Organizational {Friday} Colored Pencils

This week I finally wanted to share what I have done with my colored pencils. If you remember this post from 2008, you see how I store my pencil sharpener and how I used to keep my pencils. Yes, I still hang my pencil sharpener like that off of my bucket but I use a different bucket since my collection has grown. If you have a smaller collection, my original bucket would work great for you! Over time, I have found that I have been having a terrible time finding what I want to use so I created an inventory/swatch sheet to help. Let's look at what I did.

The Swatches & File
To get all of the colored pencil names, I copied a list from Dick Blick and pasted it into Microsoft Excel. I then created two worksheets--one for my Derwent watercolor pencils and one for my Prisma colored pencils. Here is the file for you to download:


I hope this works. You can see the two separate worksheet names at the bottom of the image. Just click on the worksheet, and you should be able to download it. Google docs seemed to mess up my formatting a bit but you should be able to fix it as you desire. :) Also, please remember this is for your personal use. Please do not distribute this file. You can certainly link others to this post but please don't distribute the file itself. I truly appreciate it!

**Well, it seems Google Docs won't allow it to download. This is so frustrating Blogger doesn't have that feature like Typepad. So, if you can't grab this file, please e-mail me, and I will send it to you. I may post it on Splitcoaststampers later too so you can grab it from there. I will update when I do. Sorry!

After creating my file, I then sat down and colored in my swatches. It was super easy and fast to do! And since I have created this, guess what? I am able to find the colors I want to use SO much faster and easier. Now who would have thought? LOL! Here are what my color sheets look like (Derwent is the first photo; Primacolor is the second photo): Now it is also so much easier to see what colors I don't have if I want to buy any individually. And if you notice in the first picture (the Derwent watercolor pencils), the right hand side of the swatch looks a bit different (see below). That's because I actually used my waterbrush to wet the swatch since sometimes the color looks different once it is wet. You can see in the first swatch how the yellow gets lighter as water is added to it. This way I have both wet and dry samples on my swatch sheet. :)
These swatch sheets are half sheets since I store all of my color swatches in one small binder. However, I have been unable to find the smaller page protectors lately, and I use them a LOT. I found a source online, and I was very pleased with their prices and service. I ordered them from Keep Filing. They not only had the 5 1/2"x8 1/2" page protectors I was looking for but they also have 12"x12" and many other sizes. The quality is very nice! I was definitely very pleased.

My Colored Pencil Bucket
Okay, most of you know that baby pink is my absolute favorite color. So, when I needed to invest in a new bucket, baby pink was my criteria! LOL! Upon searching, I found that A Muse had the exact bucket I wanted and needed!!! They come in many colors but of course I chose baby pink! You can see their assortment of buckets starting here. Just scroll down a bit. :)
Now the way I organize this bucket is by brand and then by color hue. Since I do not have a lot of the Derwent watercolor pencils, they are all together in one part of the bucket (on the left). The Prismacolor pencils are separated into the other two parts of the bucket with the yellows, oranges, greens, etc., being on the right, and the blues, purples, browns, etc., being in the middle.

This is working really well for me. I just wish I would have made swatch sheets sooner. I should know by now that I need swatches for everything. LOL! I hope this has been helpful! Enjoy, and get those colored pencils out and color! :) Blessings,