6/26/2022

Heaven Dragon Pu Er Tea, 125 g

This is large box of loose leave Pu er tea. Pu er is a very strong tea, stronger than any strong black breakfast tea, so I use half of the quantity I'd use to prepare my normal tea. In fact, I can reuse the leaves twice and still get flavorsome tea. This tea not only has a strong smoky flavor but also a noticeable strong smoky smell. I take this tea with milk due to its strength; personally, I'd not have it on its own. This isn't the first time I use this variety of tea, so I can compared it against other brands I've used in the past, and the brew is as good as more expensive brands. This is an amazing value for money package as Pu er is a rare tea variety and it's usually quite expensive.

MIND = There aren't brewing instructions on the package.

Crayola 24 Pack Regular Crayons

This is a decent set of permanent (not water-soluble) crayons. I use them for mark making in my mixed media projects. The pigments are decent and noticeable. I'd say they are a cheap alternative to good quality permanent crayons if you are on a tight budget and if you want them for non-professional use, needless to say. Amazing value for money.

DOWNSIDES
> The sticks snap half easily if you exert a little bit of pressure.
> The paper labels covering each stick aren't the color of the stick but the family color they belong to.
> The choice of color isn't the best. There are too many oranges and not enough greens and not even a brown.

6/25/2022

iFeather Cat Pencil Canvas Pen Holder (Gray)

Great telescopic canvas pouch that holds tons of stuff. I put all my Ohohus inside (36 markers) and there is still room for more. Very cute design, and it can easily be stored when not needed. It stands up easily. Beware not to use the pouch when painting with acrylics as it can be easily stained. Good value for money.

Canson XL Series Watercolor Textured Paper Pad Fold Over, 140 lb/300 gsm, 9x12", 30 Sheets

Wonderful 300 gsm watercolor paper perfect for mixed media, watercolor painting and heavy collage. I've used this with acrylic paints, collage and mixed media, and it stands well multiple layers of paint, embellishments and other materials (chipboard die-cuts, burlap, fabric, other paper, etc.) as well as spray inks. It's slightly larger than A4 (see my photo). Easy to remove from the pad. It's quite smooth but it has a bit of tooth (see my photo). Best non-professional watercolor paper I've ever used. I'll buy it again.

Avanti Cheese Cloth, White

I bought this to use it in my mixed media projects, so I cannot comment on how it works for cheese making or cooking.

I have used it both to create rugged textured backgrounds and elements of decoration and I'm very pleased with the results. It needs heavy gel medium to glue it to the paper. I'd say it's not the best cloth for mixed media, but it's very good nevertheless. I've uploaded a photo of a project I'm working on, which has the background made of this cloth as well as the 'nest', tinted with different ink sprays. It absorbs inks beautifully with little amount of ink used.

For the rest, it's great value for money as this is a quite large piece of cloth.

The only downside for mixed media it is that that the gaping between threads is quite large, which makes the handling of the fabric on projects a bit annoying.

For the rest, quite happy with the product.

Liquitex Professional Heavy-Body Acrylic Paint 59 ml Tube, Turquoise Deep (561) (Series 2)

This is a beautiful semi-opaque heavy-body turquoise acrylic. It's a bit pricey but a tiny amount of product goes a long way. The color is absolutely stunning and very versatile as, depending on the quantity I use, it looks a quite dark or almost translucent. This is the first Liquitex professional heavy-body acrylic I've bought, and it's totally worth the money.

6/13/2022

English Tea Shop Gift Pack Super Goodness Collection Orange 36 Sachets, 61.5 g

The tin box caught my eye as well as the exotic blend fair-trade tea selection. The tin design is wonderful: very modern, beautiful and eye-candy. Each variety of tea has its own pocket in the cardboard inner drawer structure. This structure is removable and I now use the box as container for my stencil.s

I love that these teas are organic and fair trade, something that is really important to me.

All the flavours have in common that are light and clear, not strong or full bodied. However, they're good teas/tisanes and I've enjoyed them all. They're perfect to make a cup of tea not more. Not even a one-person teapot, as the flavours are delicate and get lost if I add more than a standard mug of water.

My favourite tea in this sat is the turmeric variety and, if I had to choose one, this would be the one I'd buy again. I found that the matcha variety is especially disappointing. The other varieties are lovely light drinks, but I prefer teas that are a bit more flavoursome and are a big stronger..