Colouring Challenge

Since I've been little --- probably since I could hold a crayon, I have loved colouring. I find it soothing, therapeutic, and great therapy...and colours keeps my attention. 

The other day, I stumbled upon this challenge on Instagram. The challenge is to COLOUR! 

Of course I had to try! I'm 2 days in, I'm sure you can jump in anytime! I am, of course, only using Stampin' Up! Products, but think it will help me do what I love and come up with some cool projects as well! I have provided the link so you can get a feel and all the details! 

Click To Check Out The 30 Day Colouring Challenge

My friend Jo has LOTS of papercraft supplies and one thing she doesn't enjoy is colouring!!! What?!? So she stamped these non-Stampin'Up! Bears on paper and asked me to colour them. 

This was a great excuse to finally do just that! 

She stamped them on watercolour paper, which I've never coloured on before, 

but I started to like the effect. 

 On the bear, I used my Stampin' Up! Blender Pen, and 3 Stampin' Pads

 (Baked Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chip, and Crumb Cake)

On the car, I used several different colours of Stampin' Up! Blendabilities 

(Coastal Cabana, Basic Grey, and Daffodil Delight...and a lil Melon Mambo)

Today, I started to think outside the box a little. What stamp set don't I use often but could colour in? Point and Click from the Project Life line was the winner. There are so many different shapes to help you with memory keeping, but also card making! I think I'll be trying the rest from that set!!! 

For the "colouring", I used my Stampin' Up! Blender Pen and 3 Stampin' Pads (Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, and Crushed Curry). I stamped the image using Black Tuxedo Memento Ink on Whisper White cardstock.

I then used a strip of Burlap Ribbon, a strip of Basic Black Cardstock, and a small flower made with Crushed Curry Cardstock and the Itty Bitty Punch, topped with a Candy Dot. 

The quick tag also used Memento Ink and Whisper White Cardstock, Baked Brown Sugar Thick Bakers Twine, Note Tag Punch, hole/circle punch, and the FREE Sale-A-Bration "You Brighten My Day" Stamp Set. 

I really like the way it turned out. And it's inspired me to use that stamp set more! Plus, as a bonus, it's the first card I've made since my back surgery!!! It's progress that I could sit that long (Swiss ball as a chair helps lots!) 

Let me know if you've joined the colouring challenge too! 

Be a kid - growing up is a trap! Don't fall for it! 

Relax With Blendabilities

Since I can remember, nothing is as relaxing and meditative to me than colouring in a picture. I still own crayons and colouring books and now thanks to Stampin' Up!, I have Blendabilities. I bought the Stampin' Write markers right away so I could colour, but being an artist and a specialty with colours and shading, they made it hard to get things just right. The paper would start getting mushy and tearing and nothing really blended smoothly.

Enter Blendabilities! They are an alcohol based marker and you can go over and over and over colour to get it just right and your paper stays beautifully smooth. They do require some special care like putting the caps on as soon as you're done using them, and using Memento Ink so you don't have to worry about your black outline getting fuzzy and seeping into your yellow marker...that drives me crazy since I was little...yup...I'm a bit OCD about my crayons and markers ;) Always use lightest to darkest to keep your colours cleaner...in my opinion. 

The other thing about these special markers is they do show through the other side of your paper...so make sure you have a proper blotter etc. Also, our caps have a little click to them and double sided...fine point and a brush point. They lay and should be stored horizontal to keep colour even for either tip. 

Currently we have some beautiful colours and in January there will be even more to choose from and earn FREE! Each colour comes in a set of 3 - light, medium, and dark - so you can shade and create light and depth where you need it. I find I like working with different colours to create the best finished colour. And I believe the real magic lies in the Colour Lifter...it's like an eraser but it allows you to blend and highlight where natural light would occur in your picture without a hard line. I love it! 

So here is a project I made tonight just trying to relax and chill out. I used The Curvy Keepsake Die as my canvas. 

 

 

Here are the products I used: 

Whisper White Cardstock

Soft Suede Cardstock

Curvy Keepsake Die

Blended Bloom Stamp

Project Life Remember This Stamp Set

Flower Patch Stamp Set

Early Espresso Cotton Ribbon

Versamark 

Clear Embossing Powder

White Uni-Ball Gel Pen

Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities

Calypso Coral Blendabilities

Colour Lifter

Mossy Meadow Ink Pad

Old Olive Ink. Pad

Black Memento Inkpad

Tangerine Tango Inkpad

Hello Honey Inkpad

3/4 Circle Punch

1/2 Circle Punch

Decorative Label Punch

Be Kind To One Another - Ellen Degeneres :)

I really wanted to sit down and play with my Blendabilities and so after cleaning and reorganising my stamping space, I relaxed and did just that! It was stress relieving and I was happy with the results. Can't wait to get the rest of the colours!

Here was a quick card I made with lots of new things you haven't seen yet! 

Products I used: 

Old Olive Cardstock

Crisp Cantaloupe Cardstock

Moonlight DSP Stack (NEW)

From My Heart Stamp Set

Blended Bloom Stamp (NEW) 

Calypso Coral Blendability Pack (NEW)

Old Olive Blendability Pack (NEW) 

Hello Honey Stampin' Write Marker (NEW)

Tangelo Twist Stampin' Write Marker (NEW)

Mossy Meadow Stampin' Write Marker (NEW)

Blendability Lifter (NEW)

Memento Ink Pad (NEW)

Pistachio Pudding Twine (NEW)

Baked Brown Sugar Twine (NEW)