Share-A-Cart Product Blog
Share-A-Cart is a living product that is constantly evolving. Find our latest news here.
Thank You!
Shared on 2 January 2023, by Ed
The last time we published a year-end review was in 2020. We have seen tremendous growth since then and could not have achieved this without your continued support. Thank you!
Share-A-Cart - Helping Teachers #ClearTheList
Shared on 24 June 2022, by Rowan
Summer is finally here! Students are heading out of schools and looking out to months of hot weather, no impending tests or homework, and what feels to many like endless time off to hang out with their friends. Right now, teachers all around the country are excited too, but many are getting hyped up for some slightly different reasons. Any and every educational professional can enjoy the glorious appeal of summer, but now that the spring semester is officially wrapped up, it is time to start preparing for the next school semester of 2022! A huge part of this, beyond the lesson planning and building curriculums, is classroom preparation. So right now, teachers around the country are prepping long lists of school supplies and materials for their classrooms.
Teachers have such a powerful impact on our students, and that’s why it’s so important we support them with the Clear the List movement. It can help take the strain off teachers, and allow them to focus on getting as much as possible of what they need for their classes.
Share-A-Cart is a great extension to make clearing the list for teachers a little easier. If you’re a teacher or educational professional trying to share items from a website without a wishlist function, or you are sending your school supplies list to local supporters of education, then extensions like Share-A-Cart can help you!
What You Need to Paint with Watercolor: Best Watercolor Supplies for Beginners
Shared on 14 June 2022, by Rowan
If you don’t know exactly what watercolor is, often known as aquarelle, it is a painting technique in which pigments are suspended in a water-based solution. Watercolor refers to both the material and the finished piece of art. Watercolor works well with colored pencils, watercolor pencils, and ink for creating mixed media pieces. Watercolor is primarily used on paper. Watercolor paints are generally one of the better mediums for beginning painters because they are less expensive than other mediums, and easier to prepare and work with.
Painting with watercolors, on the other hand, might be challenging. It is a difficult medium to master, owing to its merciless and unpredictable nature. It can be very tough to repair mistakes because you cannot erase watercolors, and they are not opaque so painting over them is out of the question. If you layer too much, you might destroy your paper. In addition to this, its fluid nature makes it difficult to regulate.
However, it is exactly these characteristics that help make watercolor such an appealing medium to artists. Watercolor painting can be difficult to learn, but that is part of why it is such an intriguing medium. It is beautiful when layered correctly, and it has a stunning effect when you master it.
Top 3 Crochet Amigurumi Projects for Beginners
Shared on 05 June 2022, by Rowan
Amigurumi are great projects for crochet beginners. On top of being straightforward to make and needing only super basic stitches, they’re also fairly similar to construction with one another. This allows for an easy assembly, no matter how new you are to crocheting. Amigurumi are also just cute in general, they’re visually appealing with their colorful nature, and they are super fun to cuddle and hold. Amigurumi crochet projects have been gaining popularity across the west over the past few years for all of the above reasons. They’re a wonderful way to start your beginner journey to crochet!
If you don’t know what amigurumi is, it is the Japanese Japanese technique of knitting or crocheting miniature, filled yarn creatures. The term is a combination of the Japanese words ami, which means "crocheted or knitted," and kurumi, which means "wrapped," as in nuigurumi, "stuffed doll." Amigurumi come in a variety of sizes, and there are no constraints on size or appearance. This makes it a fun, creative project for beginners just getting into crochet.
So, why choose crochet over knitting? Well, Crocheting gives you a knobby, thick texture, whereas knitting produces a finer, smoother fabric. The most significant difference, though, is in the fabric's stretch quality. Crochet produces a great tight weave for amigurumi, but there is very little elasticity, so you’re not at risk of overstretching your new project very easily.
What's the Best Gouache Paint?
Shared on 27 May 2022, by Rowan
If you're unfamiliar with gouache, sometimes known as opaque watercolor, it is a water-based paint that has a texture somewhere between acrylic and watercolor. However, unlike acrylic paint, which frequently dries glossy and textured (requiring a matte finish in certain circumstances to get the desired appearance), gouache dries matte and flat. When it dries, it retains its soluble nature and can be moved around or thinned out.
Depending on how much water is added to the gouache paint, it can create complete or sheer coverage. Because it is so easy to get full coverage, it is ideal for painting light over dark. It also dries quite rapidly. This makes gouache paint an incredibly popular medium choice for everyone from beginner to experienced artists.
There are plenty of brands on the market, from super cheap to fairly expensive. However, it can be difficult to decide what type of gouache paint to use. This is where we come in: I plan to provide a detailed review of some of the most well-known gouache paint brands on Amazon. All of these brands, however, have incredibly positive reviews overall so it can be difficult to tell the differences between them.
What You Need to Paint with Gouache
Shared on 20 May 2022, by Rowan
If you don’t know what gouache, also known as opaque watercolor, is, it is a water-medium paint that is kind of in between the texture of acrylic and watercolor. Gouache paint can provide full or sheer coverage depending on how much water is added to it. Since it can so easily be full coverage, like acrylic, it’s great for painting light over dark. It also dries incredibly quickly. However, unlike acrylic paint, which often dries glossy and textured (therefore requiring a matte topcoat in some cases for the desired effect), gouache dries matte and flat. Once it dries, it remains soluble and therefore it can be adjusted, which makes it much easier to use in certain cases.
Gouache is a great medium for beginner artists, but it’s also fantastic for experienced artists! Gouache can help you expand your artistic skill-set, or just let you play around with a new medium. Since it has different properties than acrylic and watercolor paints, it is a fun challenge for anyone regardless of their level of experience. Guache is particularly good for artists learning to paint quickly or how to portray shadows/lights using paint. If you’re an artist who enjoys mixed mediums, then gouache is also great for that (I particularly enjoy using these watercolor markers with it).
