August Navy Blues Ink Palettes

August has barely started and it’s already going too fast. This month I’m using a lot of blue black and navy inks. I love all five of these inks and use them often.

Mariner 4 is my favorite ink from this palette, I just love the color!

Bungubox 4B is my favorite from this palette, it’s so smooth but unfortunately super pricey too!

This is another palette where I love all five inks. All are on my frequently used list. Let me know what inks you’re using for August in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post is not sponsored.

Fruity July Ink Palettes

We are fully into July so it’s time for another ink palette post. I’m loving the bright colors for summer, and Sailor Irori is my favorite bright red.

I’m here for all the oranges right now. Yu-yake is a long-time favorite.

I love all five of these inks, especially together.

I love coral and teal together, it’s such a happy combo. Let me know what inks you’re using for summer in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post is not sponsored.

July Greys

We’ve hit the middle of July! Since it’s been abnormally hot here in Washington, berry season has come short and early. I spent yesterday making our jam for the year-blackberry, blueberry, raspberry and strawberry. I love Monteverde Cherry Danish for a deep cherry red.

The local farmer’s market finally has some flowers showing up, I love seeing the rainbow of colors. Papier Plume Garden District Azalea is one of my favorite pinks.

I love grey inks! In the last few days we’ve reviewed a few and for the rest of July we’ll take a look at a few more. Pilot Iroshizuku Kiri-same is a grey I reach for again and again.

We homeschool our kids, so I spend the summer deciding on the next year’s curriculum and it makes me want all the graphite grey inks. I use Diamine Grey and Robert Oster Graphite often.

I hope everyone is having a great July! What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.

June Teals

June starts tomorrow! Summer doesn’t officially start until June 20th but I’m already craving the bright summery colors. While we are still in the very end of spring I’m loving dusky colors like Robert Oster Choc Pudding and Dusky Pink.

Teal is my favorite color and I’m a sucker for all things teal. This palette is made up of a lot of my favorite teals-Sailor Yama-dori and Diamine Soft Mint being two of my long-time favorites.

Robert Oster Monsoon Sky and Morning Mist are two less popular teals but they are perfect for this palette and wonderful inks too!

Teal and orange go so well together in the summer-Paradise Blue and Manago Mousse are so cheerful together!

I love everything about this one! I’m pretty sure I will be using these five inks together for the rest of the summer because they look so good together!

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day! What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.

May Purples

It’s finally May! We spent this Saturday hiking the Wild Horses Monument near the Gorge in WA. My kids loved seeing all the horse statues and the view was amazing. I was so glad I had my phone so I could take a quick photo. I find myself reaching for Sailor Ink Studio 143 a lot this spring-it is such a nice color and has some fabulous shading too.

I’m a sucker for the moody greens in this one! I have become a bit wary of Troublemaker inks-a few have stained my pens but I still enjoy using them (with some caution), especially this Seaglass.

This one just makes me think of Pepto bismol, but I love the combo of pink, purple and teal!

I love Pilot Iroshizuku inks but since I’m always trying out new inks I don’t use my favorites as much as I would like. Ajisai is one of my long-time loves!

I hope everyone is having a great May! What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.

March Greens

It’s March so bring on all the greens! It has been a long winter and one thing I’m looking forward to this spring is when the local farmers market starts up. I love using fresh local produce and can’t wait to find some again! Monteverde Moonstone is a long-time favorite of mine.

I am missing all the green! Last summer we moved from a very wet climate to the desert and I’m missing the green landscape more than I thought I would. I reach for Robert Oster Caffe Crema at least once a month, it’s a great brown.

We have been spending some of our weekends out hiking. We’ve been finding local trails out in the desert where it’s rare for us to run into another hiker. The kids can only handle so much school during the week before they are craving a full day spent outside. Sailor Jentle Tokiwa-matsu has really grown on me over time and I use it often.

My oldest sister hates succulents-who knows why, but she does. Anytime I see them it makes me think of her and how much she hates them. I love the range of color they have, especially the pops of blue and green. Sailor Ink Studio 264 is an ink I reach for again and again, I just love the color.

I hope everyone is having a great March! What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.

February Hearts & Flowers

I have a love/hate relationship with February. By now it always feels like winter should be over but it’s not. I love having flowers in the house during February just because it makes winter feel a little lighter.

Valentine’s Day is halfway through February, but it’s also my birthday. I always try to make cookies with my kids on Valentine’s so they have fun decorating and I get a birthday cookie out of the deal.

