and how it can help with coloring anxiety :)

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  50. I’m like you, new to colouring and a little apprehensive. You did a great job and I am now inspired to give it a go...thanks

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  51. Thanks for the idea with the copic makers....this set is amaing.

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  52. I've gotten new ideas on every blog, and yours is no exception! When I get to swatching the Copics, I'll definitely be using the color families.

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  53. OMG! I absolutely love your idea of using the swatch stamp with Copics to show how the color looks with multiple coats. Definitely adding this set with matching die to my arsenal, thanks so much for showing and sharing this idea.

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  54. super new release - very inspiring:)

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  55. I love the kids in a tree. You watercoloring looks wonderful. So pretty.

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  56. Thank you for your enthusiastic inspiration and the beautiful card!

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  57. That’s a great way to illustrate your copic colors. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  58. Thank you for sharing how you are using the swatching stamps & dies. I have never really understood how to use a color wheel. I know the basics (complementary colors etc), but seeing how you have made yours has really helped.

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  59. まりこさん、ご紹介ありがとうございます。抽選券あたりますよーに!

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  60. I love the pink background on your card! Thank you for showing the color wheel too!

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  61. oooooo! LUV the cherry blossoms!

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  62. I just love your card, it is so pretty and the recipient is very lucky, as for the release - I have a lot of work to do, better get swatching

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  63. Thanks for all your advice and assistance with these charts and cards. They look to be so practical for all sorts of crafting. Your card is a lovely illustration of how helpful the promise to be. tfs

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  64. 真理子さんのスワッチを2×2,3×4インチにカットしスリーブに入れるアイデアはとても見やすくていいですね。また、スワッチ用のスタンプを作るなんて、今までどこのブランドも思い付かなかった事を実践してくれたワッフルフラワークラフトにも感謝です。

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  65. What a great release and I love how you've used it, especially your 2 colour wheels. Your card is lovely!

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  66. Your organization for your swatches is so awesome!

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  67. Oh my gosh, turning the Adventures tree into a cherry tree is so creative, love it!

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  68. これニナさんのigの動画でみていいなぁって思っていました。日本語お待ちしています!

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  69. I really like the way you did the swatches for your Copic markers. I, like you are just getting started with them and only have a few right now. It's nice to see a way to add to the swatches as I add markers. PS - I love that you did the tree on your card as a Cherry tree, beautiful!

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  70. I think we all have some anxiety when it comes to coloring because we think as adults it should be perfect, though many of us haven't kept up the skills we had as children. And techniques such as watercolor can take years to master. I like that swatching takes the pressure off of us to create something like we see in our head and just learn to use our supplies! Great idea for the Copic swatches, though I'm sure you'll add your fav color combos to it soon too.

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  71. Thank you for sharing a great info!

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  72. Your pink blossoms on the tree are outstanding. Love it!

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  73. What a gorgeous cherry blossom tree !! And I also have these watercolors ... and now I need to have some swatches too :)

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  74. I love blog hops because I get inspired to create--thank you.

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  75. Wow!! Just wow. . . so many great ideas, so many great visuals! I'm loving this hop and being at the end isn't easy. You still knocked it out of the ball park. I love what you did with this release!

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  76. Love your beautiful card and swatches!

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  77. Really lovely card. Thanks for sharing your ideas ...

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  78. I can totally relate - I'm intimidated by coloring. I hope these swatch stamps will help me get better and get over my fear!

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  79. Brilliant release! Thanks for showing the ideas using the Gansai Tambi watercolors and Copies! I use both!

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  80. Oh my it's so so nice to know other people have these fears, I have three different watercolour sets that I've been petrified to touch for fear of being wrong. Like you this will give me a personal switch of my colours how I choose to use them. Pencil crayons & I made friends years ago but watercolours & alcohol markers are not yet my greatest friends so till on my sets of these arriving to play with.

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  81. Brilliant! Love the "spring / cherry blossom" feel of your sample card.

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  82. Love that sweet card and your swatch samples are great.

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  83. This is a FANTASTIC idea from Waffle Flower! I would love to swatch out my mediums and easily create swatches when creating a card or page. LOVE THIS!

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  84. Love your neat work on swatches and how you turned the branches into cherry blossom!

