I Really Love to Color . . .

When I started stamping a dozen or so years ago, most images were lined and required some type of coloring technique. As I was making these cards, I realized that bringing images to life with color was probably what drew me to the hobby. I thought about, too, how most of the stamps in my current collection are solid images.

I used a blending pen and ink from my ink pads to color the images for these cards. I used soft colors for the first image, and because the image was small I opted to keep the card simple.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White and Baby Pink cardstock; Dove blending pen; Baby Pink, Sunny Yellow, Amethyst, and Twilight Ink Pads; Impression Obsession Bloom Clingables stamp set; Cuttlebug w/Classic Oval and Classic Scallops Nestabilities and Swiss Dots embossing folder; Corner rounder; 3M foam mounting tape.

For my second card, I used my new Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug folder. While this probably won't be my most-used embossing folder, it will be great for masculine cards, and it was perfect for this one, too. While adding the black layers and ribbon wasn't in the initial plan, it's probably the best part of the design. I love how it makes the image pop. The sentiment ties it all together.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White, Black, Bamboo, and Cranberry cardstock; Dove blending pen; Black, Holiday Red, Cranberry, Hydrangea, Garden Green, Olive, Autumn Terracotta, Honey, and Twilight ink pads; Impression Obsession Bloom Clingables and Papertrey Ink Mixed Messages stamp sets; Cuttlebug w/Diamonds in the Rough embossing folder; Ribbon from Michaels; Sanding block; 3M foam mounting tape.

As a child, I spent a lot of time drawing and coloring. Maybe that's why I like coloring now. I did a little something about the fact that I don't have very many lined images, too, ordering this set from Impression Obsession. Isn't it cute? A picket fence, flowers, bunnies, a bird, and more to color to my heart's content. I like the Clingables, too - red rubber stamps mounted on foam that clings to an acrylic block. To someone who started stamping with wood-mounted stamps, it's kind of like having the best of both worlds. The new stamps were my reward for burning three precious vacation days this week staying home with a miserable cold. My cold, by the way, is about 80 percent gone. Spending the day in bed yesterday did wonders. While I was down, Minnesota's sub-zero temperatures have given way to milder temperatures, too - just in time for the weekend. Bjorn and Mathias are spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa. Once they're tucked in bed, I'll stop back with my Friday Favorites posting. Later!!