My in-laws gift my kids with Conversation Hearts every February. It’s a fun tradition that the kids love. Everyone agrees that the pink ones are the best, right?

At the end of February I’m just ready for spring to come already, and flowers are usually the first sign.

I hope everyone is having a great February! What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.

Winter Blues Ink Palettes

We are knee-deep into January which means I’m reaching for icy blues, dark greens, gorgeous blue blacks and cool greys. The weather has been cold and snowy, and we are spending most of our time inside.

I love the color of this water-it’s teal and gorgeous while still being wintery. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to use Papier Plume Lake Michigan Winter to match it, but let’s face it, I’ll use any excuse to pull out that ink. Someday they’ll make me happy and do another run of it. There are a lot of other inks that would work as an alternative to Swan Illusion like Kyo-iro Stone Road of Gion or Sailor Ink Studio 373.

I’m still crushing hard on Sailor’s Sailor-it’s so gorgeous and has the prettiest shading. Sou-boku, Smoke Noir and Thunderstorm have been long-time favorites of mine.

I would love to live here-a cabin in the middle of nowhere, as long as I get to keep my inks with me.

I hope everyone is having a safe January! What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.

Doughnuts and Tulips Ink Palettes

We are on day 51 of our self-imposed quarantine, and luckily we are all doing pretty well. I’ve been sick since Monday, so we are taking one day at a time. Today it hit me that I miss doughnuts. We are not big on eating out, but the one exception is when I take my son for doughnuts after appointments with his specialist. I could seriously use an Oreo doughnut from Legendary Doughnuts in Tacoma right about now (never mind that it’s 9 o’clock at night and they are probably closed-please tell me I’m not the only one that craves doughnuts late at night). Oreos+doughnuts=amazing and you really can’t go wrong, right??? Well you can’t go wrong with these inks either, because they are fun and bright and match these doughnuts that I wish I was eating.

I miss tulips. They are pretty and come in a million different colors. Coral oranges are my favorite oranges, so Sailor Ink Studio 473 is good one.

Gimme all the pastel shading inks in spring, but I also need some great classic inks too. Sailor Jentle Black is one of my favorite inks-I always have it in at least one pen.

I miss farmers markets. I miss being able to take my kids to help me pick out food each week and see what new ingredients they want to try. We have had really good luck with a local company delivering produce to us each week during stay-at-home and appreciate them so much. Sailor Jentle Irori is a really good tomato red and is one of my favorite reds. I’m still deep in my love affair with Platinum Carbon Black, I don’t think we will be breaking up anytime soon-I’m pretty sure we are going steady at this point. Try it because it’s amazing.

I hope you are all staying safe and well. What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.

Quarantine 2020 Ink Palettes

We are on day 24 of our self-imposed quarantine, something I’ve avoided talking about so far, but this is life right now and it doesn’t seem right to avoid it altogether. We live in Washington State and have three little kids so we decided to stay at home pretty early on and do our best to keep everyone healthy. It’s the first Sunday of the month so I thought I would post this month’s ink palettes based on what we’re doing and missing right now. I know a lot of us are struggling and my heart is with everyone having to deal with this. I’m doing my best to keep our routine as consistent as we can. My day job is on hold for now, but I’ll still be here posting ink content like usual for as long as I can.

One of the biggest things I miss right now is taking my kids to the park. We usually spend a lot of time outside-we go to a lot of local parks, splash parks and hiking trails. Since this isn’t really an option for us right now, I’m looking forward to days where chalk can be a fun part of our lives again. Diamine Soft Mint is one of my favorite Diamine inks, and has been for years.

My youngest is super into aquatic life right now and we have spent a lot of time on YouTube watching different sea creatures-have you seen the video of the octopus dreaming and changing colors the whole time?!? Coral and light orange are some of my favorite colors for spring.

Easter is coming up soon and my kids ask everyday if it’s Easter yet. They love dying eggs-mostly just so they can crack them open later, but it’s a good indoor activity when so many of our Easter activities won’t happen this year. I’m loving these colors together, they definitely have the spring vibe but are still pretty readable.

I’m struggling to keep everyone hydrated. It seems like such a silly thing but it’s something we are working on. I love teal inks and all three of these are great ones. Platinum Carbon Black is my new black ink fling, I don’t think we will be breaking up any time soon.

I’m hoping you are all well. I’m going to spend the rest of the evening sewing up some masks, but check back tomorrow for a new ink review. What’s your current ink obsession right now? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.