Make Your Own Coloring Cards

Here’s a belated Fabulous Finds Friday…

It’s no secret that coloring books are hot, hot, hot!

And what stamper doesn’t love to color? So putting them together is a natural fit. Luckily, there are plenty of stamps that make it  easy to create coloring cards — a perfect gift for all ages. I recently made a gift packet for a 10-year-old girl and it was such a fast and easy project — just stamping the images with water resistant black ink (I alternated between  VersaFine Onyx Black and StazOn Jet Black, both from Imagine Crafts) and mounting the images to fold-over cards (I used 4-Bar note cards.)

Here are a few:

I found some great images from Dare2BArtzy and Hampton Art Stamps (check out the Color Me collection by Angela Porter!) There are many others out there.

As you can see in this photo, you can use a variety of coloring tools…

For my gift, I bundled a bunch of (uncolored!) cards, coordinating envelopes (with a single image stamped on the front) and a pack of colored pencils. I’m going to get several sets ready for Christmas! This is also a great travel gift, especially if you include a few postage stamps.

Thanks for stopping by … now go color something!

A Big Dose of Happy Stamping

I was going to save this stamp for a Fabulous Finds Friday, but I had so much fun playing with it that I couldn’t wait to share.

I am a big fan of Tammy Tutterow’s work, especially her lettering. But I could NEVER do that myself. So I was positively gleeful to find she has turned her handwritten sayings into stamps, available through Spellbinders (here’s a direct link). I love this one, which offers “A big dose of happy…”

These were so fast and easy to make, I made a big batch, stamping first in StazOn black. I used either watercolors or watercolor pencils and my water pen or Staedtler’s triplus® fine liners to color these in (adding some clear Wink of Stella on the Happy). This was so relaxing and satisfying I couldn’t stop. These worked up surprisingly fast, and I think the sentiment is fun and happy.

This stamp doesn’t need much adornment — here’s one I left plain:

OK, maybe it does need more …. here are some I decorated:

(The flowers and leaves are from various Hero Arts and Technique Tuesday sets, stamped in ColorBox’s Stephanie Barnard inks. And don’t forget to add the Wink of Stella on the Happy!)

And two more, just for variety:

Thanks for stopping by … and hope you have a big dose of happy today!

 

Happy Craft Month!

March is National Craft Month! Imagine, an entire month to celebrate making things!

I’m starting the month right with some cards featuring new “layering” items from Hero Arts.

First up is this great layering die, Large Lotus (Hero Arts DI 161). This die, like the other layering dies in the release (pineapple, star, etc.) is designed to just partially cut an image. (Although it doesn’t have to be limited to  a partial cut, as I’ll show you below.)

In this card, I used the die as it was meant to be used, with just certain portions die cut so you can pop up the leaves. Cute, eh? After cutting the panel, I decided I wanted to layer on some color, so I created a mask by cutting the die on plain copy paper.

To get the center “hole” I simply cut the flower out by carefully snipping the edges of the outer petals.

Which led to an aha! moment … wait for it…

I colored the lotus using Stephanie Barnard’s ColorBox die inks Banana, Tangerine and Guava. Here’s a close-up:

I couldn’t resist adding some clear Wink of Stella for extra sparkle.

I edged the white panel with gold Delicata ink and glued it on this Stampin’ Up! card stock (being careful not to put glue on the popped up petals! I added some Doodlebug Designs sequins and the sentiment. “Sending,” (Simon Says Stamp die SSSD111432), was cut from white card stock then colored using a black Wink of Stella pen. The rest of the sentiment is from an old Hero Arts Mini Message set CL307.

OK, now I can show you how I cut out the lotus and used it as I would any other die cut piece:

I die cut the lotus from some watercolored scraps leftover from another project, carefully snipped where the petals were connected to the paper and layered it over this embossed background, the new Em-Bossing Fold’ers Grid from Spellbinders®… such a contemporary pattern! Love it! I edged that panel using a gold metallic marker, added a sentiment (Hero Arts) and some gems.

Here’s another version, again using leftovers (old alcohol ink coloring), and put it on a gift tag using Glue Dots™:

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy a month of crafting!

 

Technique Tuesday’s Lovely Camellia

In my last post, I teased a picture of a new stamp from Technique Tuesday’s Greenhouse Designs — the beautiful camellia.

I admit, I went a little camellia crazy… because the flower is so much fun to color and easy to cut out if you want it just as an element.

Here’s my first, very simple, set:

As you can see, I had a great time experimenting with different coloring techniques. I stamped the flower on plain white card stock in VersaMark embossing ink and used black powder to heat emboss. Then I just colored myself silly, experimenting with just about every coloring agent in my desk.

I used a lot of Faber-Castell PITT Artist Big Brushes, scribbling various colors on my plastic palette, then using my water brush to paint in the petals. I also used my VERY old set of LuminArte Sparkling H2Os** (Sunburst, Yellow Rose, Lemongrass and Moss Green for the yellows; Chiffon Pink, Cherry Sorbet and English Lavender for the pinks/purples.) I love the subtle shimmer. (**I’m not sure who is making these anymore, but you can still find them by checking on the internet. These are a water-based, mica-filled dry paint that is activated with water. So yummy.)

When the flowers were dry, I cut them out (the perfect thing to do while watching TV!).

To make the card base, I ran the front of my folded card stock through this beautiful embossing folder from Stampin’ UP/Sizzix, called Softly Falling. (I can’t wait to use this folder as snow on my holiday cards!) I rounded the card corners using a heavy-duty corner rounder.

Then it was just a matter of adhering the flowers to the card base, using foam tape. On some, I added the lovely Wink of Stella clear to get a little sparkle.

I plan to make several sets to give as gifts. (The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday’s new Random Thoughts stamp set, cut with the coordinating Little Labels dies.)

Here’s a close up, showing off the Wink of Stella glimmer:

More camellias to come!

More Mega Madness — CHA report

Another report from CHA…

One of the joys of attending the Craft & Hobby Association trade show is discovering new (to me!) stamp companies.

Take a look at the delightful designs of Dare 2B Artzy:

I love coloring and doodling (can you say Zentangle addict?) so these flower/butterfly images speak to me. I was just playing around and stamped these images in VersaFine black on a piece of scrap cardstock. (See the full flower? I stamped once then reinked and turned the card so I stamped a mirror image to create the fuller flower.) I found it so relaxing to color in the patterns (not my best coloring work, but I had fun.)

I really like this bookmark image. This would have been a fun project for my Girl Scout troop!

Thanks Dare 2B Artzy, for letting me play with these stamps!

Check out the website: www.dare2bartzy.com

I’ll be back with more CHA reports.