April Showers May Flowers and Chalk N Stock Challenge

April showers bring May flowers at least here in Texas with all the rain we've had. We went from a severe drought to too much rain in some parts and just enough to get lake levels back up to where they're suppose to be in other parts. This also means an abundance of wildflowers in every color of the rainbow which gave me inspiration for these three cards.

All three digital stamps come from Bugaboo Stamps. I like the design of each stamp and had fun finding different ways to color each one to make thank you cards. Today I'll be going over what I used to color the digital stamps. 

This first card I used Pebbles Cream Chalks to color the flowers and regular chalk to add a touch of color to the background. The background color is very light and that's why it doesn't really show up in this picture. 

I like using chalks because they give a soft color to your stamps and are easy to add shadows. I find cream chalks are darker than regular chalks so regular chalks were nicely for background coloring.

This flower and background I colored using color pencils. I like using colored pencils over alcohol markers because I have better control of blending. The biggest thing with alcohol markers and colored pencils is getting the proper paper to blend on. There are special papers out there for both but you can use regular card stock. You'll notice the colors will have a different appearance depending on what paper type you use. I would search the web for the proper paper types and where to get the best prices if you want to go that way. I just use regular white card stock for mine.

Finally, I used shimmer watercolors. Yes, they do make watercolors that have shimmer or very fine glitter added to them. This makes the whole card shimmer like you've added a glimmer mist but the nice thing is that you get to add the gimmer in the color you want to just the areas you want. The downside is that it's hard to get those shadow effects that are popular in chalk, colored pencil, and alcohol coloring. I picked up the shimmer watercolors at Michaels a year or so ago so I can't remember how much they were but I know not that much and I probably had a coupon to make them even cheaper or I wouldn't have gotten them to try.

I hope I have inspired you to try something new with your stamping and coloring and if you use chalk or decide to use chalk this month, please enter the May challenge at Chalk N Stock.

If you have any comments, I would love to hear them. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tutorial Friday for Miriam's Crafting Supplies

Yesterday I hosted a steam punk themed blog hop and I had a few people comment about a technique I did so I thought I would do the technique for Miriam's Crafting Supplies and Tsunami Rose Digital Paper.

Here is the tag I made and notice the dress form and bumblebee in the background. Those are both part of a stamp technique I do.

I started out by stamping my image on the digital paper from Tsunami Rose Digital Paper. I used the stamp set I used the stamp set Garden Chic from Ecogreen Crafts. I also used a set from this company yesterday for my Steam Punk card I made. I used Color Box Mix'd Media ink in pewter on the stamp. This is a very thick pigmented ink.

I then took my colored chalks and colored over just the stamped designs. I haven't tried cream chalks yet so I don't know how they would work.

That is all there is to this fun and simple technique.

Now I will show you the rest of what I did to make the tag.

I fussy cut the Eiffel Tower from the digital paper.

I took paper flowers and used my Perfect Pearls glitter mist to color them to match the flowers on the paper.

I wanted a rose bud and that was accomplished by taking the outer pedals off the flower and then spritzing it.

Finally I put my tag together...

I finished the tag by adding rhinestones in clear, pink and yellow from Miriam's Crafting Supply.

Chalk N Stock October Challenge

Welcome and I hope you enjoy my latest project. I made this adorable Halloween tag using a digital stamp from Bugaboo stamps for the  Chalk N Stock October Challenge of whom I DT for.

I printed out my image and then used chalk to color it. I fussy cut it and attached it to the tag. I had already embossed the spider web and added some brown glitter glue. I felt it needed something else to even it out so I grabbed my half pearls from Miriam's Crafting Supply and they were the perfect last touch.

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to see how you use chalk in your projects.

New Release Tuesday at The Stamping Chef

Click here for the "Love is in the Air" Hop.


Welcome to my Tuesday release day for The Stamping Chef.  Today I have such an excited little girl to share...

I used my Pebbles Chalks to color her skin, hair, and clothes but I used my Promarkers for the hearts on her dress. I also used my Pebbles Chalks to make the hearts in the background and My Cat's Eye chalk ink to do the edges of the picture.

Ribbon from My Life in Arts and Crafts
Gold Rhinestones from Miriam's Crafting Supplies

To get this adorably excited little girl and to see more fabulous digital stamps, head over to The Stamping Chef.

Thanks for stopping by today and see you on Freebie Friday.

I am entering this in "Celebrate the Occasion" - Challenge #97:Green with Envy
I am entering this in "Creative Card Crew" - Challenge 28 Girly
I am entering this in "Chalk-Ah-Lot Cafe" Challenge #28 Valentine's with Chalk

Chalk N Stock DT Monday

It's Monday and that means a chalk project to showcase. There is a challenge going on at Chalk N Stock called anything goes. All you have to do is use chalk somewhere on your project to enter. The winner gets some digital stamps from Bugaboo Digital Stamps.

Today I've colored the cutest little girl digital stamp from The Stamping Chef. She's a freebie over there so it's worth the click to see what The Stamping Chef has to offer. I know you'll get hooked like I have.

 I colored my little girl's face, hair, arms, legs, socks and most of her dress using chalks. I used my wonderful Pebbles Inc chalks with a combination of regular and shimmer. I find the shimmer have a darker color to them so they are great for the edging on your projects.

I tried something different this time and used my metallic markers in silver and blue to color her shoes, bow, underskirt, and headband plus I used the silver metallic to make an outline around this digi and to use it on the outside edge of the white postage stamp background.

I used my Cuddlebug and the rose embossing folder to add the rose embossed background and the embossed and cut out are Spellbinder's Nestabilities that fit in my Cuddlebug.

The beautiful pink jute comes from My Life in Arts N Crafts and it's the first time I've used this pink color but I know I will be using it quite a bit in the future. It's got a very soft color to it that I really like.

I am entering this card in the Blue, White and Silver challenge at The Stamping Chef.

Thanks for stopping by today and enjoy your Monday!