As you know I am on a never-ending quest for fun, cheap, and easy ways to keep my kids entertained. I’m also reliving my childhood years by discovering cool and new (to me) art supplies. I had no idea watercolor pencils existed. The kids and I had tried painting with watercolors before and it was a mess. Cameron kept dumping the water while Preston would sneak sips. Then once Preston got into it I realized that the pictures wouldn’t hold up unless I bought thicker paper. And so began my watercoloring with kids journey.

I tried Crayola watercolors. They are inexpensive and work in a pinch but the color isn’t rich enough. Then I made my  own using gel food coloring but that was expensive and limiting since there was no way I was buying more than two of those containers. I think they range from $1.50 – $2.00 each. Finally I happened upon some Artist’s Loft watercolor pencils at Michael’s. They were having a sale and I had a coupon. So. Cheap. I spent less than $20 on 12 watercolor pencils, a paint brush set, and two pads of watercolor paper (buy one, get one free!).

Not bad.

As you can see the kids were using the pencils like regular colored pencils. It drove me a little nuts at first. I wanted to make something cool and I’m not talented enough to draw something interesting using just pencils. I needed to get to painting. I made an outline for Preston and showed him how to dip the brush in water and rub on the pencils strokes to turn the pencil into paint. He was pretty impressed. Together we made some sort of sunset mountain landscape painting thing. You can also dip the pencils in water and paint that way too. Equally fun and easy.

We had a good time and Cameron likes using them to draw. Not a bad way to pass an hour with two cute kids.

Have you ever tried using watercolor pencils with your kids?

I never considered myself a creative person. It’s been a lifelong nuisance. My drawings were hideous, my imagination is fairly juvenile (not always a bad thing), and frustration with creative roadblocks. I desperately want to be creative but it is something I learned that I have to work on. It does not come naturally to me. I’ve made peace with that. I’ve learned that creativity is something that has to be cultivated within myself. Leaving my corporate job allowed me a little more time to focus on my preferred creative pursuits: writing, photography, and crafts with the kids, but at times I lack motivation and inspiration.

I was selected by Blogher to review a subscription service called My Artist’s Way Toolkit, which is based on Julia Cameron’s best-selling books including The Artist’s Way. I was intrigued by the concept and wondered whether it would help a creatively stunted wannabe artist such as myself.

It did. Here’s why:

• Beautiful Creative Affirmations
• Weekly Prompts & Exercises
• Motivating Creative Soundbites
• Personal Online Artist’s Way Creativity Notebook
• Accompanying iPhone app (a must have for me since I do most of my creative work at night on my phone)

The concept is unique but well structured. I am a big believer in the power of positive thinking yet never applied it to my desire to be more creative. The My Artist’s Way Toolkit is an awesome accountability and tracking tool for creative types that need a little nudge of inspiration and motivation. I hope that my continued use of the service will expand my creative limitations and manifest itself through my writing and photography.

Fingers crossed.

Disclosure: I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but all opinions expressed are honest and my own.