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  85. Thank you for this comprehensive guide for colour swatching. I need to get these stamps now!

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  86. This release from Waffle Flower is great. It's a perfect, neat and uniform guide for creating watercolor swatches and useful for other mediums as well. I only have my watercolors swatched at this point and they are terrible, not in the least a true representation of the colors! I think I can do better with this set. I've seen others use it for blending colors, such as with colored pencils, and think it will be so useful there, also.....endless possibilities, I think.

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  87. I'm ready for more color combos. A perfect way to organize them. Plus all the other mediums. [Bunny]

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  88. This release is awesome! Thanks for the inspiration.

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  89. Such a unique release and your card is sweet!

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  90. Just love these new sets from Waffle Flower! Can't wait to order!

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  91. You can’t tell that you have a bit a fear of coloring. Your coloring is fabulous. This release is out of this world. It’s just what I need to really help me learn more about all of my color mediums. I can’t wait to ge5my hands on them.

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  92. Wow!!! Your colouring is really amazing!!! Beautiful cards!!!

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  93. Great ideas, and beautiful card!

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  94. These stamps are such great tools! I haven't used my Kuratake watercolors yet even thought I've had them for nearly two years. I do believe I maybe trying them soon because of these stamps. I'm starting with swatches!

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  95. This is fun. I love seeing the ways all the designers have used these stamp sets.

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  96. Home run for Waffle Flower. What a unique and creative idea for everyone! Love this new swatching kit!

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  97. Love that pink blossom tree! So lovely!

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  98. スワッチの作り方をどうしようか悩んでいたので、画期的なスタンプセットにびっくり、そしてとても嬉しく思いました。日本語のブログも楽しみにしています。

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  99. What a fun stamp! It makes fun to make color swatches and wheels (^^♪

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  100. Very nice swatching job,looks great!

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  101. Your card with the Adventures stamp is SO beautiful! Love the way you added the Cherry Blossoms!

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  102. Mariko, your card is fantastic but I have to say my eyes are drawn to those swatches! (Oh dear, I really am an organizational FREAK! LOL) However, these swatch stamps are MUCH more than that, they are a tool for choosing the right colours for future projects and I am ALL about making things quicker and easier ion future projects.
    Well done Mariko on sharing more great ideas for this release!

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  103. This is an awesome
    new release and so
    helpful for those
    that do coloring
    a lot.
    Carla from Utah

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  104. Love the idea of mixing with white and black pigments. Thank you for sharing your tips for using the swatching sets. Love it!

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  105. Thanks for showing how you made your swatches and color wheels. Your explanation was so clear and makes it easy to understand how to use these.

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  106. スワッチとカラーホイールが手軽に!カラースキームの自作教材なんて実用的なアイディアですね!
    顔彩耽美で一度作った色を再現するのによい資料になりそう✨

    この先子どもの図工の勉強にもなりそうだし、質実剛健な保存版として重宝しそうな予感❤

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  107. Love your swatches and all the possibilities of these stamps! Thanks for sharing.

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  108. Really love your swatches and your card is adorable too!!! Thanks for sharing!
    Hugs,
    Jo in Jersey
    ♥ Jo's Scrap Shack ♥

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  109. Love love love these stamps. Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing

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  110. Wonderful swatches and sweet card.

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  111. Some very good tips here -- TY! like the idea of the ones showing the mix with white or black, an excellent idea. Liked the card. Very valuable video.

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  112. Fantastic swatching! Love that you did color wheels with tints and shades. Beautiful card, so cool to see the process from swatching to the finished product.

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  113. What a great idea to swatch your markers using three different layers!! Thanks for sharing your tips and swatching.

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  114. Such a beautiful card! I love how you painted the "cherry blossom".

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  115. Great ideas and use of these new products.

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  116. Thanks for sharing all these tips and tricks. I'm new to colouring and also find it a bit intimidating.

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  117. I like the smaller 2x2 version of the swatches you made. It might be helpful for me to make color charts with the colors I frequently use togeather.

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  118. I am so eager to start making swatches! Love this release!

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  119. Thank you for this helpful post. That’s a genius release.
    [margessw(at)icloud(dot)com]

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  120. THis is such a wonderful release and thank you for sharing! i could really use it!

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